Wow, the discussion on the Fukushima civil engineering decision was pretty interesting. However, I find it surprising that the engineers simply overlooked the linearity of the law and used a nonlinear model. I wonder if there were any economic / other incentives at play, and the model shown was just used to justify the decision? Regardless, that post was a great read.
it is interesting for sure - but, I have to point out that the containment systems actually did survive the quake. They didn't adequately plan for the tsunami. There may have been no distinction in the analysis, but I wouldn't infer that surviving the quake, and the survival of a potential tsunami were the same piece of analysis.