Nuclear Reactor Meltdown has Occured

[FarmerChick]

oh it is going to be way over 10,000 lives for sure.
huge disaster


and those great people working so hard to keep the nuclear plants safe right now....you know they are putting their lives in direct jeopardy to save that nuclear plant. They aren't running, they are in the line of fire to save lives and plant.

 

[morgj]

Also, remember the media used to report news, now it just tries to invoke fear in everything. When it gives us the news it has to have "experts" tell us what it means depending on who pays them....
Remember the buzz words.

"Some have said"
"Has the potential to"
"Compared to (insert catastrophe here)"
"Government officials are guarded"

Not to mention their creative editing of "people interviews" ensuring that they choose the right sounds bites to play to our inner fears. Helps to keep us in line better. imho.

 

[Collector]

It certainly is a major disaster, the last thing they need now is anymore problems with those reactors that's for sure and for certain.
I am sure the Japanese gov is preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.
That is what we all should be doing daily.

 

[Sunny]

Here is an article I found this morning..

Japan Crisis worse than 3 mile island, experts say
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42084187/ns/world_news-asiapacific/?GT1=43001

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The article says that it is now a level 6. The same as 3 mile island, it was also a level 6. The worse level is 7. Is this going to get to that level soon. I hope not. It is now getting a bit more scary for the whole world.

They are telling people to stay indoors and make their homes air tight.

There is also a no fly zone around the nucular plant..

 

[murphysranch]

I'm not worried. My Step Dad was a nuclear scientist and my Dad worked for GE Nuclear. I know the facts and I'm able to get past the sensationalism and news hysteria.

 

[Icu4dzs]

Here is some information written by a radiological/nuclear science officer named Bruce Beach. It should put your minds at rest for now.

1. The radiation levels in Japan

I have a direct watch on the situation in Japan.
Minute to minute reporting on the scene as it happens.

There has been a substantial increase
in the radiation
on some of the disaster sites.

Substantial for the location
but still insignificant
as far as the US is concerned.

Before -
reported levels were in the microsievert level
and now -
they are being reported in the millisievert level.
Millisievert levels are a thousand times higher
than microsievert levels.

Still
10 millisieverts = 1R (only)

Uh-oh.
I have just now lost my feed.
This is the first time today -
that this has happened.

The news was so important -
that the Prime Minister himself
came on to make the announcement -
and now it has been interrupted.

I don't know the significance of this.
Perhaps it will resume
before I finish typing.

Anyway - at one Japanese nuclear location
at one particular spot
readings of 10R (I did the conversion)
were reported.

This would be VERY serious
if you were experiencing that -
but you are here -
and that is there.

In point of fact -
the area surrounding that site
has been evacuated for 20 kilometers -
and for the area from 20 kilometers to 30 kilometers away
the people are being told to stay indoors.

Now further - regarding the significance of 10R.
A healthy adult male
could stay in the presence of that source
for 20 hours -
without experiencing noticeable effect.

Ahhh - my feed is back.

But again -
that is there -
and not here.

In fact if you were there -
you would have to be RIGHT there.

Most likely (almost certainly) if you were a distance
of a quarter mile from the location
that is 10R -
the radiation would then be less than 1R.

The effect of radiation reduces with distance.
Think of it as a light bulb.
If you are right next to a light bulb
you can read by it.
But if it is dark and you move a distance away from it
you soon don't get enough light to read.

If you are right next to a radiation source -
you can be 'burned' by it -
but the further away from it that you move -
the less 'burn' you will get from it.

This is all by analogy.
We don't usually use these exact words
in explaining radiation exposure.

--------
I am still irritated by the nebulous reporting
of the media.

Such as the radiation has doubled!
So what - if it was insignificantly low?

The New York Times
reported that sailors on a ship
that went nearby -
got as much radiation in two days -
as they would normally get in a month.

This means NOTHING!

The background cosmic radiation
that we all get in a month
is insignificant -
and the fact they got that much in two days -
means NOTHING!

In fact -
there are places in the US
where the radiation is more than ten times
NATURALLY higher -
than the sailors experienced.

Yet New York Times went on and on
about the decontamination procedures
that the sailors went through -
and so did the rest of the media.

It makes it out like it is something -
but it is NOTHING!

Likewise - pictures are shown of technicians
in frightening radiation suits
testing small children with radiation probes.

What nonsense!
The technicians don't need any protection -
even if the radiation level in the child's thyroid
(where they measure on the side of the neck)
has been raised by the Iodine 131 isotope.

