Posted on 03/15/2011 7:38:48 AM PDT by GonzoII
The government in Japan says radiation from the quake-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has now reached harmful levels.
Four reactors at the plant have now exploded.
It’s now thought one of the reactor’s containment systems has also been damaged, raising fears of further and more serious radiation leaks.
The UN’s weather agency says the current conditions are dispersing the radioactive particles out over the ocean, and there is no risk to the people.
The World Health Organisation says by extending the exclusion zone, Japan is taking all the right precautions.
The plant’s operators, Tokyo Electric, say they have asked the US military for help.
Experts say levels of up to 400 units of radiation an hour have been recorded at the site. Exposure to anything over 100 units a year is thought to be harmful.
Copyright © 2011 euronews
Last night NHK was giving the various things that happen with the 400 millisievert exposure.
For some reason I zoned out every time.
I remember the words infertility and lymph.
Officials on now saying that the new earthquake has nothing to do with the big one last week.
English speaking news reporter using the word “DENIED” it has anything to do with the one last week.
Interesting choice of words.
They keep saying no damage in the area except cups falling from a cupboard. That is hilarious to me that this is the damage they are focusing on.
What are the health effects of exposure to these levels of radiation? I heard reports of liver damage, especially for those that already have liver problems.
Okay showing some guy at a store and you see goods on the floor and wine and bottles broken..
So more damage than just cups on the cupboard....
"Experts said the nightmare scenario at Fukushima was of a meltdown which triggers a massive build-up of pressure inside the containment unit. If the unit cracks, a plume of radioactive dust and gas would spill hundreds of miles into the air."
My question would be could we theoretically have enough radioactivity in such a plume that could be carried to the West Coast of the US by wind and cause any serious concerns or could is dispers?
Thanks.
check it out October 16, 1964, 1968 NY Times
No one has answered - that I can find - what the defect is in the containment vessel of Reactor 2. So if the rods completely melt down and there is a crack - that is what you have to worry about.
To get to West Coast - I have seen various answers. Number 2 had been running at the time of the quake.
My big concern is with the one that has MOX fuel. You have surplus weapons grade plutonium used for fuel. It runs hotter. IIRC, it was running at the time of the quake.
I think there would be an issue on the West coast with reactor 3.
But you get a lot of people on this site that claim that the West Coast would have no problem even if they all blew up.
I don’t believe them.
Would the same be true if the Mox fuel reactor totally melted down and there was a crack.
If you could where and when did that happen? What were you wearing? What was the rad source? Do you get your blood tested regularly? Sorry to lay into you, but your situation is not at all common.
http://altjapan.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/03/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go.html
“...The peak releas at the plant of 400 milliseiverts (400,000 microseverts) was recorded in a single instant right next to the reactor.
The theory (corroborated by government sopkesperson Edano in his press conference) is that this reading came from a portion of the concrete outer building of the reactor that blew out from the explosion - it likely absorbed a much larger amount than anywhere else.
Fact remains that at MAX peak (approx 9:30 AM) the reading at the gate of the plant was 12 milliseverts (12,000 microseverts) at a location just tens of meters away from the reactor. These levels soon decreased (see Tepco graph http://c0013684.cdn1.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/x2_50402b0).
...
link shows the readings at the front gate of the plant, tens of meters from the reactor.
As we can see, the reading has dropped to 489.8 microseiverts/h (0.4898 milliseiverts/h) by 4:30 PM. [local time]
Even at these readings, you would have to stand in front of the plant for 14 hours to absorb enough radiation to equal 1 chest CT scan.”
Ok, I tapped into hourly press releases from Tokyo Electric, and here is what it states. Wtf?
Same message for all 4 plants.
Stable power, stable water levels, maintained temp at 100c, no coolant leakage.
http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031507-e.html
Sorry, but you're not playing correctly. We're going to have a nuke disaster here whether you like it or not.
Hurricanes, Chernobyl and Mad Cow have made me just a tad cynical.
What is important in a LWR accident is the source term, what is in the release and how much. One component of that is the fission product spectrum. While MOX has some minor differences in fission product spectrum, it is essentially the same as what you get from uranium. You get some noble gases (85Kr, 133Xe), some reactive elements like 137Cs and 131I, and a few other things. Of these, most likely to be in a downwind plume are the noble gases, since those aren't chemically reactive. Because of this, you get submersion dose more than internal dose (i.e., they don't accumulate in the body).
Iodine is low boiling point so it can vaporize and become an airborne contaminant. That is why KI pills are indicated in this kind of release. Cs and I and Sr are chemically active and can get into the food chain, which is the primary ingestion pathway. So you have to limit consumption of food products in the affected areas.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.