Anti-Nuclear Movement - Just Phoning It In.
The fact that the anti-nuclear movement didn't twig to the dangers is a pretty brutal indictment of their level of sophistication.This suggests that they might be basing their criticism on ideology rather than reasonable criteria. The events that followed the tsunami should have been obvious to anyone who read the plans critically. The low sea-wall might have been missed but the vulnerability of the back-up power supply and the elevated location of the spent fuel storage would have alarmed many safety professionals with professional engineering* credentials.
You can give all the money in the world to your favourite celebrity-endorsed causes but there is something wrong when it all goes on fundraising, executive compensation and pensions. Shouldn't someone occasionally pay real Professional Engineers to critically examine plans that are in the public record? There are tens of thousands of qualified people who have been pensioned off by operating utilities. Some of them would be interested in a bit of part-time work that came with expenses paid trips abroad.
* In North America a Professional Engineer is a licensed professional with a university degree, Bachelor of Applied Science (or equivalent) and a minimum period of experience. In the UK, an engineer is anyone with overalls and at least one opposable thumb.