Scare! Scare! Scare!
Drama! Drama! Drama!

Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!
Wait until you have a nuclear war -
and then you will have SOMETHING!
Try getting KI then.
Hah!

--------------
2. Jet Streams and radiation danger in the US.

Boy, or boy, or boy.
So much I hear about that.
Beautiful graphics.
Interactive sites.
Video and satellite updates.
Just a flood information.

Overwhelming and all irrelevant.
It just isn't going up into the air like that.
This is not a nuclear explosion.

Even the hydrogen explosions
(and that has nothing to do
with the likes of a hydrogen bomb)
are not taking the stuff up that high.

It is all little and local.
Even for the Japanese -
thirty miles out.
Certainly not coming across the Pacific.

Even the amounts that they are dealing with there -
are still peace time standards -
and all the thing we have been talking about
for years -
are wartime standards -
which is a thousand -
multi-thousand -
more radiation.

But -
the hysteria continues.
It is worse than
"The Martians are coming -
the Martians are coming."
or
"The Boogie Man is about to get you."

Suck it up folks.
This is not a threat.

----------
3. Potassium Iodide (KI) and radiation protection

Okay - maybe some good will come out of this -
and people will stock up on KI.

But you aren't going to need it now -
for this.

And there is a great amount of misunderstanding
about what KI does for you.

It simply protects you from one isotope.
Iodine 131.

That gets into particles in water and milk -
and if you consume it -
it can get into your thyroid.

 

[patandchickens]

The above (and some other pish-you-people-should-relax posts) seems to be operating under the assumption that North Americans' concerns are basically about *themselves*.

I cannot obviously speak for the whole continent <g> but speaking for myself, that is entirely NOT my concern.

My issue is that a) it is impossible to even make an intelligent guess as to what the overall outcome will be, because of inadequate information and because things have not finished happening; b) it seems pretty clear from what info *has* seeped out that *some* people (on or near the site) HAVE been exposed to biologically significant radiation, and I think that is a bad thing; c) it is entirely possible that there will be PERSISTANT ecosystem-level effects to some degree or another at least in the area near the reactor site, but IMO information on this is entirely lacking.

It is possible to be worried on behalf of others than oneself ... even on the behalf of farmland, shellfish, sharks, etc etc.

(edited to remove strange sentence fragment )

Pat

 

[Sunny]

The above (and some other pish-you-people-should-relax posts) seems to be operating under the assumption that North Americans' concerns are basically about *themselves*.

I cannot obviously speak for the whole continent <g> but speaking for myself, that is entirely NOT my concern.

My issue is that a) it is impossible to even make an intelligent guess as to what the overall outcome will be, because of inadequate information and because things have not finished happening, and seems entirely possible that; b) it seems pretty clear from what info *has* seeped out that *some* people (on or near the site) HAVE been exposed to biologically significant radiation, and I think that is a bad thing; c) it is entirely possible that there will be PERSISTANT ecosystem-level effects to some degree or another at least in the area near the reactor site, but IMO information on this is entirely lacking.

It is possible to be worried on behalf of others than oneself ... even on the behalf of farmland, shellfish, sharks, etc etc.


Pat

Great Post..

Yes one of my main worries is the effects it will do to the enviroment. Maybe not the US. But what about Japan. The radiation may contaminate their soil. It may effect their food supply, animals and plants. ANd that will be even more problems for the people of japan. I think they have gone through enough. I bet many japanese are very scared and worried right now.. This could greatly effect their country. I hope they get the nucular plant under control so they can focus on rebuilding and taking back their lives. Which from the great devestation there is probably going to take awhile.

 

[me&thegals]

Thank you, Pat. Well said. AFAIK, I don't live near nuclear reactors, but I still care what happens in this situation.

 

[patandchickens]

Speaking of environmental impacts, has anyone seen any explanation of where the seawater they're continually adding to the reactor is GOING?

I am totally not understanding whether a) it is a one-way flow and after getting heated up by the reactor fuel it is swooshing out to sea; or b) it is just being used to replenish what's getting boiled away (thus, it is what's ending up as steam releases), or c) both of the above, or d) something else?

I would be happier -- speaking as an aquatic (*intended* to be marine, but got distracted <g>) community ecologist, as well as generally being an inhabitant of the planet and rather fond of all the various bits of it -- if I knew for sure that it was neither (a) nor (c).

Anyone seen any clarification of this in the news?

Pat