Kiss an Engineer

I’ve seen comments on Facebook marveling at the engineering of buildings — particularly skyscrapers — that were swaying, but not collapsing, during the earthquake in Japan. It remains to be seen what will happen with the nuclear power plants across the country, and it is impossible to know whether reports are being toned down or over-hyped (or neither). Of course, listening to the state when they tell you to stay in your house is silly — residents of Japan should do whatever they think is best to protect themselves based on the information they have.

My husband is an engineer, so I can embrace the title of this post. He also works on nuclear power plants (though not the ones in Japan). Errors are made and there are many problems with these industries that likely enhance these errors (witness the BP disaster). But the job of the engineers is to build in risk tolerance. What we’re seeing is that, despite hydrogen explosions, there have not been any full meltdowns. The cooling systems failed, the reactors were shut down, and the engineers had in place options — such as using seawater to cool the core — to buy more time. As more time passes, the core will cool, making it more likely that a large-scale disaster will be averted.

Will there be a melt-down? Did the engineers do a good job? Were the right incentives in play to avoid a larger disaster, or will luck have more to do with it? Naturally, I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I do hope that despite all of the perverse incentives, we’ll be able to acknowledge the power of the individual’s mind. We know for sure that it is not the mere existence of bureaucrats and regulations that prevent any disasters — it is the entrepreneurs, engineers, construction workers, and all of the other productive individuals involved who are able to achieve this.

Share

1:40 pm on March 14, 2011