Posted on 03/15/2011 8:13:35 AM PDT by SE Mom
Latest news from Japan:
From the BBC-
1456: Tepco says it may start pouring water from a helicopter over Fukushima Daiichi's reactor four in the next few days, to cool the spent-fuel pool.
1439: A 30km (18 mile) no-fly zone is in place around Fukushima, says the IAEA.
1436: The IAEA says Monday's blast at Fukushima may have affected the integrity of the containment vessel - there are fears of more serious radioactive leaks if happen.
1435: Following earlier reports, it appears there has been more than one strong aftershock in Japan - AP reports two tremors measuring over 6.0 within three minutes of each other.
Twitter-
-US Geological Survey counts 451 aftershocks since the initial earthquake struck Japan Friday. 238 of them registered magnitude 5.0 or more.
-Despite situations in Japan & Libya, spksmn Jay Carney says Pres Obama's 5-day trip to Brazil, Chile & El Salvador starting Fri night is on.
-FLASH: More U.S. military personnel in Japan testing positive for low-levels of radiation, relief missions to continue - Navy 18 minutes ago via web
His equivalency with Fred Phelps is accurate.
Freaks like Jones mix a bit of truth or facts in with so much high emotion crap that people who don’t know any better accept it all as truth, since some of it is.
It’s like poison mixed with real food, there’s no point in trying to figure out which part is true and which isn’t.
I believe that Alex Jones himself IS a gubment plant. He exist to marginalize anti-gubment people as a bunch of quacks. And he does a damn good job of it too!
Oh no - the man who predicted the World Series quake in SF 1989 says the dead sardines Redondo Beach, Ca. are possibly a precursor to quake
He’s up next on Fox
When I lived in Japan as a kid, I knew kids that made pets of their praying mantises, which as I recall were HUGE compared to the ones we have here.
I submit that our own US Maggot Stream Media is just as polluted. I've given up on most of them, including Fox.
I gave up on MSM in the early 80s.
I only have had a TV 2 years since 1967. Just about the only time I ever watched it since then was during the Clinton impeachment.
Here’s a long post I did on another forum but I think covers a lot of ground:
I think some perspective is needed in far more quantities than we are getting...
Here is analogy to consider:
Disparage a Ford Focus due to a Model T’s poor breaking ability.
Here are some easily verifiable facts:
This is a Generation 1 Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) designed by GE. It was designed about 50 years ago and built about 40 years ago. It was designed and built with active safety measures for post shut down cooling of the reactor core, which means it must have “hands on” control of those safety measures. Primarily cooling capability from diesel generators and battery back up. Kind of like bracing yourself for a collision in a car.
More modern reactors (using the Ford Focus for comparison) are designed with passive safety systems. These systems are designed to work without human intervention. (Think airbag, seatbelt, and ABS.) These newer reactors rely on things like gravity and natural convection to cool the reactor.
The Fukushima reactor complex took a direct hit from a tsunami. The wall was designed for a 6.5 meter high wave. The wave was 7 meters high. The earthquake was 9.0. The unit was design for an quake 7 times LESS powerful. It still held up and took a hell of a lot of punishment. Shall I mention oh, say 25 to 30 major aftershocks? Not bad since it is still hanging in there but not without some major problems.
The key here is to ignore the MSM. They are playing the fear card to drive ratings. They have a major dog in this hunt. Period.
Now as to meltdowns, etc. Here is the latest information from Dr. James Mahaffey, author of “Atomic Awakening.” He has worked as a senior research scientist at Georgia Tech Research Institute for 25 years. His past employers include the Defense Nuclear Agency, and the National Ground Intelligence Center. He’s a nuclear physicist. In other words, he knows what he speaks of. You will find his book on Amazon.com.
My question to him via email: “Are the reactor vessel and concrete containment building able to handle a meltdown given they were scrammed before the explosion? Or does that matter if the rods have been exposed to air and reheated?”
Answer: “Let’s get straight what “meltdown” means. What we have here is core meltdowns, not fuel meltdowns. The core structure, made of metal (zirconium) has collapsed because the temperature exceeded the melting point of the metal. But, the fuel is ceramic. There’s not enough heat from fission product decay to melt the fuel pellets, and not enough to melt through the 6-inch stainless steel reactor vessel. It’s very bad, but not quite that bad.”
