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Reactor meltdown possible in Japan.


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To me its sad that this thread blows away the actual earthquake/tsunami thread, whats the death toll from any nuclear situation? Whats the death toll from the tsunami and earthquake?

This thread is a perfect example of what is wrong with our society. Tens of thousands of people are hurting, they are dying, they are dying inside after losing family members, there homes, there loved ones, yet most are concerned about a "possible" situation that in the end is not likely to amount to anything besides evacuations and energy problems down the road. In so many ways the global media and accessiblity of it have weakened us as a race. Its pathetic.

What do you want us to do? It happened. There is an entire thread on the earthquake/tsunami, so it is being discussed. Discussing this threat isn't taking away from the "real tragedy" as you've called it. Beyond donating money it is a bit hard to help from the other side of the planet. If you don't like the discussion, don't read it.

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it's clear, whether or not there are tons of experts, that it is more or less doing what it is doing and we can only stop so much from happening. i guess that's the root fear that many have with nuclear energy be it civil or military use... we can only harness it to a point, but there are often many surprises. a few days ago it was fear mongering to assume the worst imo. but since then things have progressively gotten worse and it seems the door is opening further for things to go even more in the wrong direction. with so many reactors and so much product it is a bit unnerving.

Yep. Exactly. I have great respect for the Japanese and their technological acumen-- but the situation strikes me as out of their control. And it's hard not to find that a bit disturbing.

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To me its sad that this thread blows away the actual earthquake/tsunami thread, whats the death toll from any nuclear situation? Whats the death toll from the tsunami and earthquake?

This thread is a perfect example of what is wrong with our society. Tens of thousands of people are hurting, they are dying, they are dying inside after losing family members, there homes, there loved ones, yet most are concerned about a "possible" situation that in the end is not likely to amount to anything besides evacuations and energy problems down the road. In so many ways the global media and accessiblity of it have weakened us as a race. Its pathetic.

The tsunami happened, it's over, sadly many died and many are homeless. People are going there to help, very sad. This is an active ongoing threat. Your minimalization of the threat is meaningless, you or perhaps nobody knows the outcome. We are dealing with the unknown and with the most volatile fuel in the world.

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To me its sad that this thread blows away the actual earthquake/tsunami thread, whats the death toll from any nuclear situation? Whats the death toll from the tsunami and earthquake?

This thread is a perfect example of what is wrong with our society. Tens of thousands of people are hurting, they are dying, they are dying inside after losing family members, there homes, there loved ones, yet most are concerned about a "possible" situation that in the end is not likely to amount to anything besides evacuations and energy problems down the road. In so many ways the global media and accessiblity of it have weakened us as a race. Its pathetic.

You are quite cynical. There are many reasons this has more posts

1. Rarity: earthquakes and tsunamis are rare, but nuclear reactor meltdowns... well there have only been 2 really.

2: Ongoing: While the earthquake and tsunami have already struck, the nuclear accident could go either way. Most activities involving the wreckage are cleanup/search, which to be frank, isn't that exciting

3. Science: This is more science related than cleaning up the wreckage and meteorology people are more interested in this.

Also, they made documentaries about TMI and no one died. Millions of people die each day from natural causes. Anything nuclear is bound to pique interest due to the POTENTIAL of becoming a catastrophe

The negative view you take is extremely unwarranted and is unwelcome on this board. It's not like posting about the earthquake will save anyone, what you are doing is just being an ass.

I give all the people who lost loved ones my deepest condolences and I hope the workers at the plant will manage to survive and diffuse the situation.

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To me its sad that this thread blows away the actual earthquake/tsunami thread, whats the death toll from any nuclear situation? Whats the death toll from the tsunami and earthquake?

This thread is a perfect example of what is wrong with our society. Tens of thousands of people are hurting, they are dying, they are dying inside after losing family members, there homes, there loved ones, yet most are concerned about a "possible" situation that in the end is not likely to amount to anything besides evacuations and energy problems down the road. In so many ways the global media and accessiblity of it have weakened us as a race. Its pathetic.

The earthquake/tsunami as devastating as it is, is over. Now it is in the recovery mode. This is a fluid, unknown situation and its final results could be huge. There is more to discuss in a situation like this. Similar to perhaps a hurricane that has not struck verses a storm that has already come ashore.

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The tsunami happened, it's over, sadly many died and many are homeless. People are going there to help, very sad. This is an active ongoing threat. Your minimalization of the threat is meaningless, you or perhaps nobody knows the outcome. We are dealing with the unknown and with the most volatile fuel in the world.

Yeah, seriously. What else do you want us to say other than "wow this is a terrible tragedy, I hope Japan recovers soon"? There really isn't much else to say.. thousands of people died, and many people are helping them. The event is over, there isn't much to talk about.

