Safety on Nanikore

The Peltzman Effect

Wed, 22 May 2024 05:21:29 +0000

Over the years, many aspects of motorcycles and gear have improved, and a great deal of these have been related to safety. The question is, have all these new systems and technologies made us somewhat lazy as riders? Enter risk compensation, and potentially, the Peltzman effect.

According to the Peltzman Effect, when safety measures are implemented, people’s perception of risk decreases, and so people may feel that they can now afford to make riskier decisions.

The Decision Lab

The sheer number of improvements we riders have seen is impressive for many road bikes - not just the expensive and exotic, but low priced run of the mill bikes too - better tyres, better brakes, ABS, traction control, ride by wire, reliability, radars and more are readily available.

It’s not just the bikes either - gear such as helmets have gotten much better at protecting us during impacts and slides, visco-elastic armour protects us from similar, and materials protect us better from the elements and from slides.

Over the last 20 years I’ve personally seen a lot of these first hand.

Dr. Sam Peltzman wrote a paper in 1975 called “The Effects of Automobile Safety Regulation” ( JSTOR link).

Statistically, Peltzman argued (sometimes with himself in subsequent papers), the benefits of mandated safety features (such as tyres, suspension and braking improvements) actually give fewer benefits than expected, as people will be killed and injured as they take more risks out on the road, so there’s a basic question for all of us, including me:

Over time, do we take more risks in our riding by even subconsciously thinking that all our modern safety systems will protect us, or do we simply reap the benefits of riding well, and therefore have even more of a cushion of safety than before?

Peltzman investigated this initially after changes in the law requiring seat-belts.

Upon further investigation we found that the regulation had provoked an offsetting behavioral response. When we held other factors constant, the 1966 regulations [the first set of US auto safety regulations, which required that all vehicles be fitted with seat belts and other safety devices] caused more accidents; but the accidents tended to be less harmful, so the net number of driver fatalities was unaffected.

Chicago Booth

This thinking isn’t just in the automobile space, world class skydiver Bill Booth, who holds multiple patents for designs and equipment on parachutes, has his own rule on this, known as Booth’s Second Law:

“The safer skydiving gear becomes, the more chances skydivers will take, in order to keep the fatality rate constant.”

Bill Booth’s Second Law

It’s a bit grizzly to think about in Booth’s terms there, and I can’t say how statistically accurate that is but there are some figures which say in the US at least, deaths from skydiving went from 12 per million jumps in 2000, to 6 per million jumps in 2015, to fewer than 4 per million by 2020.

That doesn’t seem to back Booth’s theory, but as a thought experiment, there’s something to it I think. It also of course doesn’t speak to the number of injuries which would have been more serious - or fatal - if it weren’t for improved safety. That would mean people were still exceeding risk.

So back to the question for all of us. Do we push harder, knowing that improved safety will just work? I would say that’s true to an extent.

Sure, I’ll push my Tracer through wet corners at speeds I wouldn’t on my Cub, because all that suspension, tyre design etc etc I know will hold up, because they’re more designed for it. But in that case I’m still not really increasing my risk factor, because I’m still well within safety, right?

Thanks to this Tim Harford podcast which got me thinking about all this.

Original Comments

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X22dek — 2024-06-16

Hey people!!!!! Good mood and good luck to everyone!!!!!

New Helmet - Arai Astro GX

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 08:20:25 +0000

It is that time again - time for a new helmet. After spending quite a lot of time in NAPS having to use the make-up bags on my head as additional COVID protection, I finally settled on an Arai Astro GX helmet in Glass White (or Diamond White according to their European site where the helmet is called the Quantic).

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This is my third Arai helmet in a row, but whenever I’m looking for a new one, I try to evaluate as many helmets within budget as I can, and this time the gap was narrower with some other models than before. For example, previously I always found Shoei helmets never quite fit comfortably on the top of my head, but this time, their GT Air II was very comfortable. The only downsides were that they favour Sena communicator mounts meaning people like me with Cardo units have to use the adhesive pad further forwards on the helmet, and if you want to mount a GoPro, the large front vent cover means it’ll have to be side mounted. Not deal killers individually, but factors to bear in mind.

Amongst other notable helmets, I did also look at the slightly cheaper Arai XD range, but it’s a 4 year old design, looks to be near end of life, and the venting didn’t look as good as my old one. In a Japanese summer, venting is important. Kabuto also have some nice helmets, but the fit just wasn’t great on my head.

