I recently posted a list of problems with nuclear power. I thought that my list was pretty comprehensive but I keep discovering new problems so I will have to make additions to the list. I also touched on nuclear weapons as they related to nuclear power but there is a new threat caused by nuclear weapons that I have not blogged much about. Thought that I would blog today about an unexpected but understandable issue with both nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.
There are volcanoes all over the world of varying sizes. Some are ancient and quiet, others are still active. We have historical evidence of horrendous eruptions of what are called super volcanoes like the one under Yellowstone Park in the U.S. When they erupted, they can cover continents with ash and alter weather patterns all over the world for decades. In human history, we have not had one of those eruptions but we have had major volcanic eruptions that cut down sunlight and lowered temperatures all over the world for years. In some cases, they may have led to the decline and collapse of major empires. The recent Icelandic eruptions interfered with air traffic for weeks.
Japan has a great deal of seismic activity and a lot of volcanoes, some of them active. Mount Sakurajima is an active volcano in the Kagoshima Prefecture of Japan. It used to be on an island but an eruption in 1914 generated enough lava to form a land bridge to the nearby coast. When it erupts, it drops a lot of ash on the surrounding land.
Japan turned off all of its nuclear power plants after the disaster at Fukushima in March of 2011. One of the first nuclear power reactors to be turned back on last year was the Sedai nuclear power station operated by Kyushu Electric Power. It is located on the same former island as Mount Sakurajima just thirty miles from the volcano. The volcano erupted recently, shooting ash into the sky and throwing big boulders miles from the volcano. If that volcano has a major eruption, the ash fall could interfere with operation of the reactor. Seismic events could crack the reactor containment vessel and release radioactive materials. Maybe it is not such a good idea to operator a reactor so close to a live volcano.
Mount Paektu is an active volcano on the border between North Korea and China. There was a huge eruption in 947 that sent ash all the way to Japan. The volcano erupts about every hundred years and is due for another eruption. In 2014, the government of North Korea invited English volcanologists to North Korea to study Mount Paektu and the possibility of an eruption in the near future.
North Korea has been conducting nuclear tests recently at their Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site which is about one hundred and fifty miles from Mount Paektu. Volcanologists are concerned that the seismic shock of the nuclear tests could trigger an eruption of the volcano. Such an eruption could threaten the lives of millions of people. Unfortunately, the North Korean regime is so insular and arrogant that they will probably claim that the fears of a volcanic eruption are propaganda spread by their enemies to slow down their nuclear weapons research.
Mount Sakurajima:
Heaven's Lake in the caldera of Mount Paektu:
