This is not looking good folks. http://www.smh.com.au/world/nuclear-plant-blast-appears-to-have-caused-meltdown-20110313-1bsmk.html
Meltdown in no way means Chernobyl but it should be pretty fun watching the media spin this into some sort of nuclear holocaust situation.
The real deal is that the media and goody-two-shoes factions will use this to eliminate all those permits, plans and multi-million dollar taxpayer funded studies for all the new gen power plants scheduled for construction. not to mention the coal lobby is lovin this.
Yeah, I wasn't implying that. Just bad news for the locals and Japan in general. If I understand correctly, the reactors in Japan are not the same design as the ones at Chernobyl in the sense that they may meltdown but don't "run away."
Oh I didn't think you were implying it. It is bad news but luckily not as bad as people are thinking. I guess that reactor was built in the early 70s and was supposed to be shut down at the end of the month. Crazy.
That picture cracks me up. I live a little under 200 miles away from the reactor and I'm not worried one bit. They evactuated everyone within about 15 miles of it just incase but the media is just making it a bigger deal then it really is. Now if they come tell me to evacuate then I might start worrying.
That equation is only for calculating radiation exposure that transfers through the air. The best way to think of this, is that contamination is the shit, whereas the radiation is the stink. That equation assumes that the contamination is located in a single area and is immobile. As soon as the contamination goes airborne and into the atmosphere, that is where you have to worry. It then becomes mobile, and spreads the radiation exposure exponentially. I really hope that the containment holds. This is a no joke situation, guys. Could easily turn south very quickly. If the containment gave away, then we will have some major spread of contamination. These reactors are pretty well designed, so we shouldn't have to worry as long as the fuel wasn't uncovered. It doesn't take long at all to cause fuel element damage in any reactor if the fuel is uncovered. The worst part is that once the fuel is damaged, there is no reversing the after effects. Once that point is hit, the focus becomes containing the release of fission products and attempts to clean up. They are injecting seawater mixed with Boron into the reactor vessel, which tells me that they have hit rock bottom. The seawater has horrible effects on the reactor vessel, including blockage of fuel plate coolant channels, release of hydrogen gas (from radiolytic decomposition of the water), and potential explosions in the containment area from any sort of spark. The boron is used as a poison, as it absorbs neutrons and prevents further nuclear fissions from occuring. They are trying to stabilize the plant, and are far from recovery. ~Will Courtier~
How many reactors are near the shore in the Pacific Northwest of the US? If the Cascadia Subduction Zone breaks loose, with the accompanying monster tsunami, reactors along the stretch from Northern California to the State of Washington could face similar challenges.
even if the media hypes it, or everything gets watered down or disproven.. the fact is.. noone really knows because if there was a major radiation cloud coming our way, they wouldnt tell us.. i wonder if this will cause the leftover japanese population to migrate further west or north away from this earthquake zone.. its going to put a dent in their population number and procreation.. not to mention their way of life.
And it begins, not even 4 days later: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42069545/ns/business-oil_and_energy/
The second explosion damaged the containment of one of the reactors. The fourth reactor is now on fire, and radiation is now spewing out of the plant.
So I go to work today and maybe an hour after I have been outside working on something I have someone come tell me hey man get inside and close the windows we are on lockdown. I guess the winds shifted right and it blow some of the radiation dust over where I live but it was a very minimum amount. They are just having us stay inside as a precaution so its really not a big deal but kinda scary at first thought.
thats scary!! so scooby is flinch now? what if you accidentally inhaled a little? sounds like its about to be another chernobyl despite everyones positive claims