Japan, pt. II

Slacker Hero wrote:Well, fuck.

I'm sure you all know that's photoshopped, but concerning the radiation leaks from Fukushima reactors I think everyone should read this rather than the mainstream media reports:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/14/fukushiima_analysis/

Sure, it's a little too optimistic about the situation (which is still on-going), calling the accident a triumph and whatnot, but at least it's way more accurate than the hysterical mainstream media is about the situation...

Made in Finland wrote:

Slacker Hero wrote:Well, fuck.

I'm sure you all know that's photoshopped, but concerning the radiation leaks from Fukushima reactors I think everyone should read this rather than the mainstream media reports:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/14/fukushiima_analysis/

Sure, it's a little too optimistic about the situation (which is still on-going), calling the accident a triumph and whatnot, but at least it's way more accurate than the hysterical mainstream media is about the situation...

Yes, I heard it was shooped a few hours later.

In terms of serious radiation, we have nothing to worry too much about. Even if this becomes a Tranoble like accident, we should only get trace amounts despite all predicted wind conditions. Japan maybe screwed, however, if they don't cover the plants. I would cut losses here and make the best effort to encase the reactors in concrete and lead.

From what I heard, in recent updates, there is a high probability at this point of a total system core meltdown. Water levels are near zero (or at zero for reactor 4) and the govt has turned to desperation of doing seawater drops by helicopter. We'll find out what will really happen in the next couple days, but from what it is looking like so far, it is moving toward a worse case scenario. Japan is never going to recover from this anytime soon.

eaustinn36 wrote:Japan is never going to recover from this anytime soon.

Lol.

Anyways, yeah, it has taken a turn for the worse. The water level went down critically, for some reason. I don't exactly know how the hell they managed to pull that off, since they already switched from purified water to seawater, and all nuclear plants are located on a shore...

Though as Waffle said, the radiation wouldn't be a problem outside of Japan even if the core melts down. Even in the Chernobyl (Tranoble?? :D) case only a relatively small area around the city was evacuated, and the plant was sealed. As far as I know, no one died of the radiation on a long range, and there are people who still live in the area because they didn't want to evacuate, and none of them have died of long term radiation either. Some animals have had mutations, though. Only people who got serious doses of radiation were the ones sealing the plant. I mean they even dug a tunnel under the reactor and built a concrete container in case the floor of the reactor melts away, and handled the radiated debris with near to no protective wear (I think they had nothing more than lead plates over their chest, a pair of gloves and safety goggles...). I'm sure if the Japanese reactors melt down, they'll at least know a little more about protection than the Russians who took care of Chernobyl...

Yeah I know, contradiction.. but you get what I mean't.

Don't know if this is accurate but I also heard everyone in the plant currently is on a "suicide mission", meaning they are not going to survive in the end from radiation poisoning. Heard they already said "goodbye" to their families

As for affecting elsewhere, yes, traces will be found around the world, but not in high amounts. Not enough for "concern" at least. Still though, it is Japan that is the focus. I still think (if things continue to get worse) it has the potential to become worse than the Chernobyl incident. And even though this plant is the one in focus right now, it is not the only one that is damaged..

And as far as the water levels go, even if the seawater is right there, pumping it into the reactor areas is proving near impossible now, since there is barely anything to power a pump. That's why the heli water drops were called in, but it still might not be enough.

I think the reactor in Fukushima is twice as small as the Chernobyl plant, so even if it melts down then there's not going to be much concern, even for the Japanese.

Also, helicopters need batteries and fuel too. Though the strangest thing here is, that everyone seems to be willing to help Japan financially, but the thing I do not understand is why the fuck could they not just give them something that would help keeping the nuclear plant cooling going on? Money is not much to be happy about when there's absolutely nothing to spend it on!

They'll need the money a couple weeks from now, but what they would have really needed a week ago is some equipment and engineers from neighboring countries...

Made in Finland wrote:Even in the Chernobyl (Tranoble?? :D) case only a relatively small area around the city was evacuated, and the plant was sealed. As far as I know, no one died of the radiation on a long range, and there are people who still live in the area because they didn't want to evacuate, and none of them have died of long term radiation either. Some animals have had mutations, though. Only people who got serious doses of radiation were the ones sealing the plant.

It's true that not many people died from the actual incident but it has been blamed for cancer related deaths and a 20-30% infant morality rate increase twenty years after the incident. I mean, the data is inconclusive and all over the place this is because many people who lived in the area moved around all over Russia and the collapse of the USSR didn't help with record keeping. Even though it's inconclusive it's nothing to take lightly, at least I think. That's not to say the media isn't overloading with all the coverage either.