[lispm]

If it would have been a failure of the train, all were brought into inspection. As it has been done before when the train accident of the ICE 1 happened (Eschede).

If the track had been the cause, it would have been investigated and no train would use that track until it would have been brought up to standards.

If there were a chance to stop the train in case of an environmental catastrophe it would have been done. If there would be a technical system, it would brought into service.

Here we have a full wreckage of at least 10 nuclear plants which to rebuild and clean-up would cost upwards of 50 billion dollar. The damage that can be caused by leaking radiation to around 20 or million people can't even be estimated.

Claiming that the multiple engineering failures exposed and the multiple mismanagement is a triumph of Japanese engineering is not even laughable - it is cynical.

For example that the diesel power generators would fail has been known before and improvements had been suggested already. That there was a pool full of spent fuel is also total engineering and management failure. That the cooling failed and they caught fire is another failure. Why were they there? Because Japan does not have an idea what to do with them. They were running nuclear reactors (something like 50 at last count) without an idea where to finally store the nuclear waste. For decades! Please! The least they could have done to bring them away, provide better cooling and more space. But that would have been to expensive.

TEPCO is a company of FAIL. Multiple severe FAIL in combination with corrupt politicians.

[uikjhgyujmn]

Yes there is weapons grade screw up - but closing unrelated reactors on the other side of the world just because they are 'nuclear' is as silly as stopping trains until the tracks in Bavaria can be protected against a Tsunami.

[lispm]

They are not unrelated. There are very old reactors, some of which were to be closed already, hadn't the current government changed the policy.

NONE of these reactors would get a permission to get online based on current regulations. Some are very simple BWR designs, some are near an earth quake zone, some don't have sufficient protection against relatively simple aircraft accidents, ...

The government also says that the reactors are shut down for safety inspections and then it has to be decided which of those can get back online. Which is controversal, since there was already a negotiated plan which of those had to shut down and the oldest ones had to go.

It is not silly, it is just about using the current political pressure to force the government to follow the originally negotiated phase out plan (which was also negotiated with the industry).

It has nothing to do with 'silly', it is a political struggle to force the current government to reverse its pro-nuklear policy.