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rrrADAM
Trad climber
LBMF
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Apr 18, 2011 - 05:51pm PT
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Which is why sampling is so important...
There are just too many variables (E.g., type of radionuclide, soil type, concentration, etc) to come up with any reasonable answers now, without sampling.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Apr 19, 2011 - 11:57am PT
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Wow RockerMike. We are in very very deep sh#t and 99.9% of us don't even realize it yet...
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rrrADAM
Trad climber
LBMF
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Apr 19, 2011 - 12:52pm PT
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UPDATE AS OF 5 P.M. EDT, MONDAY, APRIL 18:
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) estimates it will take up to nine months to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. A plan released Sunday breaks the project into two steps, the first taking up to three months, the second up to six months more.
According to the company’s “ Roadmap Towards Restoration,” TEPCO plans to:
Fill the containment vessels of reactors 1 and 3 with enough water to cover the fuel in the reactors while it decides the best course of action to repair the damaged containment vessel of reactor 2. The goal is to lower the temperature of the water inside the reactors to below boiling.
Install heat exchangers to help cool the reactors. TEPCO continues to inject water into the reactors to prevent overheating. TEPCO also continues to spray water onto the used fuel storage pools as needed.
Use giant covers with filters to enclose the reactor buildings and control the release of radioactivity.
Install additional water storage tanks and purification facilities to process the highly radioactive water that has accumulated in the plant buildings and nearby concrete enclosures. The decontaminated water then will be used to cool the reactors. Radioactive water that has accumulated in turbine room basements is hampering work to restore cooling operations.
Expand monitoring of radiation in the 12.5-mile evacuation area and later decontaminate houses and soil.
TEPCO continues injection of nitrogen gas into the containment vessel of reactor 1 to stabilize the environment inside the reactor.
New Videos Posted
NEI has uploaded two new videos to its YouTube channel: " Health Physicist Explains the Differences in Health Impacts From Fukushima Versus Chernobyl" and " Health Physicist Says Fukushima Poses No Health Risk to Americans." Both videos feature Barbara Hamrick, radiation safety officer and certified health physicist at the University of California's Irvine Medical Center. |
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Daphne
Trad climber
Mill Valley, CA
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Apr 19, 2011 - 01:43pm PT
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Here's another update from the ground in Tokyo, Japan. I am always more interested in the human element than in the sciences and hope these reports leaven the nuclear discussion on this thread. I think this person writes incredibly well.
4/18
We didn’t actually coordinate our travel schedules ahead of time, but Hillary R Clinton and I both arrived in Tokyo this past weekend. And while of course the auspices under which we are here vastly differ, we’re both offering our condolences and our support in rebuilding after the earthquake. Unlike Hillary, however, I was not invited to tea with the Emperor and Empress. (As an aside, oddly enough, Hillary has been in my dreams for many years, and in a particularly memorable one, she called me to ask for my interpreting assistance in Japan so I half expected to hear from her on the weekend......) I did have lunch yesterday, though, with a JP colleague of 12 years, and he filled me in on his personal experience the day of the EQ/tsunami, and what has transpired since. Aside from the fact that he walked 4-1/2 hours to get home the night of the earthquake because all the trains were stopped, he says he’s gained 10 pounds since 3/11 (“three-one-one” as they’re calling it). He thinks that the sudden weight gain comes from a constant feeling of wanting to fill a hole inside that newly opened with this tragedy. Unable to make sense of such loss ( = emptiness), he can’t fill himself with enough in order to at least experience a temporary sense of comfort or relief. A highly sensitive soul to begin with, he’s grasping to find solid ground, to find something whole, and finds himself looking more inward than ever before, looking for answers about the meaning of it all.
Yurekuru.
I first read about this cell phone application, yurekuru, in the NYTimes, but have since heard about it a million times. It literally means “shaking’s coming” and if you’ve downloaded the app, your cell phone will emit a special ring 30 seconds before an earthquake. You can arrange your settings so that you only get the announcement for anything over a magnitude of 5 or 6 or whatever you want. My friend Merry had hers on a low-ish setting, so anything over a 3 was registering. She learned to not necessarily jump at every ring, especially if she herself didn’t feel any shaking, but her dachshund, Moby, has come to recognize the sound and what it implies, and was having freak-outs all the time, after which Merry decided to raise the threshold a little.
Ginza.
