Reacter Design Has Long Been Questioned...NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world/asia/16contain.html?hp

Tom Zeller Jr.
March 15

The warnings were stark and issued repeatedly as far back as 1972: If the cooling systems ever failed at a Mark 1 nuclear reactor, the primary containment vessel surrounding the reactor would probably burst as the fuel rods inside overheated. Dangerous radiation would spew into the environment.

Now, with one Mark 1 containment vessel damaged at the embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan and other vessels there under severe strain, the weaknesses of the design — developed in the 1960s by General Electric — could be contributing to the unfolding catastrophe.

When the ability to cool a reactor is compromised, the containment vessel is the last line of defense. Typically made of steel and concrete, it is designed to prevent — for a time — melting fuel rods from spewing radiation into the environment if cooling efforts completely fail.

If the process for getting a new reactor built wasn't so absurdly long (compared to say... and oil drilling platform) then newer models would have been available to replace the current ones still running 40-50 years after they were built.

Honestly, I don't understand why people are so much more phobic of nuclear power than of oil and coal power.

Quotes?