Japan Earthquake News

[warhed]

Sorry but I was talking about fresh water reservoirs which are used to supply drinking water. In Japan radiation got vented to air -> moves to any open source of water via air.

Let's clear up the terminology here.  Radiation and Contamination are two separate animals.  Radiation is emitted, in the same manner as light, it doesn't fly up and come down, it doesn't turn corners, it doesn't seep into the ground.  Contamination however, are radioactive particles that can do all of that.
If a plant is leaking radiation, it's not going to contaminate the ground water.  If a plant is leaking contamination, it can do that.
The separation of these terms is very very important when dealing with any sort of nuclear release.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Let's clear up the terminology here.  Radiation and Contamination are two separate animals.  Radiation is emitted, in the same manner as light, it doesn't fly up and come down, it doesn't turn corners, it doesn't seep into the ground.  Contamination however, are radioactive particles that can do all of that.
If a plant is leaking radiation, it's not going to contaminate the ground water.  If a plant is leaking contamination, it can do that.
The separation of these terms is very very important when dealing with any sort of nuclear release.

Ok lets speak about contamination then. The delivery method remains the same. Contamination is vented -> ends up to open water reservoirs.

[Megalodon]

How long does the pluotonium in the dirt last that they just found, 6500 years or so?

How was the blanket trip Rolex?

[warhed]

How long does the pluotonium in the dirt last that they just found, 6500 years or so?

How was the blanket trip Rolex?

Well, it takes a long time for plutonium to be completely non-radioactive, the half-life of plutonium-238 is 88 years, 239 is around 24,000.  But don't forget, it also takes regular soil a long time to become non-radioactive as well.  

If not cleaned up, probably a few hundred years or less before it would be below background levels (it will be cleaned up far before that).

Plutonium really isn't that nasty as far as negative effects on humans goes.  A distance with nothing but air in between you, or paper, or clothing is enough to stop the Alpha particles from reaching your body.  The threat really comes when it is ingested or inhaled.  However, with a proper cleanup, that hopefully will not be happening.

Compared to pollution from a properly running coal plant, this is nothing.

[warhed]

The tough part of the current situation is not being able to stop contamination from leaving the plant.  The best way to do that would be to stop emergency cooling efforts and repair the systems and infrastructure damage, obviously that is not an option.  So until they are able to lower the radiation levels near the reactor to a point where work can begin on repairing vital systems, there is going to be a leaking of radioactive contamination.  It should remain in a relatively small radius around the plant however.

I've pretty much given up hope of calming those who have fallen victim to fear mongering.  Either people who claim to be scared can do a little research and understand what is happening, or they can continue waiting for a nuclear holocaust while accusing authorities of lying to them (for what reason they would lie I have no explanation).

[Sundowner]

This guy definitely needs some calming:

Head of safety research for boiling water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at the Japan plant.


http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/29/workers-japan-nuke-plant-lost-race-save-reactor-expert-says/

Workers at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant appeared to have "lost the race" to save one of the reactors, a U.S. expert told the Guardian.

Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at the Japan plant, says the radioactive core in the Unit 2 reactor appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on a concrete floor.

"The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the drywell," Lahey told the paper.

Lahey did add there was no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe.

Japan was hit by another earthquake Wednesday after a magnitude-5.5 earthquake struck off the east coast of Honshu, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Japan's government vowed Tuesday to overhaul nuclear safety standards once its radiation-leaking reactor complex is under control, admitting that its safeguards were insufficient to protect the plant against the March 11 tsunami.

The struggle to contain radiation at the complex has unfolded with near-constant missteps — including two workers drenched Tuesday with radioactive water despite wearing supposedly waterproof suits. The unfolding drama has drawn increasing criticism of the utility that owns the plant as well as scrutiny of Japan's preparedness for nuclear crises.

"Our preparedness was not sufficient," Edano told reporters. "When the current crisis is over, we must examine the accident closely and thoroughly review" safety standards........


Cover the plant most threatening now that would deprive access to tend the other plants.

http://video.godlikeproductions.com/video/quote_3_Raging_Nuclear_Meltdowns_In_Progress_--_Dr_Michio_Kaku?id=c2bc6fe136b85fd7ed6

Regards,
Sun

[moot]

What I read was that the workers who got wet did so because they neglected rad readings or protocols.

[Megalodon]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/29/japan-lost-race-save-nuclear-reactor

"At least part of the molten core, which includes melted fuel rods and zirconium alloy cladding, seemed to have sunk through the steel "lower head" of the pressure vessel around reactor two, Lahey said"

"The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the drywell," Lahey said. "I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards."

