of discontent
my stick snaps
Can we trust the UN's nuclear watchdog the IAEA? This question must be asked.
Today it is obvious to all that the IAEA acted much too late. It was 6 days before its Japanese leader arrived in his homeland "to take a look". It was 3 or 4 days before press conferences at the IAEA's HQ in Vienna got underway. The so-called "daily updates", when they came, were a mixture of disinformation and no information.
Japan, we were always told was in the forefront of nuclear safety and technology. But now as the plutonium melts in Fukushima we are discovering that this is an illusion. One TEPCO* scandal and cover-up after another is being revealed. Radiation leaks and other significant problems in the Japanese nuclear reactors have been routinely covered-up for decades; they have either not been reported, or when they have, they have been consistently down played. False information, like the radiation, has all too often been released. And this in a country we thought we could trust. We have all been betrayed.
But the real problem is even more alarming. The plain truth is that when it comes to nuclear energy we cannot rely on the IAEA and we cannot rely on the countries themselves to oversee the industry. In fact we cannot rely on anybody!
One of my recent posts (somewhere below) shows a grim list of countries with nuclear reactors. Look carefully at the names on the list. How many of these countries do you trust? How many of them can even approach the abysmal TEPCO standard?
The watchdog guards only its home on the Danube.
Who shall raise the alarm?
_____
gw2011
*Tokyo Electric Power Company
First foodstuffs being found with dangerous levels of radioactivity include milk and spinach.
Very depressing post Gwilym - agree with it though. Everyone and every country is only out for their own ends - usually to do with money - or oil!
ReplyDeleteWe were always given the impression that IAEA were checking these things, but I saw one nuclear reactor on TV in Bulgaria I think it was and I can only describe it as a scrapyard for generating electricity. How do these places get certificates to operate or whatever it is they are supposed to have? Well I guess we can guess now can't we - with what's going on at the EU with the lobbyists! A typical scenario no doubt. Front page of yesterday's Sunday Times!
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