The Champs-Elysees of Tokyo. Yesterday evening when I left my Ginza office, I noticed that only every other street lamp was lit. Other than the blaring blazing glaring neon lights of the newly-opened Gap store, the entire area was noticeably darker. I’ve heard from a handful of people that they actually prefer the subdued lighting, and feel that it’s more romantic, more European this way than it was before.
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4/19
I stopped in at Citibank this morning, and saw white hard hats printed with “CITI” strategically placed at all the tellers’ windows. I stopped into another bank to see if this was the case there as well, and sure enough. Green helmets for the tellers. Later today, I came upon an article about “fashionable emergency goods” and read about helmets (stackable ones in 11 different colors http://www.kakumet.jp/ ) and the fold-up helmet http://www.ring-bo.com/rescue/tatamet-zukin.htm And then there’s the “puchi puchi sleeping bag” made from bubble wrap http://xbrand.yahoo.co.jp/category/lifestyle/6637/8.html (puchi puchi is the onomatopoeic sound of the bubble wrap when you pop the bubbles, which of course you do because how can you not?!) Last but not least, there’s the “bosai dog” (which means “disaster dog......” ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=treJ8_gllPU The dog-pouch comes with a whistle, rope, rain poncho, flashlight, and candle.
In addition to fashionizing anything and everything, the JPs are quite prone to and adept at coming up with buzzwords that pertain to a particular event or time. This is probably true everywhere, but in my experience, the JPs are relentless masters. At the moment, aside from the above-mentioned yurekuru, the word jishuku has been finding its way into more sentences. Defined as “self-control” or “self-restraint,” it’s not a new word, but is what all people are being called on to do here in Japan, particularly in terms of holding back on the use of natural resources, electricity, buying water, or even just having too much of a good time. That said, in the last week or so, there are those who feel that enough is enough, and that the time for jishuku is over. They’re saying it’s time to get the economy moving, to shop, to dine out, to re-emerge and to try to live normally and that this is now what Japan needs most.
Another word of the times is setsuden which means “conservation of electricity.” (This word’s brevity in Japanese compared to the clumsy English equivalent is a form of conservation in itself!) This is the word that is posted most on store fronts, vending machines, in train stations, at banks, near non-moving escalators and elevators, everywhere. It’s even stamped into my brain at this point, after only a few days here, and I’m very conscious of what lights I turn on, and have most definitely been avoiding use of the power-monger heater I have at home. A poignant moment: yesterday on the train, I noticed someone walking back and forth in the train car, muttering to himself. He was probably in his early twenties, seemingly autistic, and visibly frustrated. I leaned in a little to hear what he was saying. What I heard was “setsuden setsuden setsuden setsuden setsuden....”
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rrrADAM
Trad climber
LBMF
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Apr 19, 2011 - 02:00pm PT
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Thanx again, Daphne. It's much appreciated.
The Japanese have a proud, resilient, and admirable culture.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Apr 20, 2011 - 10:56am PT
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Nuclear plume stretching all the way across the Pacific thanks to the trade winds, coming to us all very shortly.
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mynameismud
climber
backseat
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Apr 25, 2011 - 11:47pm PT
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Disagree. fuku will go down as one of the worst environmental screw ups of our times (so far).
And as far as your "it's now worse than a couple of xrays", again ingesting radiation is a whole different story.
this thing continues to "SPEW" radiation and will for much longer that what Deep Water spewed oil. Fuku will be "crapping up" our estuaries fairly soon.
I believe the oil SPEWED into the Gulf 'crapped up' more square miles of productive yet ecosensitive estuaries and coastline (4,200 miles) during the Deep Water Horizon accident, than will be the case for Fuku... When all is said and done, I believe the DWH, will be MUCH more destructive to the environment. BUT, that won't ease peoples' 'fears' and 'anxieties' about the Fuku/Nuclear stuff, now, or in the future.
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Jennie
Trad climber
Elk Creek, Idaho
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Apr 26, 2011 - 12:17am PT
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Average backgound readings in the U.S. run 5 to 60 counts per minute...rarely over 100 CPM
http://www.radiationnetwork.com/
The Geiger counters should be kept away from food items and some building construction items.
One banana increases count readings on most counters by about 12. A bin of bananas at supermarket can make a counter go off scale, depending on where the fruit was grown …similar effect from potatoes and some other vegetables. (This effect from potassium in the soil the vegetables or fruit were grown)
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Apr 26, 2011 - 12:18pm PT
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From NHK
Desalting of tsunami-hit rice paddies begins
Work to remove salt from rice paddies that were covered by tsunami waves following the March 11th earthquake has begun in northeastern Japanese prefectures.
