“It Can’t Happen Here….” April 15, 2011

This is, sadly, not a parody.

Remember how, for the first 20 years at least after the Chernobyl accident, we were calmly assured that such an accident “can’t happen here”, to western style reactors, because…because…because…because….

Now, in a Russian publication, readers are being assured that a Fukushima style accident can’t happen THERE…

Could a Fukushima-like scenario happen here? This was the first and most important question posed by readers of Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “The Japanese were let down by their security system. First the earthquake put the main power supply out of commission, then the emergency generators for cooling the reactor were deluged by the tsunami, and that’s when the overheating began. At our atomic energy stations the security system is of a different construction,” said Povarov. “The Japanese scenario could not happen here. Our reactor is of a fundamentally different construction: unlike Fukushima’s, our installations are double-contoured. Plus our large reserves of water allow us to remove the remaining heat released in an active zone. For around six hours we may, without interfering, without managing the accident, activate additional power-supply systems. In critical situations, this may be of decisive importance.”

In the sidebar, a link to a chirpy editorial, “Unfazed, Russia High on Nuclear Power”..

But Moscow is resolved not to let the 1986 Chernobyl tragedy or 2011 Fukushima disaster to affect its global nuclear business plans. “We now have a whole arsenal of progressive technological means to ensure the stable and accident-free operation of nuclear power plants,” Putin said, while asserting that Russia would continue selling Russian nuclear technology to its allies.