On Monday, Nissan plans to reopen six factories in Japan. They will make badly needed replacement parts for the domestic market and parts needed for its overseas plants, The Nikkei [sub] says. On Thursday this week, Nissan will start assembling vehicles at five of the six factories from Thursday using the parts procured by then.
Nissan’s problem plant is an engine plant in Iwaki city in Fukushima, close to the crippled nuclear power plant. Nissan is “trying to restore operations” there. The plant makes V6 engines. Bringing it on-line could take longer.
In the U.S., Nissan battles another enemy: Fear.
In the U.S., the urban myth is making the rounds that cars exported from Japan could somehow be radioactively contaminated. Nissan assured the public that it “will continue to implement all appropriate measures to reassure the public that all products from our company remain within globally accepted safety standards and until we are confident that any risk of contamination is completely removed.”
“Yet for some Americans, no risk is better than even the slightest perfection of risk — and that could dissuade some from buying an imported Japanese car for fear that it is somehow radioactive,” says USA Today.
Oh, come on. Who is actually worried about a car from Japan being radioactive? Ridiculous.
do you have a scientific explanation to support your stand?
Once you’ve seen what Godzilla does to Tokyo… and multiple times… you might be wary, also.
If we are talking about the 3.5 liter V6, my advice is don’t eat the engine parts as part your daily diet.
Geez, what will folks think of next.
Yes, it would be reasonable to limit the number of V6 engines in your diet. Switch to I4 for a change and you’re good.
No doubt over-complicated and unnecessary V6s that eke out 19-25mpgs on a planet that has $100+ crude for the the foreseeable future(barring worldwide recession) is more of a concern than radiation.
facepalm
This isn’t Chernobyl people. (Which was caused by a combination of opperator error, cost cutting construction, and cost cutting engineering. Sort of like a reactor built by an American car company in their darkest cost cutting days.)
I honestly feel we need to look at the situation objectively and see how LITTLE happened to that nuclear plant considering all of the things that went wrong. And how well the reactor containment vessles were built. We’re not gonna have a China Syndrome here. Plus the power company was perfectly willing to do whatever it took to keep people as safe as possible, even making the reactors unusable (by pumping sea water into them) to attempt to cool them down. Lessons will be leanred from these events and the plants will get even better in their next designs.
my understanding is that the shortcomings have already been addressed; newer-construction plants use convection to circulate the cooling water so power outages won’t affect the cooling.
it’s absurd that a reactor endures the worst earthquake in 100 years, followed by a massive tsunami, and still has only minor (on a public health level; probably the gas from filling stations will turn out to be worse) effects – and it may well result in the panic write-off of billions in investment. not to mention the write-off of one of our few practical options for large-scale non-fossil-fuel power generation.
almost the worst calamity possible, and one death at the plant – of a guy who fell off a ladder!
more people will die from huffing glue in the next year than will ever die from this ‘accident’ (as if the tsunami was the operators’ fault) yet we will compromise our entire future as a world society and species out of panic.
frustration does not begin to decribe my feelings about this…
if you look at the affects this can potentially have on people over a short period of time, would your statement change if i bring to your attention the VERY widespread use of glue, which is going to be around for… forever?
@PeriSoft, never underestimate the ability of human beings to over-react. Far more of us seem to have a “flight” over a “fight” response to danger.
i respectfully disagree. due to the potential danger, we “fight” our urges to buy japanese cars. do not underestimate human nature.
YUM! VQ-V6 NOM NOM NOM NOM, YUMMY!
Psst. Don’t tell Americans that Japanese made Mazdas are built in Hiroshima, lest they instantly dump their vehicles due to atom bomb fallout fears.
I hear Strontium-90 is good for at least 20 more horsepower, I see this as a product feature/benefit. Plus, your garden will spit out 20 pound tomatoes and your teeth will never be whiter.
I also possess immense respect for those volunteering to remain at the nuke plant site to do what was needed to keep the situation from worsening and affix remedies.
Heroic…..
And I do not bandy that term willy-nilly
I agree. I don’t know what kind of compensation they’re being offered, but they deserve immense respect for being willing to put themselves in that kind of risk.
Even more heroic are the guys who dove into the water at Chernobyl to go check on some of the valves after the lower part of the containment building was flooded. I don’t think they survived another 24 hrs after that. Hope their families were well compensated.
I know Japan will give these guys the best possible medical care or anything else they need.
I’m surprised that Japan – which I associate with advanced robotics – doesn’t have a device that can enter the nuclear plant and perform routine tasks necessary to mitigate the situation.
In any event, I’m at once impressed and humbled by the attitudes of the Japanese people. No looting, no finger pointing. Quite unlike what was reported in the aftermath of natural disasters that have occurred in other countries.
in the 1930s, an earthquake devastated japan. soon after, propaganda pointed fingers at the chinese and korean, saying they raped japanese women and stole from their people in the aftermath of disaster. the japanese government ordered to kill chinese and korean people on site.
in 2011, propaganda appeared, pointing the same finger at the same groups of people.
fortunately, people knew the truth and ignored it. just thought i’d expose the dirty government.
Radiation plays merry hell with electronics. It plays merry hell with biochemisty, too, but it does in robots much more quickly. They found this out at Chernobyl.
ASIMO would be down and out at Fukushima.
@Educator Dan: No, heroic is when you choose to go and face certain death for a higher cause. People who died at Chernobyl didn’t have a choice.
In any event, I’m at once impressed and humbled by the attitudes of the Japanese people. No looting, no finger pointing. Quite unlike what was reported in the aftermath of natural disasters that have occurred in other countries.
Amen brother. Katrina comes to mind.
Humans are idiots.
thanks for proving your own point.
I think part of the problem is the news media uses “radiation” both for radioactive material that persists and ionizing radiation which does not. Exposing food to a burst of ionizing radiation to kill microorganisms makes it more safe. Exposing food to trace amounts of radioactive material makes it less safe. However, no sane person marketing a product in the US would let the word “radiation” get associated with their irradiated to kill pathogens food product.
Can’t imagine the scale of the death and destruction Japan is dealing with. Hope we can all relearn the lesson of the probability of multiple “independent” failures. The common thread of The Titanic, the recent financial meltdown, and the Fukushima nuclear power plant is risk was underestimated by believing that failures wouldn’t cascade.
A little ironic that Nissan’s GTR Godzilla production is disrupted by natural disaster and radiation fears. Godzilla lyrics seem to fit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcZGRCU8s3g&feature=related
i’m really wondering how powerful lobbyists really are. how much of the truth are we actually receiving? why was the death of 4 people in a lexus 350 quickly silenced? why did toyota advertisements on their sales get more aggressive?
it’s a shame all nissan luxury cars are produced in japan. i’m sorry if i come off as ignorant, but i do fear being exposed to radiation from my potential G37. could you guys shed some light on why it is safe? a scientific explanation (sources optional) will be much appreciated.