So what are the main updates on the Astro GX? Probably quite a few, but these are the more immediate ones I’ve noticed:

The visor now has a physical locking mechanism which is standard across the current Arai range.
The chin skirt is larger and fits better, which should help reduce road and wind noise.
The padding and front of helmet profile is now designed to make it easier to use glasses with the helmet. This will be useful for me.
The front and top vents are much easier to open with gloves on.

Of course, it’s also using newer materials and designs for safety and comfort such as being one of the first helmets to get the new ECE 22-06 safety rating. Arai is a fairly conservative company, so doesn’t offer things other companies have offered for a while, such as in-helmet sun shades, instead offering a hinged external one for use on top of the visor. They also don’t offer more modern hinged helmet designs, instead focussing their sales pitches on the fact that they’re a family business which still make every helmet by hand. Perhaps what’s most important is that they make great, safe helmets.

I also got a Pinlock 120 visor insert fitted. The visor which ships with the helmet is sold as compatible, so it was just a case of getting the second shield which the NAPS rep installed for me. Pinlocks are fantastic and brought to motorcycle visors what snow sports people had known for a long time - double glazing prevents visors from steaming up. I got mine for my old helmet and after just one day wished I’d invested in one sooner. There are other brands which do this now, and many helmet manufacturers offer their own-brand solutions, but they all seem to be based on Pinlock, and mine was the Pinlock version itself.

On the subject of that sales rep, he (all of them?) had been Arai trained for adjusting the removable padding in helmets, and made some small additions to the side padding on mine to make sure the fit was even better. I think they will do this for anyone with an Arai helmet who comes in, and likely also for most brands, and I think it’s worth taking a few minutes to get it done. I also got a card for free checkups on the helmet every six months for three years, some visor hinge lubricant and some Arai stickers, in case you didn’t think the huge logo on the front (and back) of all their helmets is enough.

Colour-wise, like my previous helmet, it’s basically white, albeit with some very small shiny flecks on it and a gloss finish. Historically, I’ve generally not paid more for the graphic versions, as I like the small amount of additional visibility a solid white may bring, and I have an untested theory it attracts less attention from the police also. Part of me would like something more distinctive, but for helmets I’d rather put the money into a ‘better’ helmet.

To quickly go back to a previous point about that make-up bag on my head. This is a thin bag they always asked women (or anyone I suppose) wearing makeup to put on when trying helmets so the make-up doesn’t come off in the helmet. It’s similar to what some shops give out for people trying on some clothing. It’s the first time I’d ever tried one and it does feel quite strange even when testing helmets!

So that should be me set for a helmet for a few more years. As for the old one, I’m actually looking to get some artwork put on it and use as some wall art, and a bit of a talking point. Update if and when I get that sorted out.

https://youtu.be/KZz-KdPm1uc

RS Taichi Raptor Mesh Glove Review

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 11:43:41 +0000

“When riding a motorcycle, gloves are important, protecting your hands as well as letting you control quite a few functions on the bike.”

States Obvious

As one of those ATGATT people, (All the Gear, All The Time) I wear them on even a short trip to the shops. (That may be because on my bike, I can usually find a long way to the shop).

We all have different hand shapes too, and want a glove which fits well. There are often specific dimensions which make or break glove comfort level and it’s different for each of us. For me it seems my knuckle width and how far I can extend my thumb are what limits my choice - apparently through weird biology or whatever, my thumb often hits the end of the allowed thumb space in a glove before it’s fully extended, and since that can be my indicator light tool, I need it to reach.

In the Spring this year, I was looking for a new summer glove. Summers here regularly hit high 30s (degrees C), with humidity on the silly side at 90%+. That means I need a glove which is going to vent, not leave my hands bathing in sweat, and still give me whatever protection I can get.

Since I cant rely on online buying (or even a single manufacturer) to always have that thumb length/knuckle dimension, I happily go to trawl at my local motorcycle gear shop, NAPS.

So which did I get?

After trying on a lot of summer gloves, the bottom line was that I chose the RS Taichi Raptor Mesh glove which including consumption tax were about 10,500yen on the day. (Reminder to self: buy new summer gloves at the end of the previous summer season for discount!)

I went for these as they have that thumb space I mentioned, without having long dangly fingers, the knuckle was comfy, and the knuckle protector is split between index finger and the rest, which helps. Whilst not a gauntlet, it does come down past the wrist with some carbon fibre in plastic guards, sewn into the leather. This is something I appreciated as my previous summer gloves were shorties and whilst they were fine and well made, that wrist always felt exposed. Whilst the upper is mostly mesh, the palm is various forms of leather. They’re all double stitched, and inside feel smooth which I suspect is the nylon and neoprene. The only downside to the construction is that there aren’t any reflective patches.