But what’s “fission product decay” you ask? After the quake, the reactor shut down. The control rods were scrammed to stop the uranium fuel chain reaction. However, there is still a little bit of residual activity that causes heat. You still need cooling for that heat. Left uncooled, the heat build up will start melting the surrounding metal of the fuel rods. Now revisit Dr. Mahaffey’s answer above.
So, when you review the news, keep the “reactor vessel” in mind as that holds all the nasty stuff. That’s the key to look for. As long as that stays intact, it is a “very bad but not quite that bad.”
As for the government and utility moving people away, that is standard operating procedure. As the potential for increasing amounts of radiation increases, you move people further away.
Perspective is also required by the media. Note the line from the article, “3,130 micro sievert per hour...”
Now how does that sound? Dangerous? Can’t blame you for thinking that.
Here is where perspective comes in:
A medical xray is about 600 microsieverts per hour. So if you are in bad shape at the hospital and require multiple xrays...
A full series of dental xrays of the mouth and maxillofacial structure is almost 250 microsieverts of radiation.
Now, how does that sound? Does it give you some yardsticks to grasp? Overall, the media is doing a very poor job of it.
The remaining very important question is: “Just what are the detection devices measuring?” Some radioactive isotopes will peg a Geiger counter’s meter but are harmless to the human body. Again, we need to know more about the isotopes being detected. There is also a big difference between contaminated particles and radiation. Contaminated particles were washed off the USS Ronald Reagan helicopter crews with soap and water.
Here is a site for calculating radiation but be forewarned, the differences in measurement takes time to understand:
http://www.radprocalculator.com/FAQ.aspx
So, be extra wary of radiation counts and exposure levels.
By the way, here are some sites Dr. Mahaffey is watching:
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/...
http://ansnuclearcafe.org/
http://live.reuters.com/Event/Japan_earthquake2
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/
http://seismology.harvard.edu/research_japan.html
Hopefully, the above will help clarify some of the vast mis-information out there about this aspect of the ongoing tragedy in Japan.
Oh lordy- I was walking the dog- should I be glad I missed him?
See post #267 for blog with comments I was referring to at post #260.
Thanks as always for your research and info :)
Meanwhile from Hot Air: (Posting just the link and tease as this is a long piece)
Terrific: Containment vessels used at Japanese plant have long been questioned by nuclear experts
Twenty-four hours ago I asked, “How sure are we that the containment vessels at Fukushima can contain a full meltdown?” Twenty-four hours later, the answer appears to be: Not very.
I just Googled some of those towns that “disappeared”.
Those went through the earthquake, the the tsunami just rendered the land a flat top.
They asked an old man where the dead bodies were. He said they must have been swept out to sea. Tragic.
Here are some pretty astonishing photos- some a bit graphic, FYI, but there’s one of a truck that was going across a bridge- the bridge was partially washed away and the truck is TEETERING halfway over the edge. A jawdropper.
Reuters Live Blog BREAKING:
“Sorry to interrupt, just getting some breaking news in that the Japan Nuclear Safety Agency is saying the Fukushima No. 4 reactor roof is cracked”
BraveNewClimate’s March 15th thread has great information and I think they’ve answered (or at leasted addressed) your specific questions on the spent fuel pools.
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/15/fukushima-15-march-summary/
BUMP what you said.
I have always wondered about that Kos dude, too.
I didn’t realize it was Jim Berkland. He has or had a website out there somewhere. He bases his predictions on animal behavior and high tides. Says the next highest tides will be 3/16 - I think that’s what he said and the day after will be the Spring equinox full moon <something to that effect.
http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/index.php
Click on the title:
2011-03-15 Reactor Status Update 4 - NPPs in Fukushima as of 19:00 March 15 (Estimated by J・・・ (59KB)
I was just about to pop that up- fascinating discussion at that thread, isn’t it?
Meanwhile- I wonder how long that roof has been cracked- and why they’re releasing the info just now.
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