There's More Money in Nukes Than In Samurai Swords
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03.19.08
That is why after World War II, Japan Steel added nuclear reactor vessels to its product lineup. They mixed their ancient experience in swords with more recent cannon technology to become the sole source for reactor forgings at $350 million a pop. But like a sword, it takes time and care, and they can only turn out four of them per year, in a market where there is now demand for as many as ten per year.
"I find it just amazing that so many people jumped on the bandwagon of this renaissance without ever looking at the industrial side of it,'' said one consultant. ::Bloomberg
Meanwhile, the builders of CANDU reactors must be celebrating.
The designers back in the fifties did not have the technology to build the pressure vessel either, so they opted for a system of tubes made of zircaloy instead of a giant pot. Unfortunately, the tubes deteriorated from neutron bombardment more quickly than originally anticipated, so many of the CANDU reactors have been shut down for very expensive retubing.
So everyone who is waiting for a nuclear renaissance to deliver carbon-free power is going have to wait a little bit longer.
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Nuclear power - just about the most ridiculous, dangerous and wasteful way to boil water ever undertaken.
Seems like Japan Steel is still firmly in the swords business.
Actually, I'd say that coal is the most ridiculous, dangerous, and wasteful way to boil water ever undertaken...
Ridiculous- Depends on your point of view, but comon... Think about it...
Dangerous- Interesting fact - every year coal power releases as much radioactivity into the atmosphere as Chernobyl did (although it's not as concentrated as the emissions from Chernobyl). And you have to take into account how many accidents there are in coal mining, and all the miners who end up getting lung cancer from breathing the dust in the mines as well as those who actually die at power plants. Not to mention the general population that suffers from respiratory diseases because of air pollution.
Wasteful- Think about it...
If you want to argue something, you should learn more about it first... And not from groups that use propaganda to equate nuclear power plants with nuclear weapons.
I just finished reading Brice Smith's Insurmountable Risks. He seems to think that there is no future for LWRs due to their fundamental design.
He does, however, see a lot of potential in the CANDU design (ala ACR) and Gen IV pebble bed reactors.
While the initial batch of CANDU reactors was an economic failure, they were a technological success. Many of the safety issues that face LWRs are addressed by the CANDU design and it is considered "inherently safe." The CANDU reactors can also use natural uranium which helps the EROEI while reducing the need to overbuild industry in the event of a nuclear renaissance.
Japan Steel also means the special steel whichi is made by ancient blase furnace "tatara".
it is also called As "Tamahagane" which is only the raw steel of samurai sword.
One of the most famous higt-tech steel maker "" only makes it for Japanese sword smith.But the way of making steel is real ancient way.
I'm interested in history of samurai sword.Emperor of Japan "Tennno" is the last royal prerogative supported by ancient myth in the world.
The Oldest japanese myth literature "Kojiki" says that Imperial treasure sword was got by the god Susanoo from eight head dragon in Izumo.
Raw steel of samurai sword is only made by Hitachi Metals at Yasugi Izumo Shimane prefecture.However Hitachi Metals is famous high-tech steel maker,raw material of formal japanese sword is made by ancient steel making method "Tatara". Raw steel is called "Tamahagane"(Jewel like steel).
I hear that it is supreme one for katana sword making.I wanna get and forge it.