So how do they ride?

After 3 months of usage through this summer, they’ve felt very comfortable, even after long (14 hour), hot rides, there have been no bits of glove or dye on my hands, and there was never any bad sweat build up, as I’ve had before with other gloves. The Velcro fastener feels good across the wrist despite looking fairly narrow and the two wrist guards I mentioned don’t feel awkward on the bars, and the gloves come off easily, even in the heat.

They also have a phone friendly area on the index finger, and whilst you can’t zoom as such as there’s only one, you can (safely, stopped at the side of the road) dismiss any messages without removing the gloves. For what it’s worth, I could also easily open and close zips with them on, and activate buttons on my Scala Freecom4 even whilst moving.

All in all, I’m pleased with them this first season, so I’ll update as to how they wear.

New Arai Astro IQ helmet!

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 05:32:08 +0000

After probably too long with my old faithful Arai Rapide Or matt black helmet, a couple of months ago I got around to getting down to NAPS and getting myself a new helmet. After trying on quite a few, as always, I actually went with another Arai helmet, the Astro IQ in a matt white going by the seductive name of ’ silk white’. I went for the white as my current bike is black and quite a lot of my gear is, so for the sake of visibility, I’ve gone for the lighter coloured helmet. That said, the one thing to remember about helmets: fit is everything. My fit apparently is XL, due to the size of my cranium or something.

This model forms part of Arai’s R75 technology range, making a rounder helmet, which along with the Facial Contour System should make the helmet safer in crashes, and more comfortable in use, including making it easier for emergency services to get the helmet off after a crash. Lot’s of marketing talk, but how does it feel out in use?

I have to say that I wasn’t expecting it to be that much different to the old helmet, but after a few hundred kilometres around town, on the expressways and into the mountains, I was really impressed - more comfortable, quieter, and much easier to turn my head in at speed to check behind.

Some of this I’m sure is the new design, but some I suspect is how worn and settled my old helmet was, and whilst it’d never had an impact, the padding especially had settled a bit.

The IQ does indeed feel rounder, and lighter too, and I take it as a great sign that I began to wonder why I hadn’t bought a new helmet sooner. The ventilation is impressive, with a good selection of vents made of solid slides and switchers, which are broadly adjustable with your bike gloves on; this is definitely an improvement over the old helmet - the ventilation wasn’t bad, but it couldn’t be practically adjusted with gloves on.

So that’s it, I’m very pleased with the new helmet, and the only real downside is that huge Arai logo on the front.

Icon Patrol Glove Review

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:53:51 +0000

I’m one of those people who likes to get out on his motorbike most days of the year. Since I don’t pack it away from September till April, I’ve found it’s useful to have a nice, warm pair of winter gloves, ones which are preferably waterproof to an extent too, even though here in central Japan, the winters aren’t even so wet. So, when my old gloves were declared worn out, I went looking for a new pair. I don’t have any electrically heated kit, so I needed something basic, relying on the material only. I’ve always heard good things about Icon kit, but never actually tried any, so I looked through their glove selection, and bought some of their Patrol Gloves courtesy of local distributor, AFGMotosports. The local bike groups over at JapanRider and Gaijinriders seem to rate them too. Reseller Revzilla did a video review.

I’ve had them for a few weeks now, and I have to say I’m quite impressed. Firstly, the sizing - I went for the size above that which their website suggested - getting XL over L: when you measure, go in three dimensions, and not flat across the palm, and opt for the larger size if you’re on a boundary.

The glove fits very well, nowhere is it tight, though the fingers do feel a little short, but fine for me. The thumb has plenty of freedom, so indicators aren’t an issue, and so far, no embarrassing misses and catching the horn.

The construction looks good and you feel protected - the large knuckle protector adds to that sense, and so far, nothing is coming unstitched. That gauntlet long wrist cover section fitted well over my jacket too, meaning there were no irritating breezes coming up the jacket arm. I also like the reflective section - I’ve made the mistake of having too much black in my gear over the years, so I’m always looking to improve my visibility level. The main materials are goatskin and the waterproof textile, with some synthetic suede on the wear points.

