Sinsull-

The comparison can be made by you and others readily in this case. Compare what happened between Fukushima-1 nuclear complex with what happened at the newer Fukushima-2 nuclear complex located seven miles away, up or down the coast. Both plants were knocked off- line by the earthquake and were flooded by the tsunami. But operators regained control of Fukushima-2 without hydrogen explosions or having to make use of salt water as an improvised coolant. That's the easy answer to your questions. The details we won't learn for years.

My preliminary conclusion is that the newer technology may well have provided Fukushima-2 the extra edge to survive. But maybe its plant operators made fewer blunders. Or maybe the damage from the earthquake and tsunami was significantly less.

"Irrational diatribes," I agree, add little clarity to the situation but I do believe there is ample blame that can be and should be appropriately focused on the designers, the engineers, the owners, and the politicians in that order.

Charley Noble