Prayers up.
The latest I’ve seen is that they are bulldozing a path through all of the debris to get fire engines/water cannons close enough to lob streams of water into the pool.
First the European and now the American poobahs err on this? Somehow I doubt it.
They’ve been working to restore power to the plant. I believe they will get a handle on it.
Even if they don’t, I don’t think this is a catastrophe for anyplace other than Fukushima and the surrounding area.
Of course one has to ask, where did the pool water go?
It was irradiated yes? Probably into the ocean?
Even if all 4 meltdown (God forbid) it will STILL be a localized event. There is NO REASON to panic. There is no POINT in panicking. The site is going to have to be cleaned up, and those working at the plant will ahve to take measures to protect themselves while working there. But a National Panic in Japan is STUPID. Do some research on Nuclear power, nuclear radiation exposure, and also look at Nuclear Terrorism, because a LOT of research has been done with that point in mind. You will feel better.
Look at it this way, how many HUNDREDS of thousands of people die every year in Auto crashes? Are you going to outlaw or ban cars? Because they are FAR deadlier than Nuclear radiation is, yet we consider the hazards cars present as ACCEPTABLE. Think about it in context for a bit ok?
STOP buying into media or other fear increasing hype.
I wonder how much culture is involved in this meltdown? Has pertinent info not been passed up the chain in an attempt to save face?
I still can’t believe the proper parts could not be delivered in time to prevent this all from happening.
"Jaczko did not say Wednesday how the information was obtained, but the NRC and U.S. Department of Energy both have experts on site at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex of six reactors. He said the spent fuel pool of the complex's Unit 4 reactor has lost water."
Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?
Call me cynical, but what would a "community organizer" do differently?
Gregory Jaczko holds a PhD in particle physics from the University of Wisconsin (Madison). According to his Wikipedia page, he "sees the nuclear power industry critically."
Here's a little more about Dr. Jaczko:
Jaczko was a Congressional Science Fellow in the office of U.S. Representative Edward Markey, in Washington, D.C., on the basis of an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. He also worked as an adjunct professor for science and policy at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.Source.Later on, he advised the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on issues regarding nuclear power, and served as appropriations director for U.S. Senator Harry Reid and as Reid's science policy advisor
I don’t believe a containment floor will hold much longer than 24 hours in a full meltdown - so if they’re trying to ‘avoid panic’ - lying might NOT be the best tactic...
I doubt the veracity of nearly everything the current US government puts out: unemployment numbers, predictions of military victory, deficit forecasts, and Hussein’s bracket picks.
We have an administration that is as untrustworthy as it is unserious.
I doubt the veracity of nearly everything the current US government puts out: unemployment numbers, predictions of military victory, deficit forecasts, and Hussein’s bracket picks.
We have an administration that is as untrustworthy as it is unserious.
“Earlier in the day, Japanese authorities announced a different escalation of the crisis at Daiichi when they said that a second reactor unit at the plant may have suffered damage to its primary containment structure and appeared to be releasing radioactive steam.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/world/asia/17nuclear.html?_r=1&hp
Let's see who do I believe about the situation in Japan... Japanese officials or the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission?
http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/organization/commission/jaczko.html
“”Gregory B. Jaczko was designated Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission by President Barack Obama on May 13, 2009...
Immediately prior to assuming the post of Commissioner, Dr. Jaczko served as appropriations director for U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and also served as the Senator’s science policy advisor. He began his Washington, D.C., career as a congressional science fellow in the office of U.S. Rep. Edward Markey.””
while I DO believe this to be a “hugh and series” event, I want to remind everyone of how the media tried to whip us into a frenzy with the H1N1 and with the gulf oil spill.
I seem to recall endless news stories telling us the Macondo well COULD collapse and totally destroy the gulf not to mention the HUGE methane cloud that would engulf FL.
I actually was filled with anxiety for quite awhile reading that stuff daily!
We all need to CALM DOWN!
Besides, we cannot do a thing about it.
As I understand it, the problem isn’t simply meltdown, the problem is re-criticality. That is, there is apparently enough spent fuel rods in the (former) cooling pools that if they were to lose their protective sleeves (I believe they are still in zirconium sleeves), they would achieve critical mass and you’d have a criticality incident—far far worse than a meltdown, though not an explosion per se. Of the very little info TEPCO is releasing, their official last night (their time) said that the possibility of criticality was no longer zero. While there have been several exposed criticality incidents before, none have been of this scale under these conditions. It would more thank likely leapfrog this incident beyond Chernobyl and possibly create a deadzone for approximately 50 miles radius. But, of immediate importance, it would also prevent any further efforts at the reactors, allowing them to meltdown, and so on. A cascade failure.