As we’ve said before, nuclear reactors are unbelievably complex and therefore unreliable machines. The smallest of faults can shut a reactor down for extend periods. Just where the myth that nuclear power is a ‘reliable’ energy source, we’re not quite sure.

Another example of how the tiniest faults can bring a reactor to a grinding halt has been seen at the Diablo Canyon power plant in California last week. ‘A blown fuse caused a loss of power’ and now the number 2 reactor is shut down while the cause of the fault is found.

Between them the two reactors at Diablo Canyon produce ‘about 10 percent of all electricity generated in California’. Or, rather, they now produce about 5 percent of all electricity generated in California. And ‘there was no immediate word on when the reactor would be operating again’. All for a blown fuse. Have you ever heard the proverb ‘For Want of a Nail’?