Ex-GE Engineer Highlights Critical Fukushima Reactor Design Flaw

Dale Bridenbaugh

Published on 6 Jul 2013

The video above is a recent brief talk on the failures in the design of the reactor at Daichi and those of the USA

Below is an article that was released 5 days after the Tsunami struck the nuclear power plant at Fukushima Daichi. The plant had suffered 3 meltdowns by this point with massive releases on radioactivity into the environment.

Fukushima Reactor Flaws Were Predicted – 35 Years Ago

By Nick Carbone @nickcarboneMarch 16, 2011

The failings of the Fukushima nuclear reactor were so substantial that three General Electric scientists who helped design the now imperiled reactors resigned from the company.

Dale Bridenbaugh helped assess the design of the Mark 1 nuclear reactor upon its creation back in 1975. His findings portray an extreme lack of confidence in the reactor’s ability to contain pressure in case of a meltdown. Bridenbaugh and two engineering colleagues couldn’t handle the pressure themselves, leading them to drop out of the project and resign their positions with the company.

(More on TIME.com: See photos of Fukushima on the brink of meltdown)

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant contains six total reactors, five of which are Mark 1s. And the problem the reactors are facing – a loss of power, leading to cooling uranium rods and rising pressure inside the core – is precisely the issue that drove Bridenbaugh’s resignation from General Electric. The reactors “did not take into account the dynamic loads that could be experienced with a loss of coolant,” Bridenbaugh told ABC News.

GE says the problems were rectified in the early 80s, but it may be weeks before the full extent of the quake damage to the reactors is determined.

In a distinct (though not entirely unexpected) change of heart, Bridenbaugh and his colleagues, after leaving GE, went to work for an antinuke campaign.

July 18, 2013 - Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized

4 Comments »

In my humble opinion, GE is fully responsible. GE MUST be held accountable for their ignorance. WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE TAKE THEM TO COURT AND SUE THEM OUT OF EXISTENCE!!!!!!!

Comment by John Dowman | July 22, 2013 | Reply
I agree, a Class Action Lawsuit against GE Corporation is certainly in order, to benefit the people living in Japan. Where are all the lawyers and red-tape people when you really need them. Letting a multinational focus on protecting its profits to the exclusion of all other considerations is not a safe “standard operating procedure.” “Atoms for Profit,” continues to produce deadly consequences worldwide. When CERN LHC produces heavy ions and strangelets, and perhaps micro black holes in 2014, just remember, we are allowing this incredibly risky experimentation out of an unjustified respect for the unfettered massive profit of huge multinational corporate interests. It’s foolhardy and insane, and sooner or later could kill the entire planet.

Comment by Jay | August 7, 2013 | Reply
Problem is that our present financial system (Wall Street, London Stock Exchange et al.) do not put a price on environmental damage, or risk of environmental damage. If such an environmental cost were to be built into our international financial system, it would storngly favour solar, wind, wave, OTEC, tinal and geothermal becuase the environmental risks are low, and hence insurance costs with repsect to the environment would be low.

The present financial system favours quick financial return, irrespective of damage to the environment. At Fukushima, additional cooling apparatus could have been installed and the Tsunami wall built higher. In the Deep Water Horizon accident, more cautious drilling and better safety arrangements could have been put in place. In both cases, on account of “penny pinching”, vastly costly and environmentally-damaging accidents occurred which could have been avoided with just a little more care and investment.

Our present financial system is based on a continuous-growth paradigm. It simply is not possible, and thus our whole financial system as we presently know it is borken and on financial life support … like Japan.

Comment by Tim | October 27, 2013 | Reply
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