Predicting the 60 MInutes Fukushima Story: Guest Post by James Greenidge

Natural Gas facility fire
After Tohoku Earthquake
Photo is labelled:
 "Disaster at Fukushima" 

On April 6, CBS 60 Minutes planned to broadcast a segment about the ghost towns of Fukushima. Meanwhile, on April 4, ANS Nuclear Cafe blog was featuring a blog post about Vogtle construction progress. However, the moderator at the ANS blog made a comment on the ANS Vogtle post. The moderator wanted to give readers a heads-up about the upcoming 60 Minutes Fukushima program.

James Greenidge answered the ANS notification with his own comment. Greenidge graciously gave me permission to use his comment as a guest post.

I quote below from the ANS Nuclear Cafe comment stream.
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ansnuclearcafe | April 4, 2014 at 14:46 |

60 Minutes video and story preview: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-returns-to-the-ghost-towns-of-fukushima/

James Greenidge | April 4, 2014 at 16:46 |

It will be the usual suspects of token and low-grade so-called nuclear consultants, and I’m sure CBS didn’t ring ANS or NEI or pro-nuclear blog pros for some cool calm reasoned insights. I vouch that this 60-Minutes broadcast will be somberly grim, with lots of flashes of tsunami damage and quake oil facility fires interspersed scenes of the nuclear plant in coyly tacit blame, and constant assertions of how “no one sane” can homestead here again or eat anything for generations or hundreds of years. There’ll be lots of scary bunny suits and water tanks leaking forever and crying babies being Geiger scanned.

Cosmo Oil Explosion in Japan
From Wikipedia

There will be no comparative background rad rates with other areas around the world and there will be less stress that a super-rare earthquake incited the incident and instead more of an undertone that there is something inherently flawed in all nuclear reactors behind the event which would’ve occurred eventually anyway.

There won’t be any public or worker mortality rate comparisons with other industries and there won’t be any mentions as to old-designed reactor robustness containing three meltdowns in a row when the media has long predicted that just one is Doomsday, and the report will mute down that no one was killed and attribute that to divine luck.

They will lump every nuclear plant that exists as clones of Fukushima and you have one which just can’t wait to blow in your backyard. The show will end in a desolate looking pan of the Fukushima ghost town and landscape that is implied lost for a thousand years and maybe a sly glimpse of a windmill in the corner.

Then afterwards ask whether CBS did a _fair_ and non-alarmist accurate job or just suave cautionary FUD.

Hope I’m not a suspense spoiler!

James Greenidge
Queens NY

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I didn't watch the CBS show, but I suspect Greenidge predicted accurately.  Reader comments invited!

Speaking of comments, you might enjoy the comments stream on the original ANS post, including  comments from me and more from Greenidge.