Posted on 03/30/2011 9:04:55 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
I agree Eak3....below is video of the concrete pump they’ll be using...impressive piece of machinery...
I have been extremely impressed that these reactors held as they did....amazing stamina of the workers to have worked from the beginning...by hand...in the dark....to keep six, no less, reactors from melting out...and this in the face of major Tusami and Earthquake of the likes few can identify with....and they still have not let up trying to secure these. Stunning!
I don’t think anyone here on FR can relate to the pressure these workers had from the beginning....it is beyond my ability to imagine wroking in the dark for as long as they have..and basically by hand in the environment of what they were faced with....Stunning courage!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFIMOCHuowI&feature=related
About one in five know the answer straight off. I’m giving the remainder the benefit of the doubt, because they’ll say “Wait a minute, I should know this... “ and then they start saying “Well, let’s see... one million is one thousand times a thousand... that’s six zeros... and a billion is a thousand millions, so that’s nine zeros...”
Right there, I’ll put that person into the “knows what a trillion dollars is.” Doesn’t matter that they don’t know it is 1.0E12 right off the bat, I’ll give it to them because they’re working to figure it out. More power to ‘em.
The people who come up with the outlandish nonsense - they’re in the other two thirds.
re: “It is beyond pitiful.” Don’t get me started, brother. I could rant for days without drawing a breath...
The already high level of innumeracy in the general population is compounded by the fact that our cadre of journalists is almost completely innumerate. Thus, all reporting of news is colored by that failing.
This is terrible. Can we do nothing but sit and wait?
There is enough 'dumb' to go around, and I am not immune to it. However, my application of it is far better utilized chastizing the first two groups (both the world-is-ending and the crazy rads-r-gr8 Coulter types) rather than in saying nuclear energy is 'playing God' and 'too dangerous' or saying that the Fukushima issue is a 'non-issue.' Both actual quotes I have seen on FR. I'd rather be in the third camp, which realized nuclear energy is key and an efficient/safe energy source, while knowing there is a difference between the beneficial effects of low-doze ionizing radiation hormesis versus what is going on at Fukushima (and yes, just to reiterate, the second group is also idiotic).
Thus, I am the first to admit I am in that third camp, which believes in nuclear energy (and hence disposes the wild nuclear-gehenna screams of the first group), but is also not stupid enough to ascribe to Coulter's radiation is good for you crap.
Silly me, I thought that Japan was situated in the Pacific Ocean.....
Well, I guess that my 1950’ geography teacher had it wrong.
And have we thought about the engineers' families, living in the stricken area, and how rough it must be on them? ... and how hard it must be on the engineers to fight the dragon, knowing their families are in danger, perhaps homeless...?
We owe them our prayers and gratitude. They are risking their lives trying to keep the rest of us safe. Heroes all.
save the reactors for future use was the apparent gameplan of Tepco management. Yesterday Tepco said they would shut 4 units down - the government of Japan corrected that statement to say all 6 units at Fuki.
This morning news is coming out that the government of Japan is purchasing Tepco for an undisclosed sum and taking over operations.
Story developing...
Here’s the thing - based on the preliminary information that was available in the first weeks following the tsunami, the situation was, in fact, very nearly a non-issue. Things went downhill, as they sometimes do. That doesn’t mean that people who said, before the sh!t hit the fan, that a minor release of hydrogen and slightly radioactive steam was a non-issue were incorrect.
And people who say that a dozen picocuries of radiation in rainwater is a non-issue may also point out that you get three thousand-odd picocuries of radioactive potassium in a bag of potato chips.
Radiation is part of life on earth, and always has been. Our bodies were designed (or evolved, if you prefer) to take it into account. And there have, in fact, been studies linking moderately higher exposure to ionizing radiation to lower mortality. The primitive linear no-threshold model is pretty much debunked. Did you even read Ann Coulter’s column, or are you just going on the headline alone?
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