By Dominic Nkoyoyo*
Possession of nuclear weapons makes us feel powerful, super-powerful and irresistible! It makes our individual and national egos swell with pride that everything is under our control. And that we are the masters directing the events in the world! «The Big Super Powers» or «The Nuclear Club»: USA, Russia, Britain, France and China are so called because they have stockpiles of these weapons of mass destruction! India, Paskistan and Israel, they too being in possession of atomic bombs seek to join the club!
When you have nuclear weapons, you feel safe, powerful and ready to confront any enemy who comes your way. Moreover, it is a clear warning to the rest of the world, that anyone who tries to offend you can and will be punished very severely! With these weapons, we feel invincible! However, what an illusion! No human being is invincible, no nation is invincible! We are mere creatures who will always remain weak and vulnerable. The 9th November 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on USA testify to this!
In fact these nuclear weapons in which we have put our trust can spew and unleash uncontrollable fires which no waters can quench, fires that can reduce to ashes and rubble the very nation that has stock piles of them! In addition, I think this is one of the message and warnings we can read in the uncontrolable fires of the Japanese tsunami. Twenty four hours after the tsunami struck, the fires were still raging uncontrollable amid the floods!
Normally water and fire are great enemies. However, in the morning hours of the unforgettable day of 11 March 2011 when a mega earthquake of magnitude 8.9 struck the eastern coast of Japan, a giant tsunami, ten metres high sprang to its feet from slumber! In addition, with anger, cruelty and speed of 700km per hour, began its march and adventure of destruction and devastation heading towards the cities where humans live. It sparked off untamable fires! Moreover, for what looked like an eternity, Water and Fire hand in hand wrecked havoc beyond all description in towns, cities and villages!
Thousands of our Japanese brothers and sisters for whose eternal rest we now pray, perished in the water tides and in the blazing flames that looked like «light islands» amid the floods. And as if the earthquake and tsunami catastrophes were not enough, the next day at Onagawa, a huge explosion tore through the roof of a nuclear plant adding misery to a nation already in tears and grief!
Kenji Koshiba a construction worker who lives near the plant, in article by the Associated Press entitled: Japan’s nuclear crisis intensifies as authorities race to combat threat of multiple meltdowns, expressed his worries thus, «First I was worried about the quake…Now I am worried about radiation.»
This raises a very important question, namely: How reliable and effective are our nuclear reactors’ and nuclear weapons’ safety measures? An article entitled: Principles of Nuclear Weapons Security and Safety, in an attempt to answer this question tell us thus, «Due to their extreme destructiveness, nuclear weapons require stringent measures to ensure that they are never detonated either intentionally or by accident except under properly authorized circumstances.» In other words this article is telling us that these weapons are designed with safety mechanisms in them and that they are even resistant to detonation by accident!
Another article by World Nuclear Association entitled: Safety of Nuclear Power Reactors, in an attempt to answer the same question informs us thus, «…radioactive material is not readily mobilized beyond the immediate internal structure. Thus, even if the containment structure that surrounds all modern nuclear plants were ruptured, it would still be highly effective in preventing escape of radioactivity.» It continues to say, «It is the laws of physics and the properties of materials that preclude disaster, not the required actions by safety equipment or personnel. In fact licensing approval now requires that the effects of any core-melt accident be confined to the plant itself, without the need to evacuate nearby residents.»
And a nuclear expert Valeriy Hlyhalo, Deputy Director-General of the Chernobyl Safety Center when on 12 March 2011 was interviewed by Reuters on the explosion at Japan nuclear plant, he said that Japanese nuclear plants are earthquake resistant!
Unfortunately, however much experts want us to believe that the safety mechanisms and measures of our nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons are very reliable and effective; the facts on the ground in the Japanese earthquake and tsunami are showing us the contrary! Radiation has escaped and has also been made to escape more by the operators themselves beyond the internal structure!
The evidence on the ground also dismisses Valeriy Hlyhalo’s claim that Japanese nuclear plants are earthquake resistant! If they were that resistant, there would be no talk of a Japanese nuclear plant crisis reported in all local and international media! Reuters on Sunday 13 March 2011 in an article entitled: Japan fights to avert nuclear meltdown after quake, reports thus, «The most urgent crisis centres on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, where three reactors were threatening to over heat and where authorities said they had been forced to vent radioactive steam into the air to relieve reactor pressure…The nuclear incident,…sparked criticism that the authorities were ill-prepared for such a massive quake and threat that could pose to the country’s nuclear power industry.»
