And one more shoe drops (h/t Marshall Y. in the comments to this post; my emphasis):

Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing — the Mark 1 — was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident. Questions persisted for decades about the ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling power, and today that design is being put to the ultimate test in Japan. Five of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which has been wracked since Friday’s earthquake with explosions and radiation leaks, are Mark 1s. “The problems we identified in 1975 were that, in doing the design of the containment, they did not take into account the dynamic loads that could be experienced with a loss of coolant,” Bridenbaugh told ABC News in an interview. “The impact loads the containment would receive by this very rapid release of energy could tear the containment apart and create an uncontrolled release.”

GE, of course, is having none of it:

GE told ABC News the reactors have “a proven track record of performing reliably and safely for more than 40 years” and “performed as designed,” even after the shock of a 9.0 earthquake.

GE did eventually perform retrofits, including at Fukushima. Bridenbaugh is still skeptical, however:

When asked if that was sufficient, [Bridenbaugh] paused. “What I would say is, the Mark 1 is still a little more susceptible to an accident that would result in a loss of containment.”

I guess what we’re watching is a field test. Good thing the cascade didn’t breach containment around GE’s corporate profits. Now that would pose a problem. I’ll bet the “it’s not our fault” ad campaign is already on the drawing board.

GP