I’ve worn them around town, and over a 200Km run, where it was ~5-10deg.C and they kept me sufficiently warm for the most part, and still felt comfortable on the handlebars, despite the wind, and you don’t sweat in them either, a problem with some (cheaper) gloves. In the rain, they do indeed keep your hands dry, but as the waterproof layer is beneath, the outer layer will appear wet at times, but that’s fine.

They’re worth the 75USD in my opinion, and again, I bought through the distributors here in Japan - AFGMoto - who are keen to sell kit in either Japanese or English and seem to offer decent pricing on a lot of their kit, so no arguments there. I have to say, if like me, you tend to do these things over e-mail, their response time is usually excellent.

The Baker and the Bromate

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:39:15 +0000

Chances are if you go to buy bread in Japan, the vast majority of it in most supermarkets comes from the Yamazaki Baking Co. and in general, it tastes pretty good. ( TSE Ticker code: 2212 Equity GP)

I was surprised then, to read in a few news articles about their usage of a fairly suspect ingredient:

“They are the only Japanese baked goods company who use potassium bromate in their bread; all Japanese baking industry companies voluntarily ceased using it in 1980 due to suspicions of carcinogenicity, but Yamazaki resumed in 2005.”

Wikipedia

I have to say that just reading that, and confirming it across several relatively respectable news stories and agencies, we effectively stopped buying Yamazaki bread and most of their other products - not actually through any fear of getting cancer from the bread, but just because it seemed irrational to continue using a suspect ingredient, when other ‘safe’ flour / dough enhancers were available.

Generally, we now buy Pasco when we do buy bread, but I did wonder whether or not this practice had crept in in other parts of the Japanese market - from Pasco’s website though, apparently not - it’s interesting they have that page devoted to it (and nicely, it’s in a URL link called ‘feeling’).

“Pasco eliminated the use of potassium bromate in 1980, and we continue to strongly stand against the use of it. We have no plans to start using it in the future. Pasco continues to observe the self-imposed control measures established by the Japan Baking Industry Association Corp. in 1992.Pasco uses vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) as a safe alternative to potassium bromate. "

Potassium Bromate is indeed a fairly controversial chemical - broadly used historically to improve various attributes of bread dough as a flour enhancer, though through the 1970’s a body of evidence grew that it may be carcinogenic, or at least made the mutation of cells more likely.

In the European Union, it goes by the descriptive alternate name of E924. Those of us from Europe will be fairly familiar with the ‘E’ number system, which symbolically held the meaning that a food was more made of chemicals, than real ingredients, if you know what I mean. Nowadays I wonder if the E number system was to distract us from what these things actually were.

Interestingly, in the UK’s Food Standards Authority database, E924 is only listed under revocations - [ link] , so apparently, it’s not allowed in the UK either - specifically having been revoked in 1990 - bakers can’t use it - the same goes for Canada (1994) and China (2005). In the US many companies were still using it in the 1990s, and it’s still legal and apparently well used today.

So why would Yamazaki Baking - and seemingly only Yamazaki Baking in Japan - start re-using this chemical since it, and many other companies stopped in 1980? Yes, they did actually stop, and only restarted in 2005.

Well, it seems there may be two reasons.

Firstly, they believe they’ve found a method of getting the chemical’s benefits, yet only using a minute amount, which wont cause health concerns as it shouldn’t end up in the final product on the shelf, as it is only used in the production process.

Secondly, but slightly more troubling, a blog article, from a fairly well regarded blog, suggested it was more interested in sticking to it’s founding family’s traditional recipe- [ link].

However, to take the first concept - a quick Google through Yamazaki’s website threw up two real hits on potassium bromate - one a gnarly white paper from 2004 entitled " The study of bromate residues in bread Part1 - Effect of Reducing Agents and Baking Procedure on the Residual Bromate in Bread” (no longer on their website it seems), and the second in their investor guide (also since removed).

From the whitepaper, the English summary states:

“Potassium bromate, which contributes to the formation of disulfide bonds in wheat protein in dough and increased gas-retaining capacity, has been used as a bread improver since the 1910s. However, it has been reported that potassium bromate has a mutagenicity based on experiments with rats. Thereby, the regulations in Japan stated that in the case of bread, residual bromate must be reduced or removed from the final products.”

So that essentially lays out the ground rules as Yamazaki saw them, in their own words - the key point seems to be final products. The summary goes on:

“Residual contents of potassium bromate in bread extracts prepared by the improved method were measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with post-column reaction for the coloring of bromate. No residual bromate was detected in Pullman-type breads with +- or +/mg potassium bromate added per kg of flour.”

