Japan Nuclear Crisis Part III

[mempho]

I just don't understand why the people of this country don't demand criminal proceedings for the GE executives who ignored the design flaws and tried to squash the seismic history reports.

[johnc]

I just don't understand why the people of this country don't demand criminal proceedings for the GE executives who ignored the design flaws and tried to squash the seismic history reports.

GE can't even make a good dishwasher it amazes me that someone would buy a nuclear reactor from them.

(srs)

[dan11295]

This the the first concrete data I have heard to indicate that premanent evacuations of residents may be required. Cs-137 has a half-life of 30 years and appears to be the main isotope that would be responsible for any lerm term impacts in the area from what I have read. The Iodine will be a non issure a few months also the signficant releases cease. Of course I wont be until the more thorough analysis is done around the entire area before it is determined if ant permanent exclusion areas are required.

[ArtRosen]

W7VOA Steve Herman - Kyodo: Seawater radioactivity level off #Fukushima-1 has risen to 4385x legal limit. #Japan #nuclear

Reuters Reuters Top News FLASH: Japan's nuclear safety agency says it is possible radiation is flowing continuously into the sea

[Mt.Zoniac]

I just don't understand why the people of this country don't demand criminal proceedings for the GE executives who ignored the design flaws and tried to squash the seismic history reports.

These things were built over 40 years ago with old designs. They sure weren't planning on a R9.0 earthquake right outside their back door with a 30-foot tsunami surging shortly thereafter either. Consider how many U.S. reactors were designed and built with a catastrophic scenario in mind too...hardly any. None in California on the San Andreas or along the New Madrid in the central U.S., or on the East Coast. The risks were lowered as "can't happen here or probably won't happen here." Japan hit the jackpot. Some combo treat could affect one of ours too, but the risk assessments deemed those scenarios 'highly unlikely', so...

[Mt.Zoniac]

Low Levels of Radiation Found in American Milk: California, Washington

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/us/31milk.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-30/u-s-epa-finds-some-radiation-in-milk-will-step-up-monitoring-nationwide.html

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/03/radioactivity-in-japanese-milk-produce/

http://www.wfmj.com/Global/story.asp?S=14325692

March 30, 2011

...Tests of milk samples taken last week in Spokane, Wash., indicate the presence of radioactive iodine from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan.

...Levels of iodine 131 entering the air can be very diluted, but if the iodine is deposited on grass eaten by cows, the cows will reconcentrate it in their milk by a factor of 1,000. This is mainly a concern with fresh milk, not for dairy products that are stored before consumption.

...According to the World Health Organization (WHO), food containing iodine-131 must be ingested over a prolonged period of time in order for it to cause risks to humans. The element accumulates in the thyroid, and can increase the riskof thyroid cancer, especially in children.

...IAEA experts said the ocean will quickly dilute the worst contamination. Radioactive iodine breaks down within weeks but cesium could foul the marine environment for decades.

Hummm. "Prolonged period of time" - ...for months, years...until someone fixes this clusterflock? I don't want any of this crap in my food or milk, no matter how 'safe' someone says it is.

[Witness Protection Program]

I don't have a dog

How's your gerbil?

[Witness Protection Program]

Low Levels of Radiation Found in American Milk: California, Washington

http://www.nytimes.c.../us/31milk.html

http://www.bloomberg...nationwide.html

http://www.foodsafet...e-milk-produce/

http://www.wfmj.com/....asp?S=14325692

March 30, 2011

...Tests of milk samples taken last week in Spokane, Wash., indicate the presence of radioactive iodine from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan.

...Levels of iodine 131 entering the air can be very diluted, but if the iodine is deposited on grass eaten by cows, the cows will reconcentrate it in their milk by a factor of 1,000. This is mainly a concern with fresh milk, not for dairy products that are stored before consumption.

...According to the World Health Organization (WHO), food containing iodine-131 must be ingested over a prolonged period of time in order for it to cause risks to humans. The element accumulates in the thyroid, and can increase the riskof thyroid cancer, especially in children.

