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Thread: Fukushima

  1. #1
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    Fukushima

    If you think this is over...

    ...think again.

    We have been following this ever since the disaster. Thousands of gallons of waste have been pouring into the ocean every day and it has now reached the west coast.

    And now this:

    http://www.occupycorporatism.com/tep...3-melting-now/

    Hope the wind shifts and it stays over the ocean...

    I do not understand why this disaster has been ignored.

    Thoughts?

  2. #2
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    I suppose TEPCO has been lying about the criticality of this, and reports about the true devastation that will become of this have been suppressed.

    When I read "it will fry North America", that's a bit vague. Surely it's already "frying" Japan, whatever that means.

    I mean, though, it's not like we can say "Excuse me - can you stop the planet - I would like to get off now." What can be done?

    I say, if a government, or mankind, can't take responsibility for controlling a technology, they ought not be allowed to use it.

    What were they thinking? "Let's put a nuclear reactor right on the edge of the Pacific Rim and hope we never have a earthquake."

    Will future generations forgive us?
    Last edited by Bruce Page; 12-30-2013 at 6:48 PM.

  3. #3
    I can't figure out what's right and what's fiction in that, mostly because it's hard to dodge all of the advertisements and attempts to generate ad revenue (what I'm saying is it appears to be sensationalized to a fairly significant degree).

    It also looks like the picture that they use at the top of the article is not representative of what fukushima looks like right now, but you wouldn't put an honest picture on an article that was sensationalized.

    I would personally wait a little bit before deciding that there's going to be a killing fallout is worth worrying about.

    TEPCO has not been forthright about information, and the result has been worse than they suggested, as michio kaku suggested right away, but I'd like to see fanatical blog entries substantiated a little better.

  4. #4
    If you do a bit of reading it seems that there is a very high likelihood that this is bunk. Even TEPCO has a live video feed from the site (which of course could be faked but Im not a tin-foil hatter). It seems most of the videos and data posts pertaining to this are years old and its cobbled together.

    It sure seems to me like its a bit suspicious (the claim). That said, we (the world) are still dealing with the fact that there have been three confirmed meltdowns there. Far from a good situation.

  5. #5
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    I'm no radiologist, but the poison is in the dose.

    The amount of fissile or gamma emitting material involved compared to the Pacific ocean is vast.
    The concentration falls with the square of the distance.

    It's bad, that's true. It's not so clear that the current conditions threaten life and limb in the US.

    This likely means the end of light water plants that relied on backup cooling systems located below flood levels.

    I can't see what the Japanese could have done differently, as they followed the state of the art when commissioning these plants.

    They're a proven GE design, which is very reliable.

    It bears mentioning that Plutonium was used in concentrations of 6% in the latest fuel rods, and it's unknown how much of that has escaped.

    It would be revealing to known how much the standard daylight exposure to radiation is, from sunlight as compared to this source.

    I would hazard a guess that airline pilots are exposed to more radiation in a year of flying than most of us will attribute to
    this exposure, over a natural lifetime. But that's just a SWAG.
    Last edited by Jim Matthews; 12-30-2013 at 5:23 PM.

  6. #6
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    I agree that the article may be sensationalized. Most media do that as they want the biggest reaction as possible. I doubt this is bunk. I have read post after post from other sources about thousands of gallons of waste dumped into the ocean every day since the disaster happened. I saw a video several days ago with a guy on the beach in San Francisco with a geiger counter. The device picked up radation levels that told him to get away. I have read posts of radioactive fish from the Pacific. It is real and it is pretty bad in my opinion. Hopefully, the ocean and the distance from Japan will protect us from something horrible. If 89 tons of fuel rods melt, it will cause a pretty bad blow to the environment.

  7. #7
    A lot of fear comes from a lack of understanding of Nuclear Physics,

    Imagine three sources

    Uranium - 238 with a half life of 4.46 BILLION years

    Bismuth - 209 with a half life of 1 BILLION x the estimated age of the universe

    Iodine - 131 with a half life of 8 days

    which one is more immediately dangerous?

    cheers

    Dave
    Last edited by Dave Sheldrake; 12-30-2013 at 5:59 PM.
    You did what !