Since a quake of magnitude 8.9 has crippled the nuclear plant, suppose it was of magnitude 9.5 or above, how would the situation be? And on Monday 14 March 2011 there was a second huge explosion at the plant!
And by telling us, «In fact licensing approval now requires that effects of any core-melt accident be confined to the plant itself without the need to evacuate nearby residents,» the World Nuclear Association wants us to believe that those responsible for licensing approval know the gravity of all possible nuclear accidents! But the evidence on the ground proves them wrong. The fear and danger of a possible meltdown at the nuclear facility has forced authorities to evacuate the nearby residents. On 12 March 2011 Reuters reported thus, «About 140,000 people have so far been evacuated from areas near two Japanese nuclear power plants after Friday’s earthquake.»
Given today’s industrialised world with a large consumer society that finds it very difficult to tame its desires for material things, the demand for electric energy is enormous. And it is very difficult to find an alternative to nuclear energy. The Japanese tsunami experience is therefore a wake up call for all of us to invest more time, energy and money in research projects whose target is to find alternatives to nuclear power. For our nuclear plants have the potential to destroy not only all the scientific and technological development and advancement we have achieved so far but also ourselves!
The potential for self-destruction through our nuclear plants is very real. And this is supported by what Reuters reported in an article entitled: Japan’s nuclear power operator has chequered past, «The company at the centre of a nuclear reactor crisis following the biggest earthquake in Japan’s recorded history has had a rocky past in an industry plagued by scandal…In 2002, the president of the country’s largest power utility was forced to resign along with four other senior executives, taking responsibility for suspected falsification of nuclear plant records. The company was suspected of 29 cases involving falsified repair records at nuclear reactors. It had to stop operations at five reactors, including the two damaged in the latest tremor, for safety inspection. A few years later it ran into trouble again over accusation of falsifying data.»
Another worrying report @BBC World on Twitter said, «Japanese engineer Masashi Goto, who helped design the containment vessel for Fukushima’s reactor core, says the design was not enough to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis and the plant’s builders Toshiba knew this.» These shady deals which compromise standards and professionalism in the nuclear industry should be a concern for everybody.
Due to past falsification of data, lack of transparency and these shady deals in the nuclear industry, the Japanese population finds it very difficult right now to believe what the nuclear engineers operating the Fukushima nuclear plant and the government are telling them about the situation! On March 15, 2011 a third deafening blast was heard at the Fukushima nuclear plant! And it was reported that radiation was being released directly into the air! But it took long before the Prime Minister was informed of it. Reuters thus reported, «Japan’s Prime Minister was furious with the power firm at the centre of the nuclear crisis for taking so long to inform his office about a blast at a stricken reactor plant, demanding ‘What the hell is going on?’»
From my analysis of the information I have bout the Fukushima nuclear plant looming catastrophe, it is very likely that this nuclear crisis will be worse than the 1986 Chernobyl crisis! On the 16 March 2011 the Associated Press in an article entitled: Japan suspends work at stricken nuke plant due to surge in radiation, announced thus, «Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its nuclear plant Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors.»
As for our nuclear weapons, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami reveal to us that even the waters of the sea will not be able to extinguish the fires these deadly weapons will unleash upon the earth once several of them explode! This experience also puts in question the safety mechanisms of these weapons in which we trust! It is claimed that they are even resistant to detonation by accident, but if an earthquake of magnitude 9 and above blew up their depot, are we sure they would still not explode?
And we have thousands of these weapons around the world. Reliable sources say that we have at least 23,000 stockpiles of nuclear weapons scattered around the planet! And apart from ordinary atomic bombs, USA, Russia, Great Britain, France and China also possess thermonuclear or hydrogen bombs which can be thousands of times more powerful than atomic bombs!
So let the entire world learn from the nuclear crisis at the Japan’s nuclear plant the dangers posed by our nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons scattered all over the planet. And let us work hard for a nuclear free world.
*Dominic Vincent Nkoyoyo, Monastery Val Notre-Dame, Canada.
