I'm kind of surprised that I don't see anyone talking about the Fukushima meltdown here at the Monkey. Here's some interesting links: West Coast of North America to Be Hit Hard by Fukushima Radiation | Zero Hedge and Pissin' On The Roses: [Max Alert] Columbia River Nuclear MULTIPLE Detections Of High "Background" Radiation Nobody has anything nice to say about three liquid, hot, radioactive cores slowly working their way down into the earth, ready to hit the Tokyo aquifer at any moment? I started to look at where all my seafood comes from last year. I select Atlantic herring and tuna.
I've been keeping my eye on goings-on, since the news doesn't talk about it anymore. It's certainly worth keeping up on. Why are you trying to stress out the Monkeys, gb?? Surely if the mainstream news isn't talking about it; there's nothing to talk about.
James Corbett covers the topic virtually every day: The Corbett Report | fukushima I routinely post little bits if the topic arises, but I think most of us are following the developments and possible meltdown.
I searched for anything on Fukushima, but I guess my search-fu is not up to par. Do we have a running thread for news pertaining to Fukushima? If not, we should.
and what happens once these hit an aquifer. I would imagine this would cause quite a bit of water to flash to steam under ground, let alone contaminating the water. How long does it take to extinguish a hot radioactive core with water or would the cores just continue down into the earth?
The whole point of pouring water on those cores is to keep them from MELTING... If they are Solid, and being Cooled, they will NOT be migrating lower into the ground. That only happens if they heat Up to the Point of being able to MELT Dirt, and make it liquid. At that point when it does HIT Ground Water, there is a Massive Steam Explosion that then sends the RadioActive Materials into the Air driven by the Steam and scatters it all over then area. This is similar to the Chernobyl Experience, where it wasn't a Steam Explosion, but a Massive Fire burning the Carbon Pile Core, that caused the Radioactive Material to be scattered all over the neighborhood, and to a limited amount, around the world. There has never been a Ground Water Steam Explosion in a failed Nuke Plant, YET, and we all pray that there never will be one, at this Plant. So the World watches and waits.....
I agree. Somebody can create a single "ALL THINGS FUKUSHIMA" thread if they like. My search-fu is also weak...so, I started to investigate the forum a while back and decided to start tagging every thread I read from then on. Follow this link to learn a new way to search: Did You Know? Forum Tips and Tricks (New) | Page 5 If you type in "fukushima" and "radiation", you should end up with great results. Good luck!
Pretty much this, in a nutshell. Now, there's been plenty of gabbling going on, about the water flowing into the Pacific, and how it's going to contaminate the ocean.....but that will be, at most, a local effect. Consider this......thousands of gallons of water will flow into TRILLIONS of gallons of ocean. It will have no more effect than if you gave the government $10,000 to help pay off the national debt.
Message Radiation Network Update: 8/21/2013, 7:45 A.M. - Dangerously high Radiation levels at Fukushima A Japanese news agency is reporting that readings of 100 mSv/hr are being emitted from leaking tanks of contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Let's put that reading in context. First of all, the dose rate of mSv/hr stands for milli-Sieverts per hour, or one thousandth of a Sievert/hr. In contrast, typical background readings at sea level approximate .1 µSv/hr, expressed as .1micro-Sieverts/hr. The micro-prefix stands for one millionth, so if my math is correct, the readings of the leaking water therefore amount to 1 million times normal background levels!!! Beyond the obvious point of the story, what I would offer is that when communicating readings of radiation levels, it is not enough, and is even irresponsible to report just a number, like 100. The number must always be accompanied by the applicable unit of measurement, such as 100 milli-Sv/hr or 100 CPM. And in this business, decimal places also matter. I pass on this reminder because in the early days of the Fukushima disaster, it was common for readings to be mis-reported. By now though, most of us understand that radiation dose levels can be expressed in a variety of units.
there is this thread: Pump and Pray: Tepco Might Have to Pour Water on Fukushima Wreckage Forever | Page 2
Impact to US West Coast from Fukushima disaster likely larger than anticipated, several reports indicate - Bellona
The trouble with using numbers like Sieverts units is that there is nothing to relate to regarding what they are and what they do. Even worse when the number is "counts" (per minute) especially since "counts" (per minute) is simply a number of reactions in the detector tubes and says nothing about the radiation that causes the counts. There is a world of difference between the effects on a body between alpha, beta, gamma, and neutron interactions with a body (or anything else, for that matter.) Just for s&g, I clicked on melbo's link to "messages" and the Radiation Network. There is no clarification there, either. Lots of "may be the result of" and other non specific, non-postive, linkages to reality, all speculation and questions. That said, maybe the Radiation Network has something useful to science, but my first reaction is that it is a pot stirring operation, amateur data collector looking for revenue to support the ongoing stirring. One thing that did make sense was his explanation between "pancake" and "tube" detectors. That was something that must be accounted for when calculating the geometry and efficiency (g&e) factors when doing sample work. That still does not tell me much about the incident radiation, whether low or high energy gamma or whatever it might really be. (Geiger tubes do NOT detect energy levels, only the number of incident interactions. Energy level has everything to do with damage in a body.) (And his math is incorrect, if mine is right. I'll leave it there as an exercise for the student. Also, the background radiation level cited is way off.) For the curious, recommended reading - Nuclear Reactor Engineering: Reactor Systems Engineering, 4th Edition, Vol. 2: Samuel Glasstone, Alexander Sesonske: 9780412985317: Amazon.com: Books It is a text on radioactivity, radiation, and reactor design that covers much more than the subject of this thread. Very heavy engineering, but goes from very basic discussions into high details. Not at all an easy read, but will dispel some fear mongering found in the media. VERY pricy book, but maybe the library has, or can get one. (Sold mine years ago, an earlier edition.)
believe your math matches mine, sir. And, of course, that is at current levels.This could always increase. This will not be a local only event. If nothing else, it will make a large effect on the world's food supplies. With the food cut off from the sea, costs still climbing on containment, and repairs (if possible), I could see Japan calling in foreign debts to help defray the increased food costs. Just how much of our foreign debt IS with Japan?
