The media has been rife with stories explaining the technological safeguards that were or were not in place in Japan. At the same time we are informed about the extensive measures taken in the United States to preclude an Atomic accident to include training site mock-ups of nuclear reactor control rooms.
The extensive steps taken to limit the likelihood of disaster are comforting but they do not address the real problem – human error. Reporting from Japan indicates that the reserve power generators, which would have keep the reactors cooled, failed because a worker failed to fill up the tank. Bereft of diesel, the generators shut down and water was not pumped into the reactors. Simply put, the problem was human.
If memory serves me right, human error was also responsible for the Chernobyl disaster. At Three Mile Island, it was determined that operator error played a major role in allowing the coolant to escape.
The logic is inescapable: human decision making is the weak link in any solution. Technological prowess, at the end of the day, is ultimately dependent on the quality of the human element. Perhaps, then, the media should be focusing on the quality of the American workforce employed in nuclear facilities. What are their pay scales? Do they take IQ tests? Are there limits on the numbers of hours worked.
In a world that is increasingly characterized by the widespread application of advanced technology, it is well worth remembering that some things never change – the potential for human error. With this in mind we may well question the utility of employing highly technological solutions, which essentially compound the damages that can be done by those few humans who remain in the game.
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