Here is a private email from Hiroki Takeuchi, a political scientist who did his PhD at UCLA and is now Assistant Professor of Political Science and a Fellow of the John G. Tower Center at Southern Methodist University. Given the importance of the issues at stake, he kindly gave me permission to publish his personal views.
He writes: "I want to add one aspect to the current debate about the future of nuclear energy given the current accident in Japan. The accident occurred in one particular power plant: Fukushima Daiichi Power Station. Conventional wisdom is that it occurred because of the unexpected scale of earthquake and tsunami. It is probably not true. The nuclear power station located closest to epicenter, Onagawa Power Station, had no damage and stopped with no problem after the earthquake. Onagawa was exposed bigger earthquake and bigger tsunami than Fukushima Daiichi. So this is not a problem of nuclear energy against earthquake and tsunami but a problem of Fukushima Daiichi Power Station. Also, Fukushima Daini Power Station, located in the neighborhood of Fukushima Daiichi, had no problem, either.
Fukushima Daiichi's potential problem has been raised since 2006 when the problem was discussed in the Diet (raised by a lawmaker from the Japanese Communist Party). Tokyo Electric Power promised to fix the problem, but it has never fixed the problem. Fukushima Daiichi's intake of sea water was fragile against tsunami, so it would not draw water once exposed with tsunami. It is what happened. No other nuclear power stations had a similar problem, that is why Onagawa and others stopped with no problem, while they could draw water to cool down reactors.
Tokyo Electric is notorious about collusion with the government. So this is not an issue of nuclear technology, but an issue of producer-regulator collusion or corruption."
I don't know enough about the particulars of the situation to verify what he says, but if he is right, it raises serious issues for the nuclear programs in some other countries, such as China.
Sources
For those who read Japanese, Hiroki has provided the following link:
http://www.fsight.jp/article/10319
It's from the Japanese online magazine Foresight, and refers to the Diet discussion he mentions.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Correcting Some Erroneous Writing on Healthcare
Following this revelation on the Wonk Room, I have started rewriting Senator Ron Johnson's WSJ March 24 op-ed to more accurately reflect reality (italics are my version)
ObamaCare and Carey's Heart
My daughter probably wouldn't have survived in a system where bureaucrats stifle innovation and ration care.
French Healthcare and Carey's Heart
My daughter probably wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for an invention made by French doctors
By RON JOHNSON
Today is the first anniversary of the greatest single assault on our freedom in my lifetime: the signing of ObamaCare. As we consider what this law may do to our country, I can't help but reflect on a medical miracle made possible by the American health-care system. It's one that holds special meaning for me.
Today is the first anniversary of the greatest progress towards freedom in my lifetime: the signing of ObamaCare, finally giving Americans what every developed country in the world already has, and considered by many a basic human right, access to healthcare. As we consider what this law may do to our country, I can't help but reflect on a medical miracle made possible by the French health-care system. It's one that holds special meaning for me.
Some years ago, a little girl was born with a serious heart defect: Her aorta and pulmonary artery were reversed. Without immediate intervention, she would not have survived.
Some years ago, a little girl was born with a serious heart defect: Her aorta and pulmonary artery were reversed. Without immediate intervention, she would not have survived.
The infant was rushed to another hospital where a surgeon performed a procedure at 1 a.m. that saved her life. Eight months later, when her heart was the size of a small plum, an incredibly dedicated and skilled team of medical professionals surgically reconstructed it. Twenty-seven years later, the young woman is now a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit where she is studying to become a nurse practitioner.
The infant was rushed to another hospital where a surgeon performed a procedure at 1 a.m. that saved her life. Eight months later, when her heart was the size of a small plum, an incredibly dedicated and skilled team of medical professionals surgically reconstructed it. Twenty-seven years later, the young woman is now a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit where she is studying to become a nurse practitioner.
She wasn't saved by a bureaucrat, and no government mandate forced her parents to purchase the coverage that saved her. Instead, her care was provided under a run-of-the-mill plan available to every employee of an Oshkosh, Wis., plastics plant.
She wasn't saved by a bureaucrat (adopting a 19th century British innovation, surgery in the US is carried out by a surgeon), and no government mandate forced her parents to purchase the coverage that saved her (which is a pity, as if there had been a mandate, those less fortunate than my daughter would have had been saved as well - plus the overall cost of healthcare would be lower for everyone, as it is in France and other Europeans countries). Instead, her care was provided under a run-of-the-mill plan available to every employee of an Oshkosh, Wis., plastics plant. (true, in France even people not working in plastics plants can get care)
If you haven't guessed, this story touches my heart because the girl is my daughter, Carey. And my wife and I are incredibly thankful that we had the freedom to seek out the most advanced surgical technique. The procedure that saved her, and has given her a chance at a full life, was available because America has a free-market system that has advanced medicine at a phenomenal pace.
