King Canute, rolling waves and proposed nuclear power plants.

As we waited under the bus shelter, where an unkind wind occasionally blew a swirl of rain directly towards us, we discussed today's situation and past predictions.  It was, after all, the beginning of the new year, and the thoughtful lady with the furled umbrella, reminded me that in the eighties, when computerization came in, we were told that we would all have so much spare time that when the schools closed and the children went home, they would be opened again for adults to study.
"Well that didn't last, did it?" she said. We agreed that people mostly work longer hours and have less free time than they did in a 9-5.30 era.
I remember the media telling us that there was going to be so little work for us to do when computers took the dross out of office work, that a whole new leisure industry was going to have to be born to give us something to do in our spare time, because we were going to have so much of it.
Um.... they didn't quite get that one right.
The thoughtful lady's bus arrived, the bus driver docking the front wheels carefully in the large puddle, so as not to cause a wave when he drove into it. 
I've made a few predictions myself that have gone horribly wrong and I can't blame anyone else for doing the same.  However, we can learn by our mistakes.
The version of The King Canute story that I was taught, was that he was surrounded by courtiers who were vying to flatter him in 11th century style one-upmanship. In order to teach them a lesson, he had his chair placed on the shore as the sea was coming in and forbade the waves to wet him.... Of course the waves still rolled in and of course he still got soaked and hopefully it taught his courtiers what he was demonstrating to them.
http://faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville/123/Canute%20Waves.htm
I know I am not the first one to draw the parallel, but he was a king of England; this was an English sea that washed over him and now the waves are doing the same, but this time the threat is not to one man and his chair, but to an island and even a world, threatened by a technology that cannot be moved or dismantled for decades.
A few days ago, the former prime minister of  Japan, Junichiro Koizumi, who has switched from being pro nuclear to anti nuclear gave an enlightening interview,   http://nuclear-news.net/2014/01/13/japans-ex-prime-minister-koizumi-denounces-the-lies-of-the-nuclear-industry/
Currently, the British government is considering up to 50 new nuclear power plants  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/21/nuclear-plants-energy-plans
Meanwhile, in Fukushima, another coastal nuclear power plant, on a different island, water contaminated with radioactive isotopes such as Strontium 90 continues to be a horrible problem.  Anyone who has ever tried to stop water flowing from somewhere they didn't want it into somewhere they wanted it even less, may have some idea of how difficult it is to stop land water flowing into the sea and sea water flowing back into the land. The land doesn't stop at the sea edge does it?  It's just that the sea water comes up over it... King Canute knew this.
In Britain many coastal and riverside communities are still reeling from the floods. The Guardian  has a witness area for people to add their own photos and this is the link to the one I especially like.. for the words underneath! https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/52a028a8e4b0acc591790cd5/743301
The Environment Agency has a map showing river and sea levels. I was really impressed by it. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/default.aspx
I hope they can keep it going..  There are apparently going to be massive front line cuts in the department. However, one map that made news in 2012 is set in the future. This is the map showing  nuclear power plant sites at risk of flooding in Great Britain in 2080.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/graphic/2012/mar/07/uk-nuclear-sites-flooding-map 
and http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/mar/07/uk-nuclear-risk-flooding 
As I understand it, usually, people have to wait around 100 years before they can fully decommission a nuclear power plant.
http://enenews.com/nuclear-experts-one-century-before-japan-deals-with-fukushimas-melted-cores-more-likely-whats-left-of-reactors-will-be-left-in-situ-for-100-years-or-more-video 
So will the workers wear radiation proof diving suits or what?