Chernobyl/Nuclear/Japan?

I really wish they'd stop saying radiation levels 'rising', it's too vague.


Cnn is saying the radiation level at the plant is 0.1 to 0.4 sieverts. However, no idea if that's per day or since the blast or what. If it is 0.1 per hour then that would be quite bad.

A sievert does not measure the actual quantity of radiation, rather it measures the health effects. So you can have a lot of mildly hazardous radioactivity or just a little gamma radiation to get a particular value.

They are saying some nuclear material not in the reactor got caught in the fire. Makes me feel real comfy here in the USA since we store our **** on site (nevada punked out on us).

 

1038: The radiation dosages of up to 400 millisieverts per hour recorded at the Fukushima plant "are levels that you have to take very seriously indeed to ensure you avoid immediate health effects", Professor Richard Wakeford from the Dalton Nuclear Institute at the University of Manchester tells the BBC World Service. He says Japanese authorities will be imposing a ban on food and drink from the area and issuing iodine tablets to block the intake of radioactive iodine from the thyroid.

 

Its becoming worst than chernobyl...
France yesterday said than it was 5 or 6 grade, when chernobyl was the top 7....

God blesses all people in japan, its the hell in world...

first: earthquake
second: tsunami
third: nuclear panic
fourth: a volcano erupting yesterday at south of japan...

God...

 

It appears that for the first time, the containment system around one of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors has been breached.

Officials have referred to a possible crack in the suppression chamber of reactor 2 - a large doughnut-shaped structure below the reactor housing. That would allow steam, containing radioactive substances, to escape continuously.

This is the most likely source of the high radioactivity readings seen near the site. Another possible source is the fire in reactor 4 building - believed to have started when a pool storing old fuel rods dried up.

The readings at the site rose beyond safe limits - 400 millisieverts per hour (mSv/hr), when the average person's exposure is 3mSv in a year.

A key question is whether this is just a transient spike, which might be expected if number 2 is the source, or whether the high levels are sustained.

In the meantime, the key task for workers at the plant remains to get enough water into the reactors - and, now, into the spent fuel pools - with the poor resources at their disposal.

 

now the millisieverts have dropped a lot according to news.

 

'Radiation' text message is fake

A fake text message warning people that radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant has leaked beyond Japan has been panicking people across Asia.

The text message, purporting to come from the BBC, has been circulating around Asian countries since Monday.

It warns people to take necessary precautions against possible effects of radiation.

The BBC has issued no such flash but it has caused particular panic in the Philippines.

Some media reports suggest that workers and school children there were sent home after the rumours began to spread, prompting the Philippines government to issue an official denial.

Disasters such as that currently unfolding in Japan often trigger a rise in scam e-mails intended to fool users into downloading malware or simply to spread panic.

The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has told computer users to be wary of potential e-mail scams, as well as fake anti-virus and phishing attacks regarding the Japan earthquake and the tsunami disasters.
Continue reading the main story
FAKE E-MAIL IN FULL

BBC Flash news : Japan Government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24 hours. Close doors and windows. Swab neck skin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Philippine at around 4 pm today. If it rains today or in the next few days in Hong Kong. Do not go under the rain. If you get caught out, use an umbrella or raincoat, even if it is only a drizzle. Radioactive particles, which may cause burns, alopecia or even cancer, may be in the rain.

"Such scams may contain links or attachments which direct users to phishing or malware-laden sites," it said.

In the Philippines, the Department of Science and Technology has held a press conference to reassure the public that they are safe even if radiation levels in Japan continue to rise.

On Tuesday morning, reactor 2 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant became the third to explode in four days.

Radiation has reached harmful levels but there is no suggestion that it is affecting anything other than the immediate area.

Officials have extended the danger zone, warning residents within 30km (18 miles) to evacuate or stay indoors.

 

To put that into perspective:



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Less than your average X-ray, let's all panic.

 

400Ms is the leak from that report - From your graph it says 500ms will start messing with your white blood cells

 

All Nuclear plants in Germany that were built before 1980 are to be temporarily shutdown

 

Thanks for that but I already have an engineering degree. Your post has certainly changed my career progression and I'm now going to study nuclear physics so I can properly understand what is going on.

My point was that, no single human design is infallible and complex systems often do things that are unexpected. The more complex the system the more difficult it is to predict abhorrent behaviour under extreme conditions.

 

The 400msv was not an overall picture:

The news agencies are just doing selective reporting to cause panic (and more viewers).

 

As we all know the Japanese Government is well known for telling the truth when it comes to their nuclear industry.

 

Here is a place for you to take your conspiracies:

http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/

The rest of us like to deal with facts.

 

I didnt know Germany was expecting a tidal wave? :nerd:

 

They are looking at what happened to Japan and preventing it happening to them, quite sensible if you ask me

 

Thanks for the direct insult there chummy, but the Japanese government is well known for past cover ups.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...cover-ups-undermine-nuclear-reassurances.html

I'm not stupid.

 

If it'd said all nuclear plants to be shutdown then yes that could be viewed as overreacting but considering the age of the reactors they are shutting down then it's probably a good thing long term if they are reviewing safety systems and conditions at the plants.

 

While it's true human designs fail, they fail in ways that they *can* fail in. A bicycle may lose a gear, but it won't vaporize LA. Chernobyl's explosion was a runaway nuclear reaction. The reaction here is probably "stopped" (reduced to 5%-7% of normal) and cannot physically accelerate. The reason there is still a danger is because that 5%-7% generates heat which if not dissipated can cause hydrogen gas to form and thereby generate gas explosions. There can be no sudden power spike, just a steady rise to temperature until the H20 separates and then a gas explosion. If they've covered up a weakness of the containment dome and it ruptures, then you'll have a fair dispersal of material, but even in that event the effects won't be the same as Chernobyl they will be far more localized.

 

Also, bear in mind that chernobyl threw out up to a quarter of its nuclear fuel in the main explosion, as well as large chunks of moderator. These will all have been very radioactive (as they are in this case). This isn't going to happen here.

Leaks and breaks in containment are never good, but like Dustpuppy said, these will be very localised and no where near as severe a threat as Chernobyl.

 

Your guaranteeing that? Well done, why didn't they call for you instead of the experts from America? I will remain sceptical, it's a policy that has seen me very well throughout my life.