  8. #8
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    I saw a show on TV, maybe Discovery channel or Nat GEO, showing all the mutated plants and veggies that are showing up in Japan. It was like "isn't this an interesting cucumber, growing a second cucumber inside out from the middle of it". No, it's not interesting... it's scary! New life forms are being created. It's not right.
    Last edited by Dennis Peacock; 12-30-2013 at 9:50 PM.

  9. #9
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    The source of the story, TRN, should tell you everything you need to know about the validity of the "report". Reading the disclaimer on TRN's home page was all it took for me to move on…..

  10. #10
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    Ah, sensationalistic reporting at its finest

    Persons residing on the west coast of North America should IMMEDIATELY begin preparing for another possible onslaught of dangerous atmospheric radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster site in Japan.
    I believe the LAST time we were "victims of an onslaught" from them, the radiation was barely registering above background rad levels...
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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Sheldrake View Post
    A lot of fear comes from a lack of understanding of Nuclear Physics,

    Imagine three sources

    Uranium - 238 with a half life of 4.46 BILLION years

    Bismuth - 209 with a half life of 1 BILLION x the estimated age of the universe

    Iodine - 131 with a half life of 8 days

    which one is more immediately dangerous?

    cheers

    Dave
    Gee Dave, don't leave us hanging. Please enlighten us.

  12. #12
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    I love the recommendations to buy duct tape and plastic up your windows. That will buy you another day for sure. ROFL. I love science.


    "Some of the recommendations to mitigate damaging effect of radiation exposure include:
    • Keep up-to-date on developments via the Internet
    • Buy Duct tape, masking tape and self-adhesive weather stripping
    • Cover windows and doors with plastic
    • Cover electrical outlets and light switches with plastic
    • Cover vents in bathrooms and stoves with plastic
    • Purchase a NIOSH N100-certified filter mask for each member of the family
    • Purchase disposable TYVEK suit for going outside
    • Wash obsessively"

  13. #13
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    It really depends on a lot of variables....type of radiation.......half-life.....amount.......distance......the materials between you and the source........the length of time you are exposed to it.......a lot of variables....

    I would suggest TRN isn't known for unbiased reporting.......a lot of things reported today are written to sensationalize the incident because it garners more attention. More attention means more advertising dollars.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  14. #14
    My statement about bunk wasnt to minimize the scope of the disaster, becsuse it is in fact a disaster, and likely to get worse. The bunk part is if there is even steam at present, along with all the other bogus info thats already been re-posted here.

    The simple fact is there are three confrirmed and acknowledged melt downs. There is a high likleihood of it getting even worse. The cores were cooled with salt water (what other choice) and dumped to the ocean, and so on. Its a bad situation. Its been well published that the release is at the very least 20+ times hiroshima.

    Anyone trying to trivialize it, or trivialize what we are guaranteed to see with regards to the known impacts, science or not, is also bunk.

    But while an attempt to minimize three confirmed melt downs is pretty bad, attempting to propagandize information to forment fear is simply disgusting.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Barry View Post
    Gee Dave, don't leave us hanging. Please enlighten us.
    Bismuth is used in many indigestion remedies so I wouldn't be worried too much about that one.

    Uranium 238 decays with emission of Alpha particles or it can Double - Beta decay (not it's primary but possible) it doesn't support chain reactions as is (no bombs here) Alpha particles are blocked by something as simple as day to day clothing so you can hold a lump of 238 metal in your hand with no real danger to you short term.

    Iodine 131 is a hard Gamma emitter, not nice at all, 131 is used in medicine to detect and treat some forms of cancer but it's inane ability to destroy the thyroid is well known.

    In general the news media loves to tell people about huge half lives and how many million years something will be radioactive for when in real terms the short half life sources are usually far more dangerous. Caesium 134 and Caesium 137 were also spewed out by the Fukushima plants and again are hard hard Gamma emitters with relatively short half lives.

    I'd rather take my chances with the Plutonium / Uranium family to be honest....

    cheers

    Dave
    You did what !

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