As a note of explanation, a Pullman loaf is one baked in a long narrow tin, with a lid - that is, pretty much all of the square sliced bread in Japan. The summary goes on to note that:

“On the other hand, the residual bromate determined in open-top type bread with 9-30 mg potassium bromate added per kg of flour, was found localized on the top of crust put out of the baking pan. Reducing agents such as L- ascorbic acid (AsA), cysteine and glutathione and ferrous sulfate were added to the open-top type bread to reduce the residual bromate. Adding both AsA and ferrous sulfate accelerated the decrease in the residual bromate in the open top-type bread.”

I’m not a scientist but, what they’re saying is, they have to do this to say there shouldn’t be any Potassium Bromate in the bread after they’ve added even more chemicals. In 2005, the FDA in America noted as a post (co-authored by Yamazaki) detection techniques for Potassium Bromate which is an important requirement if something is only legal up to minute quantities in a baked product.

This seems to be a lot of trouble to go to to keep using a chemical largely frowned upon internationally, and which according to their competitors, there are acceptable alternatives available to, which suggests that the second point - because it’s a tradition - starts to seem all the more plausible?

Well, for another angle, let’s look at that second hit, the 2008 investor guide, from the section “Fiscal 2008 in Review” which generally paints a dismal economic picture :

“To maintain top levels of product safety and quality, despite the soaring cost of ingredients, particularly flour, we had to execute another round of price increases. Even though we had only just increased prices on some of our breads and Japanese- and Western-style confectionery in December 2007, we had to push through more increases in May 2008. Hoping to make the new prices more palatable to consumers, we emphasized the quality aspect of our products by applying a new technology to Pullman - type bread using an aqueous solution of potassium bromate as an oxidizing agent, and then, the technology were applied to Open-top bread and sweet buns.”

So there’s an economic justification too? I appreciate investor guides are dry tomes intended to attract funds and other interested parties into buying shares, bonds, whatever, but this is an interesting tack to take on what is I would have thought, a sensitive subject.

For a ‘defence’ of the use of Potassium Bromate, I had to go to The American Institute of Baking ( AIB), (which also has a Japanese site amateurishly done in Adobe GoLive 5) and [their paper](https://www.aibonline.org/press/SafeUsePotassiumBromate 09_08.pdf) " Commercial Baking Industry Guide For The Safe Use Of Potassium Bromate" [2008] but even they don’t seem overly confident. Though this is obviously a bit of a weak stance as an opener in the paper:

“Potassium bromate (KBrO3) has been used in limited ways and amounts by the baking industry for almost a century with no known health concern. It has been used in baking since at least 1914 …”

I’m not sure I put a lot of faith in something being safe since before penicillin, and decent analysis methods. However, they do go on:

“Concern about the potential harmful effects of potassium bromate was raised by Japanese researchers in the mid-1980s. While the research was inconclusive, some countries adopted a precautionary-principle response and removed potassium bromate from the approved list of dough conditioners. More recent research in Japan casts doubt on this level of concern, at least as it refers to the amounts of potassium bromate used in the baking industry, concluding that there is a threshold below which no adverse effects can be detected.”

I’m wondering if the more recent research was by Yamazaki Bakery. The paper does immediately point out though, and with it’s own bold emphasis:

“It is recognized that it is inappropriate to use potassium bromate in any product or production method which cannot be formulated without residues below the level of 20 ppb in the finished product.”

That’s not really a huge endorsement to me. However, the paper does a decent job, in basic terms explaining the reason why Potassium Bromate is used, and for that, the PDF is worth a download, and at 15 pages of text, worth a read.

So what we have is a chemical known to cause renal cancer in rats, at least, and which is controlled by amount in foods, or outright banned in many countries, and yet Yamazaki Bakery here in Japan have gone to a lot of effort to use it in their production system - again, I’m not saying it’s in the bread - it shouldn’t be - but why even use it? Is it really because old man Iijima did? Then the question becomes, if he were alive today, would he still use it?

Draggin' Jeans

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:48:10 +0000

Currently, when I’m out on the motorbike, I have two options for leg wear - either my 5.11 Tacticals with the Alpine Stars solid knee protectors, or my Dainese leathers. I’ve always felt a bit vulnerable in the former, but the truth is, for quick runs and errands (statistically when you’re more likely to have an accident) and especially in the hot weather, the leathers can be a bit cumbersome to get on, sit in traffic with and walk around the shopping centre in. With that in mind, I went looking for some biker oriented jeans or similar, which either had pads, or under which I could use my solid knee pads.I looked at a few places like Aerostich, but after trawling forums, found that Draggin’ Jeans always seemed to get decent reviews. They do a fair sized selection, but in the end, I went for their basic [Classic](http://www.dragginjeans.net/product/classic for men) jean - nothing fancy, a thick weave denim with their standard Kevlar weave at key points inside.

