I want to start with this neat little piece of information. Our government has been saying there is nothing to worry about. Right. So why are they buying up Potassium Iodide and Thyroshield en masse?
Purchasers of IOSAT:
US Postal Service - 1.6 million tablet
Center for Disease Control - 2 million+ tablets
Defense Intelligence Agency - 50,000 - tablets
US Department of Homeland Security - (blank)
US Navy and US Army - (blank)
Purchasers of ThyroShield
US Department of Health and Human Services - 144 million tablets
US Department of Homeland Security - (blank)
Where it says blank it means they declined to show the amount they bought. Top secret and all.
Now if there is nothing to worry about at all, then why buy THIS much nuclear preventative medicine?
The scariest part of this whole thing is the 600,000 spent fuel rods located just out side of the reactor casing in the Spent Fuel Pool. Over 40 years worth of spent fuel rods just sitting fairly unprotected. It's come to a point where they can't even get close enough to pump in sea water, they have to air lift it in and drop it and as we all know sea water is NOT the proper coolant. It's boiling and evaporating before they can even get more in. This is barely slowing it at the most.
I personally cannot imagine that with all the know-how in the world today, combined with the time they've had, nobody will be able to come up with a solution to contain this situation. This won't be another chernobyl.
Chernobyl didn't last near as long as this has. It exploded and then it sealed itself off. In this case we have 6 reactors of which 4 have had problems and they still haven't succeeded in cooling them off yet.
It's certainly an extremely precarious situation. They're currently trying to restore power to the plants in order to reactivate the cooling systems before a total meltdown occurs. Surely with so many experts from around the world working on it and with so many resources at their disposal they can stop this before it becomes catastrophic, right? Time will tell, I guess.
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Well I know for sure one of the coolant pools, I think it's called a suppression ring, is ruptured. So they'll somehow have to fix that to run coolant through it again.
Well for one they accepted help from the US, but the US isn't allowing their troops within a certain radius of the plant because of radiation concerns, and the help they were offering is equipment like water pumps and such.
And the reason this is "taking longer" than Chernobyl is because its being better contained than Chernobyl. When the plant in Chernobyl blew up it was because it happened so suddenly and there were no successful efforts to contain it. Not to mention that theres no way this ends up like Chernobyl, and the worst case scenario is essentially more radiation leaking. Not to mention that Chernobyl in no way sealed itself off. That was a large part of the problem.
I personally cannot imagine that with all the know-how in the world today, combined with the time they've had, nobody will be able to come up with a solution to contain this situation.
Well you could say the same thing about world hunger and war, but those things still happen. Its an almost unprecedented situation (Three Mile Island was basically nothing, and Chernobyl happened so fast and the plant was so different that there's not much to learn from it since they already have contained it beyond that point). "All the know-how in the world" has lead to the solution of dumping a bunch of water on it, but really in that case you just have to hope that it doesn't heat up faster than the water cools it off.
If anything I'd say its being overplayed. There's been no fatalities, and its a large radiation leak, which is terrible, but I don't think that it really has as much of an effect on nuclear power in general as people are making it seem. Its the 5th most powerful recorded earthquake. Of course things are going to go terribly wrong. The plant was only safe up to something like an 8.0 earthquake, and there were concerns about the plant's safety before the earthquake, so a better design could have prevented some of these problems. And for the record, the reason the plant isn't able to cool itself as designed is because the tsunami flooded its emergency generators that normally cool the fuel rods.
Them buying all that stuff isn't valid reason to panic. If anything, they just want to cash in on fear. Shit reaching the USA all the way from Japan isn't really a concern.
Them buying all that stuff isn't valid reason to panic. If anything, they just want to cash in on fear. Shit reaching the USA all the way from Japan isn't really a concern.
During Chernobyl, the amount of radiation found in other areas was miniscule but widespread. Theres no way that this nuclear crisis would somehow produce more radiation than Chernobyl, so its really not an issue for anywhere but Japan and possibly a small surrounding area.
Who's to say it won't get worse though? All attempts to cool the cores so far have failed and now they've resorted to dumping in sea water via aircraft. Seems pretty last resort to me.