...IAEA experts said the ocean will quickly dilute the worst contamination. Radioactive iodine breaks down within weeks but cesium could foul the marine environment for decades.

Hummm. "Prolonged period of time" - ...for months, years...until someone fixes this clusterflock? I don't want any of this crap in my food or milk, no matter how 'safe' someone says it is.

Such the panic NIMBY response. Just the THOUGHT that something isn't perfect produces conniption fits. Here in the US we are facing trace amounts that from 4500+ miles away cannot accumulate to near any type of danger threshold. The real story is that all these US guidelines are way, way, way below the level of harm. So yeah, you can scream 3300% above a guideline while completely ignoring that it is still 25 times below the level for actual harm. Skip the udder and let Louis Pasteur work his magic and your milk will be fine.

You probably have arsenic in your water supply, convulse in fear and rage. Know what is actually on your kitchen counter tops? OMG, "Lysol only kills 99.9%! What dangers may lurk for your child? Tune in at 11:00!"

Though I do agree that it might be a good idea to be vigilant at the grocery store to avoid the unlikely chance that potentially contaminated food from Japan slips in. Reading labels can't hurt, since it isn't inconceivable that some unscrupulous types might try to launder a product through China or another country.

[LithiaWx]

Low Levels of Radiation Found in American Milk: California, Washington

http://www.nytimes.c.../us/31milk.html

http://www.bloomberg...nationwide.html

http://www.foodsafet...e-milk-produce/

http://www.wfmj.com/....asp?S=14325692

March 30, 2011

...Tests of milk samples taken last week in Spokane, Wash., indicate the presence of radioactive iodine from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan.

...Levels of iodine 131 entering the air can be very diluted, but if the iodine is deposited on grass eaten by cows, the cows will reconcentrate it in their milk by a factor of 1,000. This is mainly a concern with fresh milk, not for dairy products that are stored before consumption.

...According to the World Health Organization (WHO), food containing iodine-131 must be ingested over a prolonged period of time in order for it to cause risks to humans. The element accumulates in the thyroid, and can increase the riskof thyroid cancer, especially in children.

...IAEA experts said the ocean will quickly dilute the worst contamination. Radioactive iodine breaks down within weeks but cesium could foul the marine environment for decades.

Hummm. "Prolonged period of time" - ...for months, years...until someone fixes this clusterflock? I don't want any of this crap in my food or milk, no matter how 'safe' someone says it is.

I find it funny you put the word safe between two apostrophes. For anyone reading his nonsense I hope you also noticed how poor his English skills are. I trust the guy from MIT on CNN more than I trust a kid probably living in his mothers basement ie. Mt. Zoniac. You're going to get more radiation in your basement than you will ever get from the radioactive contamination from the Japanese reactors that have melted down. You are what's wrong with America, not the minuscule amounts of radiation that will have no impact on the US. All of the findings you keep posting are only of scientific value, other than that the media uses them to scare people like you into buying more newspapers and screaming the sky is falling.

[janetjanet998]

US Marines being sent to Japan for nuclear response

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2011 (AFP) - The US military on Wednesday ordered a Marine unit specializing in emergency nuclear response to deploy to Japan to assist local authorities in addressing the massive crisis, officials said.

Some 155 Marines from the service's Chemical Biological Incident Response Force are scheduled to leave the United States on Thursday and arrive in Japan Friday, a US defense official told AFP.

The CBIRF team, trained in identifying chemical agents, monitoring radiation levels and decontaminating personnel, would not participate in the frenzied efforts to stabilized the reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, crippled by a huge earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

It was also hit by several explosions, triggering fears of a catastrophic meltdown as radiation has wafted into the air and seeped into the ocean.

US military personnel are currently barred from penetrating a 50-mile (80-kilometer) radius around the stricken plant, far exceeding the 12-mile (20-kilometer) exclusion zone imposed by the Japanese government.

