Location, Location, Location

I feel bad for the Japanese people right now, I really do. How can one sympathize with a disaster of this magnitude? I have some types of comparisons: I have seen first hand the destruction that a hurricane can wreak...I have seen monster blizzards in my life...but I am not sure that either truly lends me perspective on Japan's situation. An entire village washed away...nope, I can't understand that. With the added risk related to their shaky nuclear reactors, the Japanese people have a true emergency situation on their hands.

However, it didn't have to be this bad. I have been watching the coverage on TV related to the risk of nuclear meltdown, and I couldn't help but wonder if the Japanese people were asking for it. Obviously, Japan is located right next to an active fault line. Every one knows this. It is well documented that earthquakes can and will occur in Japan, and, statistically speaking, one of them would have to eventually be this bad. Statistics eventually catch up in any situation. So why would a government allow for construction of not one but multiple nuclear reactors on the coast of Japan?? It doesn't make sense to me. Nuclear power by itself is not dangerous: nuclear technology has evolved to the point that it is a fairly safe enterprise generally speaking (notwithstanding the nuclear waste issue). But by placing nuclear plants next to an ocean that is located on a fault line is literally asking for a problem one day, isn't it? It is like a nuclear power plant being built on Pensacola Beach, having a cat-5 hurricane blow over it, and then having to deal with a potential fallout. Duh?! You just should not build there in the first place! All the debate on TV has absolutely ignored this point, and I believe it is fundamental. Now the news programs are zeroed in on the safety of nuclear plants around the United States, should we even have them, etc. That is not the point. In fact, it's way off the point. The LOCATION of a plant, any plant, is the paramount issue here. By default, Japan made this problem itself.

Of course, I feel really bad for the Japanese people (as much as I can't sympathize due to a lack of comparable experience). I hope things get better sooner rather than later. I hope this makes any potential future builder of power plants, especially nuclear plants, think twice about location. The people of any country deserve it.