Snow blankets Japan's tsunami deadlands

Asia One ^ | 03/16/11

[TigerLikesRooster]

AFP

Snow blankets Japan's tsunami deadlands

Wed, Mar 16, 2011

TOKYO, JAPAN - A blanket of snow covered disaster areas of northeast Japan on Wednesday, amid a cold snap in the debris-strewn wastelands created by last week's quake and tsunami catastrophe.

Survivors and rescue crews - already facing an acute lack of water, supplies and fuel, power blackouts and poor telecommunications - had their troubles compounded by snow flurries over roads and rubble.

Temperatures in the worst-hit Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures fell sharply to near zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), and the meteorological agency forecast a drop to minus five degrees C Thursday.

[KEmom]

Is this near the nuclear reactors? could the snow and cold help in cooling them? I realize everyone in this region has been through so much already, but maybe the cold and snow are useful now.

Prayers for all in the region!

[KarlInOhio]

You can remove radiation from water by boiling it.

I really hope you just forgot a < /sarcasm> tag. Unless you are actually distilling the water, most of the radioactive materials would be concentrated by boiling the water. Take a gallon of radioactive water, boil it for a few minutes to kill any bacteria and wind up with three quarts of water with the same amount of radioactivity as the gallon originally had.

[squarebarb]

Stay safe and God bless those suffering people in the north.

[JimSEA]

I would imagine worry about the fate and wellbeing of the people in the most affected regions are strong in your area. Stay safe.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

From all I’ve read so far, the radiation levels won’t kill anybody as fast as thirst or filth.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

With the way the media is hysterically covering this, I wouldn’t be surprised if the snow is called nuclear winter.

All day yesterday, Drudge was linking to the forecast using the words "Nuclear snow".

[mom4melody]

Yes, and the cold temps will slow decomp and disease spread.

[I Buried My Guns]

You can remove radiation from water by boiling it.

"I really hope you just forgot a < /sarcasm> tag..."

I was taught that radioactivity has no physical form but rather attaches itself to stuff. Dust, for example. By boiling the water you remove the dust and any other particulate matter that is capable of "holding" the radioactivity.

If I am wrong, please correct me. I do not want to excrete incorrect info on FR.

PS: I got this from a 1950s government pamphlet.

[KarlInOhio]

There is radiation which can be split among alpha (helium nuclei), beta (electrons) and gamma. The first two are physical particles and the last is a high energy photon. They are dangerous when they hit you but have no residual danger. Once an alpha or beta particle has hit something and lost all of it kinetic energy it is just a free helium nucleus or electron.

The danger is from radioactive materials which produce these types of radiation. For example iodine-131 will decay into xenon-131 which is chemically inert and a beta particle. If you suck down a big glass of water with a lot of I-131, it will concentrate in your thyroid, emit a lot of beta radiation and potentially kill or give cancer to your thyroid. If you boiled that glass of water all the I-131 would stay there just as salt would when you boil salt water, so you would get even more I-131 when you drink enough water to quench your thirst. If you had a full distillation equipment you could get the iodine-free steam off the boiling water and then cool it down to make your glass of safe water.

I was taught that radioactivity has no physical form but rather attaches itself to stuff. Dust, for example. By boiling the water you remove the dust and any other particulate matter that is capable of "holding" the radioactivity.

Have you ever boiled a pan dry? Or even just let drops of hard water evaporate? The foreign matter (unless it is in a form more volatile than water, like alcohol) will just concentrate in the pan as you boil the water. Where I live that means a nice crunchy layer of lime (yum, yum).

[I Buried My Guns]

Thank you for curing me of my ignorance.

[wardaddy]

Be sure to get under your school desk...now that’ll save ya right?

man...remember those days?

Pajamas Media and Levin had a good long article on exactly what is going on nuke plant wise in Japan yesterday

[KarlInOhio]

Be sure to get under your school desk...now that’ll save ya right?

man...remember those days?

Nope. First, I was born a little late. Second, B-52s were parked about a mile from my school so a desk isn't going to do much when I'm in the fireball radius from a Soviet megaton warhead targeted for my neighborhood. Yeah, I could survive for an extra tenth of a second from ducking and covering. We did have lots of drills on how to take cover in case the godless tornadoes attacked us, though.

[wardaddy]

oh yea...I am 53 and at French Elementary from 1963-1969 we had nuclear attack drills

under the desk or in hallway or the fallout shelter which was the lower level supply dressing area of the auditoriu,

useless as you say

and black and white instructional films

my poor parents...that would scare me now

course we got Muzzies now..far more dangerous than Soviets emotionally speaking

Russkies were not stupid

[GATOR NAVY]

We are very glad almost all of my wife’s family lives in Kyushu and Chugoku. A few extended family members are in Kanto. That’s still much better than being in Tohoku.