Honestly, there's so much media coverage of this event that it's hard not to read too far into this, not to mention the fact that it's a constantly evolving situation and sources are unreliable (Gregory Jaczko's claims of spent fuel rods vs TEPCO; not even the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has their story straight). You're better off reading the wiki article on this event than doomsaying "news" outlets like FOX or Infowars...
High winds prevented the helicopters from aiming effectively during the sea water dumping. This wasn't a last resort solution; it was one of many solutions they have implemented in tandem.
Unfortunately though, the lack of credible information from Japanese authorities is partly to blame for public anxiety.
Who's to say it won't get worse though? All attempts to cool the cores so far have failed and now they've resorted to dumping in sea water via aircraft. Seems pretty last resort to me.
Water is one of the most effective coolants other than the plant's own cooling system, which failed because of the tsunami. And it won't get worse simply because the plant is shut off, so the only possibility is for more radiation leaks. Which is very, very bad, but far from the explosion scenario that happened at Chernobyl.
Well for one, string theory has much more to do with astronomy than nuclear physics. And the reason they aren't doing the same thing as at Chernobyl is because they actually had a containment dome in the first place, so they don't have to make a makeshift one after the disaster. The plant at Chernobyl was extremely unsafe, and thats why the situation got so out of hand.
Well I would agree that some news station are up-playing this situation, such as the Nytimes recent article which implies that without these repairs being finished it would be extremely devastating to the whole country.
But, because of Japan's previous experience with radiation the people have a immense fear of any radiation whatsoever, as is passed down from generation to generation
Even so, this looks more like Three Mile Island that Chernobyl
To dismiss Michio Kaku as someone who only deals with Astronomy and String Theory is kind of silly. The man has taught physics for 30 years. He deals with gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force all the time. His parents are also Japanese immigrants and he's no stranger to the country. Sure he's opposed to nuclear energy, but I'm pretty sure he knows his stuff. At least more so than the users on this board. He's not even speaking against it, he's just voicing his concerns on a pre-existing problem and stating the easiest way to fix it.
Just because the reactors had a containment dome doesn't mean anything. Those are breached which is why radiation is leaking. So completely sealing it doesn't sound like a bad idea to me.
I'm also not saying this is the apocalypse, I get the impression some of you are getting that vibe. I'm just saying it's a bad situation that continues and still isn't resolved.
I'm also not dismissing nuclear power as a good choice for energy production. This was just a bad circumstance. Japan has never had such a large earthquake in recorded history. I don't blame them for not letting a hypothetical situation stop them from progressing. I'm strongly opposed to fossil fuels and as others have pointed out wind, water, and solar energy just isn't up to par quite yet but are very nice to supplement with.
I wasn't trying to imply that he doesn't know anything about it, I'm just saying that its not his specific field. I'm sure he knows a great deal about it though. The main reason I was pointing that out is because I disagree with his point that Japan needs to treat this in any way like Chernobyl, and that the reason that Russia dumped all that cement and everything on the Chernobyl plant was because it didn't have a secondary containment dome, which is standard on all nuclear plants nowadays.
I've actually read somewhere that the ones in Japan don't have the fail safe containment.
Dunno how true that is but may be worth looking into more. They were built in the late 70's early 80's I think right?
I just don't know what else they can do though besides cross their fingers and hope for the best. It doesn't seem like water by airdrop/water cannon is going to do much if they start heating up again.
Pumping in sea water may be okay, but the other methods do seem a little like using a squirt gun on a camp fire to me.
Yea, its an older plant that has had safety concerns even before this earthquake. And they have failsafes, but the tsunami flooded them and cut off power to the plant's cooling system, which apparently has recently been linked back up again. But in the end, worst case scenario isn't another Chernobyl. If that was going to happen it would've already. The plant is no longer operational and as such the rods can't heat up again, and the worst possible thing is more and more radiation. Which is obviously very bad and very serious, but its not going to cause an explosion. The explosions that happened before were caused by a build up of hydrogen, not something to do with the fuel rods.
Source: http://www.nukepills.com/
Where it says blank it means they declined to show the amount they bought. Top secret and all.
