[Zigurd]

> It's only poor engineering...

Poor policy, really. We should not be extending the operation of old plants.

The engineering is relatively poor based on what we now know about building and siting nuclear plants, but it was state of the art at the time.

[mikeash]

I don't think putting the emergency generators for a flood-prone site in the basement can be considered wise even given the knowledge of the time.

[tsotha]

GE reactor plans called for the batteries and generators to be in the basement, and TEPCO decided not to deviate from the plans because they were worried any changes could introduce subtle failure modes.