Japan's government estimates that 23,600 hectares of farmland in 6 prefectures along the Pacific coast were covered by seawater.
On Tuesday in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, farmers channeled fresh water from a repaired irrigation canal into a rice paddy, used a tractor to mix the water with soil, and drained the water.
By repeating this process several times, farmers hope to lower the density of salt in paddies that were not heavily soaked by seawater, and plant rice in late May -- about a month later than usual.
The desalting process has begun in Iwate Prefecture as well.
On Tuesday, the Cabinet approved a bill stipulating that the government would shoulder 90 percent of the cost of the procedure.
Agriculture minister Michihiko Kano told reporters that removing salt from all affected farmland is expected to take about 3 years.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Apr 26, 2011 - 12:21pm PT
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Also from NHK
Japan's thanks US for disaster relief
The Japanese Red Cross Society says that as of April 11th donations worth about 168-million dollars were sent from the US.
The US military mobilized about 20,000 personnel, around 160 aircraft and 20 vessels for relief activities under Operation Tomodachi, named after the Japanese word for "friend."
CNN has begun airing a video message to thank the United States for supporting Japan following the March 11th disaster.
The message was made by Japan's Foreign Ministry, with help from the network.
CNN started airing the message on Monday on some of its cable TV channels and the CNN Airport Network, which covers 49 US airports.
The 30-second message shows 7 photographs of US rescue operations in disaster-stricken areas in Japan, as well as a charity concert in Boston.
The English message says Japan draws strength from the friendship extended by the US, and has started rebuilding. The message ends with the Japanese expression "Arigatou gozaimasu," which means "Thank you."
The Foreign Ministry said the message is expected to be aired nearly 400 times through May 15th. The ministry added that it hopes many people will watch the message.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Apr 26, 2011 - 12:22pm PT
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And only in Japan
Prisoners all over Japan have donated the equivalent of more than 260,000 dollars to people affected by the March 11 disaster.
Justice Minister Satsuki Eda told reporters on Tuesday that more than 2,800 people in prisons and detention centers across the country had donated funds or money they earned in jail.
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monolith
climber
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Apr 26, 2011 - 06:16pm PT
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I believe a lot fled when the tsunami hit, and could not return for their pets. There have been groups going in for animal rescue. The Japanese love their pets as well as anyone, so I'm sure there are valid reasons. All a part of the agony they are going through.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Apr 26, 2011 - 08:24pm PT
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Jan, although you're 2,000 km south of Japan proper, how have the disasters affected spring cherry-blossom viewing there?
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Mighty-
I just now saw this. Our cherry blossoms bloom at the beginning of February and were done by March. I read on the mainland though that the usual parties under the cherry trees have been curtailed out of respect for the survivors.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Meanwhile, the news about the sloppy handling of nuclear safety in japan gets worse and worseand has to make us wonder about other countries as well.
From NHK today:
Prime Minister Naoto Kan says the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company failed to fully address safety issues that had come to light before the March 11 disaster.
An accident last June at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant caused by the loss of outside power and the subsequent drop in the water levels of a reactor was taken up at Sunday's Upper House Budget Committee meeting.
In response to a question on whether sufficient safety measures had been taken, Kan said nuclear plants operate on the assumption that emergency diesel generators will maintain a reactor's cooling functions when outside power is cut off.
He said the fact that such a back-up system failed to work properly has serious implications.
Kan said measures were not taken despite previous accidents and warnings, and that he must admit that the utility and the government failed to fully deal with the situation."
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rrrADAM
Trad climber
LBMF
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Kan said nuclear plants operate on the assumption that emergency diesel generators will maintain a reactor's cooling functions when outside power is cut off.
This isn't quite true for plants in the US. While that IS the primary and preferred method, it is not the only means of back-up. Plants in the the US MUST have multiple methods to be able to cool the core even in the event of a prolonged station black-out (loss of offsite power, and EDGs).
Kan said measures were not taken despite previous accidents and warnings, and that he must admit that the utility and the government failed to fully deal with the situation. Agreed.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Since Nuke plants stay really hot for a long time after shutting down, I don't see why their own heat couldn't boil water on a smaller scale as a third stage backup for emergency power purposes.
Peace
Karl
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