Another military official characterized the deployment as "prudent planning," a precautionary move to have the Marines on hand if needed, not an emergency.

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/55413

[ArtRosen]

Reuters Reuters Top News -FLASH Japan nuclear plant operator says radiation in water of underground tunnel more than 10,000 times above normal level in reactors-Kyodo

[Bozart]

Reuters Reuters Top News -FLASH Japan nuclear plant operator says radiation in water of underground tunnel more than 10,000 times above normal level in reactors-Kyodo

I still don't know what that means. What is the "normal" level of radiation in water in a tunnel under a nuke plant? Is there even supposed to be water in the tunnel?

[MJW155]

Such the panic NIMBY response. Just the THOUGHT that something isn't perfect produces conniption fits. Here in the US we are facing trace amounts that from 4500+ miles away cannot accumulate to near any type of danger threshold. The real story is that all these US guidelines are way, way, way below the level of harm. So yeah, you can scream 3300% above a guideline while completely ignoring that it is still 25 times below the level for actual harm. Skip the udder and let Louis Pasteur work his magic and your milk will be fine.

You probably have arsenic in your water supply, convulse in fear and rage. Know what is actually on your kitchen counter tops? OMG, "Lysol only kills 99.9%! What dangers may lurk for your child? Tune in at 11:00!"

Though I do agree that it might be a good idea to be vigilant at the grocery store to avoid the unlikely chance that potentially contaminated food from Japan slips in. Reading labels can't hurt, since it isn't inconceivable that some unscrupulous types might try to launder a product through China or another country.

And yet, it's still not supposed to be there. When people rationalize things like this by saying "it is still 25 times below the level for actual harm" it means the corporate spin machine is winning.

If you are not worried, why do you think it's a good idea to be vigilant at the grocery store?

[JoMo]

I still don't know what that means. What is the "normal" level of radiation in water in a tunnel under a nuke plant? Is there even supposed to be water in the tunnel?

"extremely high"

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/82382.html

URGENT: Radioactivity 10,000 times the limit found from groundwater: TEPCO

A radioactive substance about 10,000 times the limit was detected from groundwater around the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday.

A Tokyo Electric official said the radiation level is ''extremely high.''

[ArtRosen]

I wish people would give levels of normality... such as 5 microsiervets or 1 millisievert.

[Plokoon111]

Thats the thing, they don't want to say accurate measurements in sv, by saying 10x the normal the public is confused.

[AmyB]

Thats the thing, they don't want to say accurate measurements in sv, by saying 10x the normal the public is confused.

http://www.nrc.gov/r...diation-fs.html

Excerpt from the NRC linked page above:

Can the radiation dose from tritium produced in nuclear power be compared to the dose a person receives from natural background radioactivity or from medical procedures?

• Tritium is present naturally in the environment and the radiation produced by natural tritium is identical to the radiation produced by tritium from nuclear power plants.
• The radiation dose from tritium can be directly compared to the radiation dose from any other type of radiation, including natural background radiation and those received during medical procedures.
• The tritium dose from nuclear power plants is much lower than the exposures attributable to natural background radiation and medical administrations.
• Humans receive approximately 50% of their annual radiation dose from natural background radiation, 48% from medical procedures (e.g., x-rays), and 2% from consumer products. Doses from tritium and nuclear power plant effluents are a negligible contribution to the background radiation to which people are normally exposed, and they account for less than 0.1% of the total background dose (NCRP, 2009) As an example, assume that a residential drinking water well sample contains tritium at the level of 1,600 picocuries per liter (a comparable tritium level was identified in a drinking water well near the Braidwood Station nuclear facility). The radiation dose from drinking water at this level for a full year (using EPA assumptions) is 0.3 millirem (mrem), which is:
  • at least two thousand to five thousand times lower than the dose from a medical procedure involving a full-body computed tomography (CT) scan (e.g., 500 to 1,500 mrem from a CT scan)
  • one thousand times lower than the approximate 300 mrem dose from natural background radiation
  • fifty times lower than the dose from natural radioactivity (potassium) in your body (e.g., 15 mrem from potassium)
  • twelve times lower than the dose from a round-trip cross-country airplane flight (e.g., 4 mrem from Washington, DC to Los Angeles and back)

[Organizing Low]

GE can't even make a good dishwasher it amazes me that someone would buy a nuclear reactor from them.

