What would I do?

Editor,

If I were going to store a few hundred tons of radioactive waste in my backyard and cool it with circulating water, the first question I would ask myself is: what would I do if the water circulation system failed.

I would not wait until it failed and then try to figure out on the fly what to do about it. Same with a blowout preventer 5 miles under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. Before depending on it to protect life in the Gulf of Mexico I would ask: what would I do if the blowout preventer failed.

There is enough radioactive material at the Fukuyama Daiichi power plant to wipe out life on this planet if it all gets into the atmosphere and the ocean. One would assume that someone thinking about putting all that radioactive stuff in one place would have wondered what they would do if all their cooling systems failed.

Re: "U.S. Sees Array of New Threats at Japan’s Nuclear Plant" (4/6/2011)