If you haven't guessed, this story touches my heart because the girl is my daughter, Carey. And my wife and I are incredibly thankful that we had the freedom to seek out the most advanced surgical technique. The procedure that saved her, and has given her a chance at a full life, was available because France has a great health system that has advanced medicine at a phenomenal pace, including developing this particular operation.
I don't even want to think what might have happened if she had been born at a time and place where government defined the limits for most insurance policies and set precedents on what would be covered. Would the life-saving procedures that saved her have been deemed cost-effective by policy makers deciding where to spend increasingly scarce tax dollars?
I don't even want to think what might have happened if she had been born at a time and place where insurance companies define the limits for care and set precedents on what would be covered. Would the life-saving procedures that saved her have been deemed cost-effective by United Healthcare, who in at least two cases that I know of personally have tried to get out of paying for procedures, presumably because they need to make a profit?
Carey's story sounds like a miracle, but America has always been a place where medical miracles happen. Since 1970, American doctors have won more Nobel Prizes for Medicine than all other countries combined.
Carey's story sounds like a miracle, but France has always been a place where medical miracles happen. Louis Pasteur...
ObamaCare and Carey's Heart
My daughter probably wouldn't have survived in a system where bureaucrats stifle innovation and ration care.
French Healthcare and Carey's Heart
My daughter probably wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for an invention made by French doctors
By RON JOHNSON
Today is the first anniversary of the greatest single assault on our freedom in my lifetime: the signing of ObamaCare. As we consider what this law may do to our country, I can't help but reflect on a medical miracle made possible by the American health-care system. It's one that holds special meaning for me.
Today is the first anniversary of the greatest progress towards freedom in my lifetime: the signing of ObamaCare, finally giving Americans what every developed country in the world already has, and considered by many a basic human right, access to healthcare. As we consider what this law may do to our country, I can't help but reflect on a medical miracle made possible by the French health-care system. It's one that holds special meaning for me.
Some years ago, a little girl was born with a serious heart defect: Her aorta and pulmonary artery were reversed. Without immediate intervention, she would not have survived.
Some years ago, a little girl was born with a serious heart defect: Her aorta and pulmonary artery were reversed. Without immediate intervention, she would not have survived.
The infant was rushed to another hospital where a surgeon performed a procedure at 1 a.m. that saved her life. Eight months later, when her heart was the size of a small plum, an incredibly dedicated and skilled team of medical professionals surgically reconstructed it. Twenty-seven years later, the young woman is now a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit where she is studying to become a nurse practitioner.
The infant was rushed to another hospital where a surgeon performed a procedure at 1 a.m. that saved her life. Eight months later, when her heart was the size of a small plum, an incredibly dedicated and skilled team of medical professionals surgically reconstructed it. Twenty-seven years later, the young woman is now a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit where she is studying to become a nurse practitioner.
She wasn't saved by a bureaucrat, and no government mandate forced her parents to purchase the coverage that saved her. Instead, her care was provided under a run-of-the-mill plan available to every employee of an Oshkosh, Wis., plastics plant.
She wasn't saved by a bureaucrat (adopting a 19th century British innovation, surgery in the US is carried out by a surgeon), and no government mandate forced her parents to purchase the coverage that saved her (which is a pity, as if there had been a mandate, those less fortunate than my daughter would have had been saved as well - plus the overall cost of healthcare would be lower for everyone, as it is in France and other Europeans countries). Instead, her care was provided under a run-of-the-mill plan available to every employee of an Oshkosh, Wis., plastics plant. (true, in France even people not working in plastics plants can get care)
If you haven't guessed, this story touches my heart because the girl is my daughter, Carey. And my wife and I are incredibly thankful that we had the freedom to seek out the most advanced surgical technique. The procedure that saved her, and has given her a chance at a full life, was available because America has a free-market system that has advanced medicine at a phenomenal pace.
If you haven't guessed, this story touches my heart because the girl is my daughter, Carey. And my wife and I are incredibly thankful that we had the freedom to seek out the most advanced surgical technique. The procedure that saved her, and has given her a chance at a full life, was available because France has a great health system that has advanced medicine at a phenomenal pace, including developing this particular operation.
I don't even want to think what might have happened if she had been born at a time and place where government defined the limits for most insurance policies and set precedents on what would be covered. Would the life-saving procedures that saved her have been deemed cost-effective by policy makers deciding where to spend increasingly scarce tax dollars?
I don't even want to think what might have happened if she had been born at a time and place where insurance companies define the limits for care and set precedents on what would be covered. Would the life-saving procedures that saved her have been deemed cost-effective by United Healthcare, who in at least two cases that I know of personally have tried to get out of paying for procedures, presumably because they need to make a profit?
Carey's story sounds like a miracle, but America has always been a place where medical miracles happen. Since 1970, American doctors have won more Nobel Prizes for Medicine than all other countries combined.
Carey's story sounds like a miracle, but France has always been a place where medical miracles happen. Louis Pasteur...
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