(srs)

what type of dishwasher do you have?

[Mt.Zoniac]

[Amped]

http://www.nrc.gov/r...diation-fs.html

Excerpt from the NRC linked page above:

Can the radiation dose from tritium produced in nuclear power be compared to the dose a person receives from natural background radioactivity or from medical procedures?

• Tritium is present naturally in the environment and the radiation produced by natural tritium is identical to the radiation produced by tritium from nuclear power plants.
• The radiation dose from tritium can be directly compared to the radiation dose from any other type of radiation, including natural background radiation and those received during medical procedures.
• The tritium dose from nuclear power plants is much lower than the exposures attributable to natural background radiation and medical administrations.
• Humans receive approximately 50% of their annual radiation dose from natural background radiation, 48% from medical procedures (e.g., x-rays), and 2% from consumer products. Doses from tritium and nuclear power plant effluents are a negligible contribution to the background radiation to which people are normally exposed, and they account for less than 0.1% of the total background dose (NCRP, 2009) As an example, assume that a residential drinking water well sample contains tritium at the level of 1,600 picocuries per liter (a comparable tritium level was identified in a drinking water well near the Braidwood Station nuclear facility). The radiation dose from drinking water at this level for a full year (using EPA assumptions) is 0.3 millirem (mrem), which is:
  • at least two thousand to five thousand times lower than the dose from a medical procedure involving a full-body computed tomography (CT) scan (e.g., 500 to 1,500 mrem from a CT scan)
  • one thousand times lower than the approximate 300 mrem dose from natural background radiation
  • fifty times lower than the dose from natural radioactivity (potassium) in your body (e.g., 15 mrem from potassium)
  • twelve times lower than the dose from a round-trip cross-country airplane flight (e.g., 4 mrem from Washington, DC to Los Angeles and back)

Everything is deadly, it's just a matter of dosage or velocity.

[AmyB]

Night vision. You fail.

Everything is deadly, it's just a matter of dosage or velocity.

Knowledge of facts and some common sense helps. It's not a new discovery that we are exposed to radiation every day of our lives in varying amounts and types.

[Mt.Zoniac]

Japan Crews Facing 100 Year Battle At Fukushima: Nuclear Expert

March 31st, 2011 at 11:13 PM

http://enenews.com/fukushima-battle-may-take-100-years-nuclear-expert

Crews ‘facing 100-year battle’ at Fukushima, ABC Australia, April 1, 2011:

A nuclear expert has warned that it might be 100 years before melting fuel rods can be safely removed from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant. …

“As the water leaks out, you keep on pouring water in, so this leak will go on for ever,” said Dr John Price, a former member of the Safety Policy Unit at the UK’s National Nuclear Corporation.

“There has to be some way of dealing with it. The water is connecting in tunnels and concrete-lined pits at the moment and the question is whether they can pump it back.

“The final thing is that the reactors will have to be closed and the fuel removed, and that is 50 to 100 years away. …

Radioactive Iodine-131 in Rainwater Sample Near San Francisco was 18,100% Above Federal Drinking Water Standard

March 31st, 2011 at 06:33 PM

http://enenews.com/anaheim-ca-has-highest-amount-of-radioactive-fallout-of-any-epa-air-monitoring-station-in-continental-u-s

UCB Rain Water Sampling Results, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Nuclear Engineering:

Iodine-131 level in rainwater sample taken on the roof of Etcheverry Hall on UC Berkeley campus, March 23, 2011 from 9:06-18:00 PDT

20.1 Becquerel per liter (Bq/L) = 543 Picocuries per liter (pCi/L) — Conversion calculator here.

The federal drinking water standard for Iodine-131 is 3 pCi/L. (Press Release)

