Fukushima Dai-Ichi Number Three today.
Posted on 03/23/2011 1:09:44 PM PDT by AwesomePossum
...black smoke was seen rising at the No. 3 reactor building...surface temperatures...have topped the maximum levels...high-level radiation amounting to at least 500 millisieverts per hour was detected...
(Excerpt) Read more at english.kyodonews.jp ...
I'm thinkin' that they are doing both.....a lot........at the same time...........
Either by necessity, or, if there is a rupture or breach, they have no choice..........
8:}
Possible if the neutrons are numerous and fast enough to ionize the air. The neutron beams were visible at Chernobyl at night, see http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-pf-201103-chernobyl-wildlife-refuge-sidwcmdev_154483.html
I think the problem most folks are having stems from the fact that most of what has been made available to the general public on radiation issues and issuances is primarily centered around explosive (critical) events, in particular bombs/warhead explosions and fallout.
When one considers that in those events there is a tremedous particulate release because an explosion is an intended and engineered effect, disseminating the materials remaining from the bomb/warhead and daughter products as well as whatever can be neutron activated in the environment, and the access to the environment unlimited, there is cause in those situations for concern.
However, power stations have been designed for just the opposite effect: to keep fuel elements contained, chemically, physically, and to contain the daughter products and radiation so people who work there can continue to do so, just for starters.
In addition, as much or more expertise has been utilized in an effort to design the plants to avoid the unintentional release of nuclear material.
The difference is that between a wildfire and the pilot light on a stove. They are both fire, but one is out of control, the other is designed to be contained.
That the plants are relatively intact, even if stripped of some of the supporting infrastructure after two record natural disasters is impressive in itself.
Considering the logistical difficulties of coping with these problems in a landscape devastated by those selfsame natural disasters, I think the Japanese are doing a great job.
I am well aware of the ability of the media to foment panic, and the levels of hyperbole to which they can go, I work in the oil industry on drilling locations and spent days (as did others) explaining downhole environments, wellbore physics 101, and basic geology to scientifically illiterate people who had been fed an incredible array of apocalyptic predictions by folks who had no clue (or more diabolically, knew better) about oil reservoirs or oilwell drilling.
I see a similar media dynamic happening here, with less than knowledgeable media personages feeding panic to the masses about events thousands of miles from the bulk of their audience, in what appears to be an attempt to foment panic.
Terrified people are easily led into making decisions which may seem intelligent and rational in the height of confusion, but which are counterproductive and even harmful when viewed calmly.
We are still being inundated by survivor/refugees here in North Dakota, not of the 1000 foot wall of water that was going to wash the Gulf Coast States clear of humanity after the floor of the Gulf of Mexico imploded because all the supporting methane ran out*, nor the survivors of the methane explosion which blew up everything from the Bay of Campeche to Missouri and beyond*, but from the economic devastation foisted on thriving communities by the drilling moratorium.
(* actual apocalyptic scenarios, at their internet worst)
Now, those who take advantage of such events on the internet and elsewhere to gin up the sort of stories which would have been rejected by Batboy himself as a bit too fanciful, have been up to their old act of turning disaster into a real moneymaker by getting webhits and selling ads for everything from lead-lined band-aids to radiation suits, while calling for greater seismic protections and tsunami proofing facillities hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean or seismic area.
On this issue, it has been good to read that there are those whose area of expertise is in this field, and see them fight the unwarranted panic in areas far removed from the problems in Japan, while they explain and defuse the misreporting of the media and provide realistic expectations for the outcome there and its effects on the world.
That was before the Spotted Owls wiped out the timber industry...
Just saying, decisions made at the height of panic affect us all far beyond the moment.
Great pic.
Cherenkov radiation occurs normally in spent fuel pools. Seriously, even a thirty-second Google search will tell you this.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled hysteria.
Yes. Learned in Maritime firefighting school.
That is right. How did they do it?
Oh well. The pumpers will figure out away to get the DJIA up to 12,500 somehow today.
Fukushima Dai-Ichi Number Three today.
So, if we have a 45 ft. tsunami in Alabama, we’re screwed.
Look, I’m in the mountains of Western Maine. I’m just watching this thing unfold and saying: “Holy cow!” And I’m thinking about those poor people.
But it’s not going to affect me much.
I assumed there was some correlation between the reply, and the post it was in response to, and the most obvious implication being “If this is what happened to the reactor in Japan, then this is what can happen to the reactor in Alabama”.
On Thursday, two workers at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant were being treated at a hospital after stepping into contaminated water while laying electrical cables in one unit, nuclear and government officials said.
The two workers likely suffered “beta ray burns,” said officials at plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co, citing doctors. They tested at radiation levels between 170 to 180 millisieverts, well below the maximum 250 millisieverts allowed for workers, said Fumio Matsuda, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industry Safety.
end snip....
Beta ray puddles?
“After radiation spike, tests show tap water safe for babies in Tokyo”
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/24/japan.nuclear.disaster/index.html?hpt=C1
No, but vapor is a hell of lot more compressible than solid ice, and that is important when calculating the forces produced.
Well that was expected but sheesh u would think that would have been dealt with first.
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