This thing has been played down till recently. Its far worse then what most every one thought. http://youtu.be/xT1-rkJCiuU All those huge containers of water. What are they going to do with them. What happens if there is another EQ, tsunami or cyclone? Blows my mind how anyone could think this would be easy, but takes time to fix. Around 7:30 shows how it will effect the pacific ocean. More info here. http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/30/why-fukushima-is-worse-than-you-think/?hpt=hp_t4
Lol, sucks for Japan, but it's their own fault for not taking the proper measures and just expecting TEPCO to deal with it themselves. And don't start that nonsense again about how it's a world issue and that everyone is doomed. What happened after Chernobyl? World kept going as normal. What happened after over 2,000 nuclear tests? World kept going as normal. That's not to say that this isn't important to deal with, but the construction of a proper holding tank facility instead of this hobbled nonsense should have been done ages ago or at least been started.
Not really an update, we all knew the situation was dire. If Japan has mishandled the cleanup then shame on them. As stated above, the world will soldier on.
Its really a shame that the planets water is constantly under assault from mankind. Its its not a giant oil spill on one end of Earth, its a nuclear spill on the other.
Had two atom bombs dropped on them and they're now one of the world's leading in various industries. I think they'll be fine.
With Bikini Atoll the radiation got adsorbed by living organisms because "cesium is part of the same chemical family as the plant nutrient potassium". http://www.bikiniatoll.com/PopularSciArt.html So I'd think shoreline plants and fish would be affected. But, if the fish are edible round Japan, I wouldn't worry about it. http://news.msn.com/us/calls-for-seafood-tests-due-to-radiation-leak-in-japan "A leak of 300 tons is about 80,000 gallons, but the Pacific Ocean is pretty large compared to that," said Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. "So there's a big dilution effect." Honestly, I'd say there's more risk with mercury poisoning for the average person.
While I agree that optimism is important in these situations, this is not good at all. Of course the ocean is vast, and there is most probably more water than radioactive material spewing into the ocean. The problem here is the effects it has on wildlife and weather, not just the water. If we just keep telling ourselves, "Meh there is more water than radioactive waste" every time something like this happens, then eventually we will corner ourselves with impure soil, water, and food. This needs to be a lesson learned, not to be repeated again. Accidents/Natural Disasters happen sure, and we NEED to learn from them. We need to worry about these things, but not stress over them. This is a problem, this is NOT okay. All over the news you see how fish/birds are dropping dead. If people really think that the the reactor does not have effects elsewhere in the world, they are sadly mistaken. It does not work that way. This is just an excuse. Mutations don't happen overnight, and the effects of such poisoning can come years down the line in forms of cancer. Just because cesium is in the same family as potassium, it is being absorbed in an abnormal abundance, therefore IT IS NOT SAFE! These wounds can heal but at a cost, and this can't happen again. We lost enough fish/birds because of this.
Right, lets eat lead paint chips because our bodies will mistake it as calcium. No, I know this, but with the dilution I'd imagine is less concentrated than Bikini Atoll, or hell, Chernobyl. The graphs would make it seem the ocean will glow at night. It's not good, no, just as the mass amounts of plastic in the ocean. But as there's no possible way of extracting it, well. If I had to pinpoint a cause other than them just simply not being prepared; the plant was built in the 80s and used earlier generation reactors. http://www.lordkat.com/blog/2061/atom-and-men-why-fukushima-daiichi-wont-be-chernobyl-ii.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_IV_reactor Of course with any ****up there's stuff to learn only after it happens and regret.
What's funny is that it was so close to being shut down and decommissioned. The whole incident was some pretty colossal bad luck.
when it spawns Godzilla i'll be concerned, but right now i'm suffering from war apathy, environmentalism apathy and political correctness apathy. sorry.
My point is the more we take stuff like this lightly, the more we screw up the planet. "Dilution" just screams excuse to a big problem to make it seem better than what it really is. I just hate hearing crap like that, just to make themselves look good.
While on the topic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_disposal_of_radioactive_waste But it's not even "us" that are the issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_pollution When you have **** like "the 'Ndrangheta, an Italian mafia syndicate, was accused of sinking at least 30 ships loaded with toxic waste, much of it radioactive. This has led to widespread investigations into radioactive-waste disposal rackets." or "Since the end of World War II, various nations, including the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, have disposed of chemical weapons in the Baltic Sea, raising concerns of environmental contamination" You realize no amount of activism or public influence really matters when it comes to people looking to dump their **** and do it cheap and easy.
Yes this is it. It might not be a big deal "now" but how about for our kids, and ours kids kids. This **** has a half life of 30 years. By the looks of it we wont see any kind of true "clean up" for probably 10 years. Its just to toxic and to much for our technological know how to clean up. https://www.google.com/#q=fish+die+off+pacific+ocean Ya its been over 2 years and its getting worse by the day. How long before we start seeing the effects. Oh wait. Ya and one rod outa the 1000's that they have, per spent pool pond, are 14,000 times more radioactive then the bombs dropped. well according to the nuclear scientist's anyways. Its just stuff that us normal everyday people that think they know alittle of atomic energy, really dont know and need to find out the real information. I know iv learned so much in the past few years about this **** that when i talk about it people think im just making **** up. Sure something's you read on the web arn't true. It's when you hear/read things from actual scientists, and ther publications. Things become more coherent. Think of those 30 ships as afew days of natural release from fukushima. I dont want to sound like an alarmist or try to make people panic. Im just putting out the information. Im concerned about my future kids.. How f@cked would it be to never be able to swim in the ocean. It could get to that point. I hope and pray that they "tepco" and the rest of the world forces are able to put a stop to the pollution of our precious water and the species that live in it. Its just more sad then anything. We only live once and i want my kids to experience a swim int he ocean without the harmful effects of cancer. Iv seen a loved one die from it once. Never again do i want to see that!
I keep reading this over and over. Thinking to myself. Chernobyl. By itself was bad bad bad.. yes it was the worst explosion and worst "initial" release of radioactive plums. However... Chernobyl is pretty much buried. Not really too threatening after the initial explosion. While Fuku will be threatening for many years to come. Its all because of the ground water and the water drainage from the mountains above. This is not as threatening atmospherically per say. But the daily release into the ocean is far more threatening in the long term. 2,000 nuclear tests are not nearly as bad as one spent fuel rod burning. which would equal 14,000 Hiroshima bombs. Well thats what iv herd anyways. Its all just unknowns. I really dont think even the scientists really know. :frown: