Mar 26, 2011

Sacrifice Human Life for the greater Good?

25 Years ago, reactor number 4 at Chernobyl Power Plant exploded, leaving the world in terror. The burning reactor emitted a radioactive cloud, threatening to contaminate all of Europe. This was when the Soviet Union decided to send approximately 800,000 men to the site of the event, the so called Liquidators. They were ordered to remove contaminated objects, such as parts of the actual reactor or contaminated animals, they had to extinguish the fire and they were also the ones who erected the concrete sarcophagus around the reactor. It is clear that without the liquidators, Europe would have suffered a much worse fate from the Chernobyl catastrophy. Also, it is estimated that about 50,000 of them have died in consequence due to their exposure to radioactivity, many more suffer because of other diseases that are a direct effect of radioactivity.
Dog from Chernobyl with mutations due to Radioactivity
Today, in Fukushima, we face a new difficulty: Japan is not a totalitarian state. They can't force their soldiers to go sacrifice themselves. At the moment, there are 50 workers at Fukushima trying to prevent the maximum credible accident, but as we saw from Chernobyl, it takes many more than just 50. Alone, they can't save Fukushima, and if they do, it'll be pure luck.
So what should Japan do now?
What should any liberal democracy do in case of a nuclear meltdown?

29 comments:

  1. Japan should evacuate :/ or at least save some cute girls.

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  2. Is it really at the same point that chernobyl was though?

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  3. At this point, evacuate the surrounding area ASAP.

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  4. There are 2 ways out: Restore complete functionality of the reactors and continue to produce electricity, or, keep this somehow stable situation for another month or so until it's safe to remove the nuclear fuel and take it to permanent storage.

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  5. I mean, they have to evacuate some...but I would like to think we have the technology and the means to deal with this...if not...well, I'm not so sure I'm very confident about the human race anymore.

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  6. Evacuate ASAP, although it's gotta be crazy to evaluate everyone that's infected and not.

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  7. There has to be a way to do this using all of your technology rather than sacrificing the lives of the japanese soldiers and scientists. It's not their fault that this happened so why should they suffer for it?

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  8. You can't just "get them out of there". Those 50 people are the only thing keeping the reactor from melting down.

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  9. The should not build reactors in places where there is any danger of earthquakes, tsunamis or natural disasters. This is an awful tragedy we need to truly take stock of what we are doing as a society to keep things like this from happening so that people do not need to saccrifice their lives to fix the mistakes of a few.

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  10. Jesus, it looks like that dog got a heavy infusion of the Warp.

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  11. It wont take months to cool the rods down until they are safe to remove. It takes at least a year to cool a single rod down.

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  12. Japan might be able to stop a melddown from happening, Tsjernobyl was in the middle of the night while they were testing. Nobody expected it, Japan can actually react to it, or evacuate the area.

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  13. Im not too sure on how much technology has advanced, but how safe would it be to send in drones and robots to help fix it? Is the UN helping with evacuations or sending gear/supplies to suppress the threat?

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  14. whatever they need to do, they should inform the Japanese people.

    thanks for sharing the info on Chernobyl.

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  15. Volunteers I guess, if the reactor goes into meltdown a lot more then 50 lives will be lost

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  16. The puppy is not that bad

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  17. Send some of them to Sweden. We've got plenty of room!

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  18. It's the duty of the leaders of the country to inform the people of the risks. Japan is a country that has a deep seeded belief in honor and serving their country. I'm sure that they could get volunteers if they asked their people. My thoughts and prayers are with them all.

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  19. Send in the guys that were responsible for security in an event like this!!!?!?!?

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  20. wow shocking

    we should close all nuclear plants and build windmills instead

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  21. I've got a blog about renewable energy, check it

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  22. If this happens to japan, well, the world is going to turn into is darker days!

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  23. Well, I guess all we can do is try to stop the meltdown of the plant. Its all they can do. And those who are working there are heroes, really. Followed!

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  24. Super intense. I guess there really is a of respect to give those guys.

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  25. ahh disturbing image right there

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