Obviously ordering online is always a bit worrying for clothing, but for better or worse it seems that Draggin’ has some limits which may help - as far as I can tell, they only sell 34" inseam trousers for men. This is a bit longer than my usual 30" but I thought I could get them altered with minimum fuss, and bike jeans do need to be a little longer than usual.

So how are they? They’re really good. Lets cover fit first: the waist is pretty much exactly what I was expecting in terms of size, and similar to jeans I’ve bought in the UK - but not in Japan. The leg didn’t actually seem that long, and of course sat on the bike, with boots on, you want it to cover your ankles, and they did, and despite obviously being a bit long, they didn’t drag, and a simple measurement showed the seam at 33.5" so it is pretty much what it says.

They’re very well made - thick denim material with quality stitching. The yellow kevlar weave inside is particularly striking, but it doesn’t feel rough when you’re riding, and does seem to feel like it’s going to help if you end up sliding on some asphalt in the future. They have the usual jean pockets, but I found them a little difficult to get into, which may be a problem for some, but I tend not to put anything in my trousers on the bike anyway.

On the road with the bike, they’re really comfortable, and blocked a surprising amount of wind, though I haven’t tested them in any rain, but I would expect they’d react like all denim - might become cold and wet quickly, with a long dry time. That said, they’re definitely worth the money and a huge improvement on normal jeans and even the 5.11s. I also received some of the basic Knox kneepads, which seem pretty good - 3D molded solid core with a foam outer; interestingly the way to affix them to the jean is to glue a strip of ‘military grade’ velcro (supplied) to the knee area of kevlar weave, and then affix the pad to the corresponding strip of velcro on the pad. I haven’t done this yet, but these are Draggin’s own guidelines, so I see no reason they shouldn’t.

My only point of note on these is that if you had the velcro in, but for some reason didn’t wear the pad, you’re probably going to get a decent red mark on each knee from the velcro. They’re not cheap though - 249AUD (they’re an Australian company), which is about 175USD or about 20,500yen plus shipping. Are they worth it? Yes, I would say they are - a vast improvement over even tough jeans, and whilst not leathers, they do feel safe, warm and comfortable.

Original Comments

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theDude — 2011-01-29

Neat to run into this….

I’ve found that wearing armor that affixes to your leg works well with Draggin, eg MX style armor or the Forcefield ones. I use both. MX style strapped to the calf seems the better of the two.

In either case I wear some kind of wicking under layer which prevents any of this rubbing annoyingly.

brightblack — 2011-01-30

Thanks for the tip Dude. My Alpine Stars velcro on shin/knee seemed OK. The ones which shipped with the Draggin’s also seemed OK, but I’m not sure I’d want them on the expressway.

Nuclear accident (again).

Sun, 15 Aug 2004 02:37:54 +0000

This seems to have become something of a cliche over the last decade. Last week saw another accident at a nuclear power plant - this time in Fukui in the south west of Japan. A pipe which carried superheated pressurised steam from the secondary cooling system exploded killing (boiling) 4 employees. It hadn’t been sonically checked for decades, and was only visually inspected, despite warnings from vendors last year. The supposed 10mm pipe had corroded down to 1.4mm at the time it exploded. Amazingly, the government say this was OK. It hadn’t been thoroughly checked in 28 years. Yes, that’s not a typo - 28 years.

I’ve held off on blogging this to see how it would unfold (and because I tend to rant on this subject), and in many ways it did as expected - stories of goverment agencies accepting safety reports based on ’economic inspections’ (i.e. looking at the pipe) instead of soniccally testing the pipe thickness, and of course, the guy at the top would never resign. It’s not his fault right? I mean, what are you worried about, that steam wasn’t radioactive right? It’s only 4 people right?

My opinion on the culture of the people involved in the nuclear industry in Japan is that they should be banned from using nuclear energy until they start taking it seriously, and let’s say it - if any country knows the bad side of the atom, it’s Japan, but this doesn’t seem to have created a much safer approach to it’s use. This was no Chernobyll, no 3-Mile Island, but I think it’s just a matter of time before it is because no one seems to realise how high the price is for not watching these things.