"The drywell is surrounded by a secondary steel-and-concrete structure designed to keep radioactive material from escaping into the environment. But an earlier hydrogen explosion at the reactor may have damaged this."

[Megalodon]

I've pretty much given up hope of calming those who have fallen victim to fear mongering.  Either people who claim to be scared can do a little research and understand what is happening, or they can continue waiting for a nuclear holocaust while accusing authorities of lying to them (for what reason they would lie I have no explanation).

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) admitted to the possibility in its early March 28 press conference that the steel Reactor Pressure Vessels that hold nuclear fuel rods in the Reactors 1, 2, 3 at Fukushima I Nuclear Plant may have broken. TEPCO explained the situation "Imagine there's a hole." Because of this "hole", contaminated water that's been poured into the Pressure Vessels to cool the fuel rods continues to leak, it is assumed.

In the Reactors 1, 2, and 3, the water level within the Pressure Vessels are not rising as much as desired. TEPCO admitted in the March 28 press conference that the reason why the Pressure Vessels haven't been filled with water was "probably a hole near the bottom, that's the image we have". Asked why there was a hole, TEPCO answered they did not know.

The Reactor Pressure Vessels (RPVs) are the most important of the 5-layer protection against radiation leak (other 4 are the fuel pellets, cladding of fuel rods, Container Vessels, and the Reactor buildings). The RPVs at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is made of 16-centimeter thick steel, and it has an outlet at the bottom to insert measuring instruments. It is possible that the leak is from that area.

TEPCO also admitted to the possibility of the exposed nuclear fuel rods overheating and damaging the RPVs. According to the nuclear experts, if the fuel rods get damaged and start to melt, it will fall to the bottom of the RPVs and settle. It then becomes harder to cool with water effectively, because the surface area is smaller. It is possible that the melted fuel rods melted the wall of the RPVs with high temperature and created a hole.

[Megalodon]

Radioactive water obstructing Fukushima cooling operation.

is this radiation or contaminated water?

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201103290170.html
"The water has filled trenches extending from the turbine buildings at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors and is also lying in pools in the basements of the three reactors' turbine buildings. It is thought that the water in the trenches flowed from the basements

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the plant's operator, said it was planning to pump the contaminated water into storage tanks on the grounds of the plant. That will involve shifting thousands of tons of radioactive water. Workers have been piling up dirt around the trenches to prevent them from spilling over. TEPCO workers began piling more dirt around the entrance to the shaft at the No. 1 reactor from Monday.


Stricken nuclear plant faces staffing difficulties ...These guys are getting $133 a day?
""We cannot force them to go. It's been such a headache."
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201103290168.html

[warhed]

Water is not radioactive, therefore something radioactive must be in the water, so it would be contaminated water, if you were asking the question for real.

My comment of calming fears is about the hype surrounding the events.  People are still waiting for a nuclear explosion and large death toll, which is not going to happen.

As I said before, even with all the damage to the reactor vessel and external contamination around the plant, the risks and contamination isn't even close to what a properly running coal plant produces.

[mechanic]

Nuclear contamination from this disaster is less likely to kill you on the other side of the world than over exposure to sunlight.

[Megalodon]

Nuclear contamination from this disaster is less likely to kill you on the other side of the world than over exposure to sunlight.

Bat,

How bout there in Japan?

I'm not worried about it... I live within the 50 <20km ring actually> mile ring here in the US.
Really not the point.

Here in Cali we have the Bakesfield natural gas deposit, one of the largest in the world to date. It was discovered back in the 50's by Hess Oil, some loley geoligist and his crew, named Edward  McCollough. We could split gas that and make Hydogen and Co2 , send the C02 back into the well to push out the Gas and burn the Hydrogen for power, which is what 20x the power of the gas?. The exhaust is water.

Why do we need this here?
Why would we make some so damaging if pretel something went wrong? Why put it on a fualt line?
What are the alternatives?
How many of these mothers do they have in UK? 19
How many are going off line? Why?

[EskimoJoe]

Nuclear contamination from this disaster is less likely to kill you on the other side of the world than over exposure to sunlight.

All the comments here about the radiation reaching Alaska
and all the doubt when the news reports the levels are far,
far below what is considered unsafe are absolutely
ridiculous.

It appalls me once again that people would rather
panic and feel unsafe, paranoid, as opposed to following the
example of the Japanese people who have stayed for the
most part calm throughout this ordeal.

[mechanic]

I don't know the answers to those questions. I was not directing my comment at anyone personaly. Just throwing it out there!

I could even be wrong. I just pulled the comment out of my backside as usual