Anaheim, CA Has Highest Amount of Radioactive Fallout of Any EPA Air Monitoring Station in Continental U.S. for Iodine-131

March 31st, 2011 at 08:41 PM

Dutch Harbor, Alaska monitor registers highest radiation in US, News Tribune, March 30, 2011:

… The EPA report, issued Monday, is based upon laboratory analyses of filters and charcoal canisters on the monitors…

[A]ll reported some fallout, with Anaheim coming closest to Dutch Harbor [Alaska] in reported levels of radioactive iodine — 1.9 picocuries of radioactivity in each cubic meter of air in Anaheim to Dutch Harbor’s 2.8.

[Ed Lizard]

Oldest post on 'Energy News', 3/18/11.

Is that your blog?

[AmyB]

Oldest post on 'Energy News', 3/18/11.

Is that your blog?

I noticed that also.. and it's all fear mongering information..

Another fail.

[LithiaWx]

At this level, you would need to drink 632 liters of this rain water to obtain the same radiation effects you obtain on a round-trip flight between San Francisco and Washington D.C. Therefore, the increase in radiation levels in the rain water due to the events in Japan remain extremely small.

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/RainWaterSampling

Mt. Zoniac you fail

[Mt.Zoniac]

Waaa, waa, whaaa...... all you fail babies HawksfanHawkeye, Amy, et. al. How can any of you be interested in science when you can't even have an open mind about science? And news that you don't agree with or don't want to read? What are you all, brain dead, close minded or just plain rude? I'd say all three. I'm done with you babies and waaa-waaas. You're a waste of time. Go away.

And I don't remember any of you either from year's back, so you must be waaa-waaa socks. WWWWWWWWWWaaaaaaaaaaaa

[janetjanet998]

URGENT: Gov't eyes injecting nitrogen into reactor vessels to prevent blasts

TOKYO, April 1, Kyodo

The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. are considering injecting nitrogen into containment vessels of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's reactors to prevent hydrogen explosions, government sources said Friday.

==Kyodo

[AmyB]

Waaa, waa, whaaa...... all you fail babies HawksfanHawkeye, Amy, et. al. How can any of you be interested in science when you can't even have an open mind about science? And news that you don't agree with or don't want to read? What are you all, brain dead, close minded or just plain rude? I'd say all three. I'm done with you babies and waaa-waaas. You're a waste of time. Go away.

And I don't remember any of you either from year's back, so you must be waaa-waaa socks. WWWWWWWWWWaaaaaaaaaaaa

You've been crappin up this thread since you got here.. move along and stop looking for a scrap..

[LithiaWx]

Waaa, waa, whaaa...... all you fail babies HawksfanHawkeye, Amy, et. al. How can any of you be interested in science when you can't even have an open mind about science? And news that you don't agree with or don't want to read? What are you all, brain dead, close minded or just plain rude? I'd say all three. I'm done with you babies and waaa-waaas. You're a waste of time. Go away.

And I don't remember any of you either from year's back, so you must be waaa-waaa socks. WWWWWWWWWWaaaaaaaaaaaa

I love science, and I've been around on various weather forums for years. I love science so much I actually read the articles you posted and found that little tidbit I posted above. It was actually in one of the studies you posted. Perhaps you should read your own articles that you reference before you post.

[Ed Lizard]

Waaa, waa, whaaa...... all you fail babies HawksfanHawkeye, Amy, et. al. How can any of you be interested in science when you can't even have an open mind about science? And news that you don't agree with or don't want to read? What are you all, brain dead, close minded or just plain rude? I'd say all three. I'm done with you babies and waaa-waaas. You're a waste of time. Go away.

And I don't remember any of you either from year's back, so you must be waaa-waaa socks. WWWWWWWWWWaaaaaaaaaaaa

Goofy question(s). What do you do for a living? Do you have a science based education? Have you ever received training in the field of radiologic hazards? Ever worked in a nuclear power plant of some kind?