This is an ongoing event, which is very interesting and scary at the same time. Just like when the tsunami hit, everyone was posting. Now this is the event everyone is watching.

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What do you want us to do? It happened. There is an entire thread on the earthquake/tsunami, so it is being discussed. Discussing this threat isn't taking away from the "real tragedy" as you've called it. Beyond donating money it is a bit hard to help from the other side of the planet. If you don't like the discussion, don't read it.

You are absolutely correct, its just frustrating seeing so much hype and bad journalism that feeds the frenzy. I guess to me its sad, that this thread is the hot topic, yes the earthquake and tsunami already "happened" as somebody told me, but the human suffering has certainly not, and there are heroes all over japan this morning, helping, searching, and finding victims and reuniting families and friends. To me there plite is so much more important as they poke there stick in the mud, searching for bodies, some of whom might be there friends, or loved ones.

No matter how you slice it, its gut wrenching, I just think the focus has been derailed by fear. My apologies.

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Anyone who has been around fire knows white smoke usually means the fire has a tardent or water getting on it.... it can pall also... it is likely a good sign we are not seeing raging black smoke pouring out of the building..

im not sure you can assume nuclear fuel will give the same signs as a house fire

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I disagree Steve, but we shall see the truth in the end, my fear is this has strengthened the petroleum industry even further, and some of the literature and interviews that I have seen over the past two days only make this fear become more apparent.

Maybe short term-- but the writing is on the wall. Whether it's fission or not (let's not call it nuclear), we will get off fossil fuels one day. This might actually accelerate the development of nuclear fusion-- which is much safer than fission of course. Heh, if we can achieve containment of antimatter (we've done so with antihydrogen so far), then that would be the perfect power source. But first, we will develop nuclear fusion reactors one day-- as a matter of fact, we're slowly making progress in this direction.

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Thanks Janet/Janet for giving us most recent updates. We are totally in new territory with these reactor issues due to earthquake (subsequent loss of power) and tsunami (subequent failure of backup generators.) I want to keep a proper balance between hubris and alarmist tendencies and focus as much as I can on factual reporting. This thread in no way minimizes compassion for those affected and suffering from the earthquake/tsunami.

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When will we have access to 2 meter radiation maps?

Just a matter of time until the released radiation circles the globe.

It will be low level stuff. Some are saying that living a year in Denver or having radon

in one's home delivers more radioactive flux than the levels that the vast majority of

the Japanese population will be exposed to.

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Yep. Exactly. I have great respect for the Japanese and their technological acumen-- but the situation strikes me as out of their control. And it's hard not to find that a bit disturbing.

I know what you mean. We are ultimately powerless against nature. Seems we have to learn that lesson over and over and over again.

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Reuters Reuters Top News FLASH: White smoke at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is coming from reactor No.3: Fuji TV 24 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

andersoncooper Anderson Cooper 2nd fire at reactor 4. New pictures of smoke at reactor, and new tsunami pics. #ac360 live from #japan. 10p

It's THIS kind of crap that is confusing the hell out of people. Is the fire at reactor #3 or #4?

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I know what you mean. We are ultimately powerless against nature. Seems we have to learn that lesson over and over and over again.

Well, this isn't exactly "nature". It's our own creation-- these weird technologies that we sometimes can't control.

Frankenstein's monster-- who overpowered his creator to break free and spread havoc-- is actually a good metaphor for what is happening here: we created this stuff, but at this particular moment, we can't stop it.

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Reuters Reuters Top News FLASH: White smoke at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is coming from reactor No.3: Fuji TV 24 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

andersoncooper Anderson Cooper 2nd fire at reactor 4. New pictures of smoke at reactor, and new tsunami pics. #ac360 live from #japan. 10p

It's THIS kind of crap that is confusing the hell out of people. Is the fire at reactor #3 or #4?

The fire was at Reactor #4

The smoke/steam appears to be coming from Reactor #3

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You are absolutely correct, its just frustrating seeing so much hype and bad journalism that feeds the frenzy. I guess to me its sad, that this thread is the hot topic, yes the earthquake and tsunami already "happened" as somebody told me, but the human suffering has certainly not, and there are heroes all over japan this morning, helping, searching, and finding victims and reuniting families and friends. To me there plite is so much more important as they poke there stick in the mud, searching for bodies, some of whom might be there friends, or loved ones.

No matter how you slice it, its gut wrenching, I just think the focus has been derailed by fear. My apologies.

You and I usually agree on a lot of things. I think you're way off base. The earthquake is over minus aftershocks. The damage has been done. This is an ongoing situation. It's a critically bad situation.

Presser: 514 rods spent fuel been in pool for 9 months so far (4)

something about lastest data is 2 days old(not sure what they were referring too)

I think much like Three Mile Island we're going to find they are a lot further away than we think from the cores. They probably just don't have the information.

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