Homer Simpson and Fukushima

by Charlie Smith on August 7th, 2011 at 11:38 AM

Bloomberg View columnist William Pesek has come up with a clever way to describe the tragic nuclear fiasco at Fukushima.

In a recent column, he compared the oversight of nuclear power in Japan to what takes place on The Simpsons cartoon:

"Who put Homer Simpson in charge?" Pesek wrote. "Japan’s nuclear-safety record these past 15 years seems no sounder than that of the fictional Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, where on The Simpsons, Homer is head of safety. Only, this is no laughing matter."

Pesek then noted that there is now a growing backlash against nuclear power in Japan, even as Tokyo's political class refuses to act:

"It’s a good start towards getting Homer Simpson’s hands off the controls—and a rare sign of hope in a country that hasn’t had a lot to cheer about."

Anyone who reads Pesek's article will likely never look at the Fukushima disaster in quite the same way again. That's a sign of a good column.

Comments

1 Comments

seth

Aug 8, 2011 at 1:55pm

While I agree that the endemic corruption in Japan was the cause of the disaster, this is by far the worst example of an OECD nuclear power that has this fatal cultural flaw where government kowtows to both industry and Yakuzi crime figures. The Japanese citizen's knows and accepts this so ultimately got just deserts for unwise voting.

As nuclear is the only possible solution to the world's energy needs the ideas of the IAEA in imposing a UN based regulatory oversight on all nuke plants worldwide should be implemented.

I'm always amazed at the chutzpah of "journalists" with their liberal arts degrees telling us about renewable solutions that would cost the average OECD citizen $60K per annum when green storage replaces gas backup for these worthless not so "renewable" energy sources. Knowing "renewable" sales mean big gas sales Big Oil relentlessly pushes the renewable hype by purchasing ad review in compliant publications.

Certainly the large minority of voters half witted rejection of nuclear has its roots in Big Oil supported cartoons like the Simpsons and other Big Oil supported global warming denier groups.

"journalists" love to bring up problems with the 1950's designed Model T reactor at Fukushima that was damaged by corruption caused technical problems and hurt nobody. but never a word about how the event caused no damage to seventies designed reactors just down the beach crippled by the same corrupt practices.

It must be really hard for low information journalists to accept James Hansen as the World renowned environmental scientist he is while ignoring his rabid pro nuclear advocacy.

Here's James Hansen setting the record straight for Charlie.

http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/08/05/hansen-energy-kool-aid/#more-4888
seth