Now if there is nothing to worry about at all, then why buy THIS much nuclear preventative medicine?
The scariest part of this whole thing is the 600,000 spent fuel rods located just out side of the reactor casing in the Spent Fuel Pool. Over 40 years worth of spent fuel rods just sitting fairly unprotected. It's come to a point where they can't even get close enough to pump in sea water, they have to air lift it in and drop it and as we all know sea water is NOT the proper coolant. It's boiling and evaporating before they can even get more in. This is barely slowing it at the most.
Source: http://www.infowars.com/alert-fukushima-coverup-40-years-of-spent-nuclear-rods-blown-sky-high/
Other sources:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/03/new-fire-reported-at-fukushima-reactor-no-4/1
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110316/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_earthquake
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/16/japans-uncertain-following-radiation-level-panic/
Plan to add more later, but what do you think?
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And the reason this is "taking longer" than Chernobyl is because its being better contained than Chernobyl. When the plant in Chernobyl blew up it was because it happened so suddenly and there were no successful efforts to contain it. Not to mention that theres no way this ends up like Chernobyl, and the worst case scenario is essentially more radiation leaking. Not to mention that Chernobyl in no way sealed itself off. That was a large part of the problem.
Well you could say the same thing about world hunger and war, but those things still happen. Its an almost unprecedented situation (Three Mile Island was basically nothing, and Chernobyl happened so fast and the plant was so different that there's not much to learn from it since they already have contained it beyond that point). "All the know-how in the world" has lead to the solution of dumping a bunch of water on it, but really in that case you just have to hope that it doesn't heat up faster than the water cools it off.
If anything I'd say its being overplayed. There's been no fatalities, and its a large radiation leak, which is terrible, but I don't think that it really has as much of an effect on nuclear power in general as people are making it seem. Its the 5th most powerful recorded earthquake. Of course things are going to go terribly wrong. The plant was only safe up to something like an 8.0 earthquake, and there were concerns about the plant's safety before the earthquake, so a better design could have prevented some of these problems. And for the record, the reason the plant isn't able to cool itself as designed is because the tsunami flooded its emergency generators that normally cool the fuel rods.
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Honestly, there's so much media coverage of this event that it's hard not to read too far into this, not to mention the fact that it's a constantly evolving situation and sources are unreliable (Gregory Jaczko's claims of spent fuel rods vs TEPCO; not even the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has their story straight). You're better off reading the wiki article on this event than doomsaying "news" outlets like FOX or Infowars...
High winds prevented the helicopters from aiming effectively during the sea water dumping. This wasn't a last resort solution; it was one of many solutions they have implemented in tandem.
Unfortunately though, the lack of credible information from Japanese authorities is partly to blame for public anxiety.
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http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/03/physicist-what-they-are-doing-is.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576198421680697248.html?mod=djemWMP_h
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0318/At-Japan-s-radiation-checkpoints-relief-when-tests-are-clean
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/asia/19japan.html?_r=1&ref=world
But, because of Japan's previous experience with radiation the people have a immense fear of any radiation whatsoever, as is passed down from generation to generation
Even so, this looks more like Three Mile Island that Chernobyl
Just because the reactors had a containment dome doesn't mean anything. Those are breached which is why radiation is leaking. So completely sealing it doesn't sound like a bad idea to me.
I'm also not saying this is the apocalypse, I get the impression some of you are getting that vibe. I'm just saying it's a bad situation that continues and still isn't resolved.
I'm also not dismissing nuclear power as a good choice for energy production. This was just a bad circumstance. Japan has never had such a large earthquake in recorded history. I don't blame them for not letting a hypothetical situation stop them from progressing. I'm strongly opposed to fossil fuels and as others have pointed out wind, water, and solar energy just isn't up to par quite yet but are very nice to supplement with.
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Dunno how true that is but may be worth looking into more. They were built in the late 70's early 80's I think right?
I just don't know what else they can do though besides cross their fingers and hope for the best. It doesn't seem like water by airdrop/water cannon is going to do much if they start heating up again.
Pumping in sea water may be okay, but the other methods do seem a little like using a squirt gun on a camp fire to me.
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