http://woody.com Risk = {si, λi, xi} -- What can go wrong? How likely is it? What are the consequences? Tue, 08 May 2012 02:38:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://woody.com/2012/05/07/not-losing-to-the-rain/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=not-losing-to-the-rain http://woody.com/2012/05/07/not-losing-to-the-rain/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 14:07:07 +0000 Woody http://woody.com/?p=389 With all of the disarray in the nuclear village of Japan, there had to be a story of someone doing something right. I finally found one: Tōhoku Electric Power Company, called Tōho Den, which is located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, which runs the Onagawa nuclear power plant. Why did the Onagawa NPP survive the disaster of March 11? It experienced the highest ground shaking of all of the NPP in Japan and also survived a 13m tsunami. The story begins in 1968 when Hirai Yanosuke joined the costal planning committee for the construction of the Onagawa NPP. Hirai-san was a former VP at Tōho Den and a former head of technology research at the Central Research Institute of the Electric Power Industry. He died in 1986. Hirai-san was apparently the only person on the entire project to push for the 14.8-meter breakwater. Many of his colleagues said that 12 meters would be sufficient, and they derided Hirai-san's proposal as excessive. Hirai-san's authority and drive, however, eventually prevailed, and Tōhoku Electric spent the extra money to build the 14.8m tsunami wall. Some 40 years later, on March 11, 2011, the 13m tsunami struck the coast at Onagawa. Continue reading →]]> http://woody.com/2012/05/07/not-losing-to-the-rain/feed/ 0 http://woody.com/2012/04/30/sumimasen/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sumimasen http://woody.com/2012/04/30/sumimasen/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:03:04 +0000 Woody http://woody.com/?p=375 Continue reading →]]> http://woody.com/2012/04/30/sumimasen/feed/ 0 http://woody.com/2012/03/23/woody-at-the-pnbc/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=woody-at-the-pnbc http://woody.com/2012/03/23/woody-at-the-pnbc/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:09:20 +0000 Woody http://woody.com/?p=365 http://woody.com/2012/03/23/woody-at-the-pnbc/feed/ 0 http://woody.com/2012/02/23/kondo-sensi/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kondo-sensi http://woody.com/2012/02/23/kondo-sensi/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:43:24 +0000 Woody http://woody.com/?p=352 Continue reading →]]> http://woody.com/2012/02/23/kondo-sensi/feed/ 0 http://woody.com/2011/11/07/the-tohoku-tsunami/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-tohoku-tsunami http://woody.com/2011/11/07/the-tohoku-tsunami/#comments Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:14:58 +0000 Woody http://woody.com/?p=330 Continue reading →]]> http://woody.com/2011/11/07/the-tohoku-tsunami/feed/ 0 http://woody.com/2011/08/23/perfectwave/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=perfectwave http://woody.com/2011/08/23/perfectwave/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:07:50 +0000 Woody http://woody.com/?p=307 Continue reading →]]> http://woody.com/2011/08/23/perfectwave/feed/ 0 http://woody.com/2011/08/03/plutonium-kun/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=plutonium-kun http://woody.com/2011/08/03/plutonium-kun/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:11:17 +0000 Woody http://woody.com/?p=276 Download the full document as PDF Woody reflects on Japan's usage of cute mascots to sway public trust and for electricity, coal mining and even plutonium usage, and explain how those are "good for you." Continue reading →]]> http://woody.com/2011/08/03/plutonium-kun/feed/ 0 http://woody.com/2011/07/05/fukushima-daiichi-and-unforeseen-events/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fukushima-daiichi-and-unforeseen-events http://woody.com/2011/07/05/fukushima-daiichi-and-unforeseen-events/#comments Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:53:12 +0000 Woody http://woody.com/?p=262 http://woody.com/2011/07/05/fukushima-daiichi-and-unforeseen-events/feed/ 0 http://woody.com/2011/06/02/pra-white-paper-earthquake-tsunami/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pra-white-paper-earthquake-tsunami http://woody.com/2011/06/02/pra-white-paper-earthquake-tsunami/#comments Thu, 02 Jun 2011 02:13:23 +0000 Woody http://woody.com/?p=243 http://woody.com/2011/06/02/pra-white-paper-earthquake-tsunami/feed/ 0 http://woody.com/2011/05/25/unforeseen-events-resilience-and-pra/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=unforeseen-events-resilience-and-pra http://woody.com/2011/05/25/unforeseen-events-resilience-and-pra/#comments Tue, 24 May 2011 15:09:27 +0000 Woody http://woody.com/?p=223 Continue reading →]]> http://woody.com/2011/05/25/unforeseen-events-resilience-and-pra/feed/ 0