Reference no: EM133323603
Assignment:
1. In his article, Martin Fackler includes a quote from Shinji Kawatsuma, one of the robotics engineers working on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant clean-up: "I've been a robotic engineer for 30 years, and we have never faced anything as hard as this." According to the article, what is the key technological challenge faced by robotics engineers in the process of cleaning up the power plant site? How to they plan to confront that challenge?
2. In the film Containment, one commentator stated that when the United States began its large scale nuclear weapons program in the 1950s, the issue of what to do with nuclear waste "amounted to little more than an afterthought." That afterthought has since evolved into what now can be identified as a "Wicked Problem". Imagine that you are an engineer tasked with finding a solution to the problem of nuclear waste. Do you believe that a solution exists? If so, provide 3 (three) recommendations that you would offer as potential solutions. If not, provide 3 (three) reasons why you believe a solution does not (yet) exist.
3. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) located near Carlsbad, New Mexico, is a facility designed for the long-term storage of nuclear waste. Both Robert Alvarez' article and the film Containment document the accident that occurred at WIPP in 2014 that resulted in the release of radiation to the surrounding environment. Drawing from Alvarez' article and the film, do you believe that WIPP is an adequate facility to store nuclear waste for the next 10,000 years? Why or why not?
4. According to the film DamNation and Tara Lohan's article, the removal of the Elwha River Dam exerted a huge impact on a number of different areas -- not simply the obvious geographical impact -- in a number of different ways. For instance, the return of salmon fish species impacts the surrounding area wildlife, disperses nutrients from the sea, and affects the cultural, economic and physical health of the Lower Elwha Klallam Native American Tribe -- to name just a few. Drawing from both the film and Lohan's article, describe at least 3 (three) impacts that were a direct result of the dam's removal.