[lbo-talk] Nuclear plant chief weeps as Japanese finally admits radiation leak is serious enough to kill people

[Wojtek S]

Jean-Christophe "And they had only planned for a wave about 1/3 that
high, which means that most probably a wave even half that would not
have harmed the plant anywhere as bad as it did. And that's already 7
meters."

[WS:] My point exactly, which makes my analogy to a plane crash valid.

 The pilots and Swiss air traffic controllers made a major blunder in
2002 which lead to a rare mid-air collision of two airliners.  But
that blunder says nothing about the safety of airline travel because
its - well - a rare  blunder, and exception not a "situation normal."

This is analogous to building a 3 meter wall in a place where 15 meter
waves can be expected. A major blunder to be sure, and heads will
likely roll for that in due time, but expecting that such major
blunders are common borders on paranoia.

This is not to say that people do not make mistakes - they do and you
can bet on it - but that is why we have organizations and their backup
and safety systems in place - to safeguard against such mistakes.
Such safeguards are not 100% effective - nothing is - but they have
been working pretty in most situations.

Wojtek