NavList:

Lu:

Yes, the reactors themselves survived the quake, or seem to have done so, HOWEVER and note the caps, while the magnitude of this quake might have been unusual, the general area (Japan) is the subject of strong quakes, and has experienced same in the past. Unusual wave action, to use a polite term, is I think, not all that unusual respecting strong quakes in coastal areas, which leads to the following conclusion.

Whomever it was that sited the circulating pumps, and possibly related electrical switchgear could be said to have "blown it", and they blew it rather badly. BTW, I have no particular quarrel with Japanese design people, I would make the same comments were this situation to have involved a domestic nuke power plant.

Re the problem at TMI, poor design of the valve indicating system, it was worse than simply "poor", it was absolutely stupid. I was never an instrument designer, I was however a Piping Designer, who over the years learned a bit about instrumentation. I worked in the petro-chem industry, chemical process plants and oil refineries. If you want to know exactly what the position of a valve or anything else is, mount a sensor directly on the device, not on something else, where for the lack of a nail, the battle was lost, as was the case at TMI.
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