china stockpiles cheap uranium, page-14

Interesting article http://resourceclips.com/2014/02/14/the-fukushima-effect/

Of particular note for me is:

"Drolet’s first-hand experience emphasized to him the “truly catastrophic” nature of Fukushima Daiichi. “The design and configuration was woefully wanting,” he says. The seawall couldn’t block the wall of water, even though a tsunami of that height had already been predicted as a potential hazard. The emergency power system, located below the seawall, crapped out. Backup power failed too. Battery power sustained some systems, but only for a few hours. Meltdowns and explosions caused enormous destruction.

Drolet maintains “that particular location” was the wrong place for that particular model, a Mark I BWR (boiling water reactor) of 1960s vintage. Japan has about a dozen similar models “but none of them are in risky locations like Fukushima.” The United States has several more “but they’re well inland and have undergone major NRC regulatory-demanded design changes,” he adds.

The Mark I was a Generation II reactor. The 1990s and early 2000s saw strong improvements with Generation III models in China and elsewhere, Drolet explains. Now Generation III-plus features passive safety shutdown systems that don’t require electricity or even operators to continue cooling if an accident causes a shutdown."