We'll never know, will we? It's beyond man's capability to determine for certain what causes each case of each kind of cancer. In the bigger scheme of things, even our brightest minds aren't all that bright. Cure the common cold? Too tough. Billions of dollars and decades of research have been spent trying. We're simply not that smart. But play around with a force capable of destroying all life on Earth? Sure, why not? WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Most credible estimates for Chernobyl deaths are near a million now. Could eventually be hundreds of millions over the next century. It's not like the pollution goes away. It's not like the horrible mutations it has caused in humans, plants and animals won't have additional tragic consequences through the coming generations.
Plutonium from meltdown contaminating soil around reactor. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110328/wl_nm/us_japan_quake TEPCO clearly not competent to handle the emergency, Japan government considers nationalizing the company to gain control although they also have no people up to the task. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake;_ylt=Ao9T4FJ85m9Otd_L41PGoGFn.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTM3bWk2bWdqBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMzI4L2FzX2phcGFuX2VhcnRocXVha2UEY2NvZGUDbXBfZWNfOF8xMARjcG9zAzIEcG9zAzIEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNtb3JlcmFkaW9hY3Q- Of the five soil samples showing plutonium, two appeared to be coming from leaking reactors while the rest were likely the result of years of nuclear tests that left trace amounts of plutonium in many places around the world, TEPCO said. Plutonium is a heavy element that doesn't readily combine with other elements, so it is less likely to spread than some of the lighter, more volatile radioactive materials detected around the site, such as the radioactive forms of cesium and iodine. "The relative toxicity of plutonium is much higher than that of iodine or cesium but the chance of people getting a dose of it is much lower," says Robert Henkin, professor emeritus of radiology at Loyola University's Stritch School of Medicine. "Plutonium just sits there and is a nasty actor." When plutonium decays, it emits what is known as an alpha particle, a relatively big particle that carries a lot of energy. When an alpha particle hits body tissue, it can damage the DNA of a cell and lead to a cancer-causing mutation. Plutonium also breaks down very slowly, so it remains dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. "If you inhale it, it's there and it stays there forever," said Alan Lockwood, a professor of Neurology and Nuclear Medicine at the University at Buffalo and a member of the board of directors of Physicians for Social Responsibility, an advocacy group.
General Electric installed the reactors. I had assumed a Japanese company had done it. The Japanese are calling the suicide squads samurai squads and paying them big money. Oh yeah, least important, the core has melted through to the ground. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...mid-fresh-fears-for-nuclear-site-2256741.html
The greater danger: [video]http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6473[/video]
The latest on various dangers. This article says that water seeping 50 feet under a reactor contains 1) radiation (will dissipate before reaching underground drinking water) and 2) poisonous iodine (won't dissipate, but should flow downhill to sea, not uphill to underground drinking water). http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-04-01-02-48-39 The company Chairman says 4 of 6 reactors can't be saved, but the government says all 6 are toast. This article says they're trying to stop bad water from flowing to the sea. The previous article says, that's what they want, to prevent it from flowing to the drinking water. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...lear-reactors-at-fukushima-plant-2257834.html
Once they injected the boron and seawater, the fuel and primary piping were toast for nuclear operations. And if there is contamination in the soil underneath, no matter how large or small, you don't want to operate on top of it in case it could mask a future problem. Additionally, if this causes them to look at plants with both a primary and secondary system for steam generation, that's a good thing. Having to have the amount of water they need for a completely primary system (where the same water that goes through the fuel spins the turbines and is pumped back to the core) isn't the best mode of operation. One of the problems you'll see in US civilian reactor use is that we're also running reactors that are 40+ years old. New construction would allow modernization, safety upgrades and potentially next-gen energy usage and waste modernization.
And now this... ...hey Brian, on a serious note, would you have re-signed if you were in a similar situation? At what point would you draw the line?
Honestly, if I was in charge and this happened on my watch, I would think that my responsibility would be to direct the efforts to clean up and keep people safe to the best of my ability. Once that was complete, I would probably tender a resignation. And if I was fired prior to the end of it, I would understand. I would think of it as "quitting when it gets difficult" to resign immediately afterward. And that's not something I either live by or was trained for.
bumped b/c I haven't heard much interest from here in a while. Environmentalists using Fukushima to push for more nuclear production? http://www.npr.org/2011/03/29/134960843/Environmentalist-Monbiot-Supports-Nuclear-Power
I'm trying to get my hands on this lecture, but it's from the NRC perspective. I'd imagine that, once people realize that in THE WORST NUKULAR ACCIDENT SINCE CHERNOBYL (only slightly higher than when Homer's bird toy fell over) there were two people hospitalized with burns...and NO acute radiation sickness (much less death), that they may come around to the environmentalists' way of thinking. Education is part of the solution!
they never explained what forces caused the bird to tumble. Did someone hit the table? Did perpetual motion fail (if so, why didn't the bird remain stopped, but upright?!) I really enjoyed the "The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now" message.
Yes, that is definitely the best part of the episode. I'm pretty sure I've quoted it a bunch in regular conversation. Half the time people don't know what I'm talking about.
I'm dying the slow death that everyone does - a day at a time. The only agony is when I drive my wife somewhere in the car and she tells me how to drove.
...now it is as bad as Chernobyl, if not worse Experts: Fukushima ‘Worse’ Than Chernobyl -Tokyo Evacuation Can No Longer Be Ingored
I love that this guy is still getting hits. Forget listening to the government, the owners of the plant or nuclear experts...BloggerGuy has the real deal facts! Why won't the Main$treamMedia report his findings?!?! Wait, Japan talked to Al-Jazeera about it in June. Has anyone gone to the hospital yet over this? I ask, because they keep bringing up Cesium as the horrible isotope du jour, and yet people like Andrew Maidment, an associate professor of radiology and chief of physics and radiology at the University of Pennsylvania and Yuri Nikiforov, a professor of pathology at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center say the following (from March):
Well, to be fair Brian, those first two sets of people do in fact have a record of not exactly telling the full truth. barfo
Yep, the nuclear accident is just a minor blip. Mass confusion and billions of dollars spent to prevent it from being worse don't count. http://en.rian.ru/trend/consequences_japanese_quake_2011/
