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Update: Two Japanese Nuclear Reactors in Meltdown... Maybe. Probably. Can't tell because nobody can go in to see...-gcti
#1
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/12/jap...struction/

[9:54 p.m. ET, 11:54 a.m. Tokyo] A meltdown may have occurred at at least one nuclear power reactor in Japan, the country's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, said Sunday.

He also said that authorities are concerned over the possibility of another meltdown at a second reactor.

"We do believe that there is a possibility that meltdown has occurred. It is inside the reactor. We can't see. However, we are assuming that a meltdown has occurred," he said of the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility. "And with reactor No. 3, we are also assuming that the possibility of a meltdown as we carry out measures."

Edano's comments confirm an earlier report from an official with Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, who said, "we see the possibility of a meltdown."

A meltdown is a catastrophic failure of the reactor core, with a potential for widespread radiation release. However, Toshihiro Bannai, director of the agency's international affairs office, expressed confidence that efforts to control the crisis would be successful.
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#2
I'm looking forward to radioactive rain and snow next week.

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2011/03/wh...ty-go.html

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#3
ztirffritz wrote:
I'm looking forward to radioactive rain and snow next week.

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2011/03/wh...ty-go.html




That was the first site that crashed Safari since I got my new iMac 3 months ago.
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#4
They just had a news conference.

Can't confirm a meltdown, but the chambers have been breached in at least 2 reactors. They say that the radiation is not (yet) at dangerous levels, but the metaphor used by the cabinet-secretary was 2.5 abdominal x-rays' worth of radiation for an hour's exposure within 1 km of the reactors (which seems plenty dangerous enough to me).

No comment about what people's exposure would be like at the 12km evacuation boundary or how long people were exposed to radiation before or during the evacuation... or what kind of exposure the emergency workers are getting while they try to quench the reactors with sea-water.

9 people are currently undergoing treatment for radiation exposure at a hospital near the plant, but they won't say how much exposure.
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#5
An interesting site about Chernobyl.



"To begin our journey, we must learn a little something about radiation. It is really very simple, and the device we use for measuring radiation levels is called a geiger counter. If you flick it on in Kiev, it will measure about 12-16 microroentgen per hour. In a typical city of Russia and America, it will read 10-12 microroentgen per hour. In the center of many European cities are 20 microR per hour, the radioactivity of the stone.

1,000 microroentgens equal one milliroentgen and 1,000 milliroentgens equal 1 roentgen. So one roentgen is 100,000 times the average radiation of a typical city. A dose of 500 roentgens within 5 hours is fatal to humans. Interestingly, it takes about 2 1/2 times that dosage to kill a chicken and over 100 times that to kill a cockroach.

This sort of radiation level can not be found in Chernobyl now. In the first days after explosion, some places around the reactor were emitting 3,000-30,000 roentgens per hour. The firemen who were sent to put out the reactor fire were fried on the spot by gamma radiation. The remains of the reactor were entombed within an enormous steel and concrete sarcophagus, so it is now relatively safe to travel to the area - as long as we do not step off of the roadway......."





http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm
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#6
Chakravartin wrote:
but they won't say how much exposure.


How would they know?
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#7
the key words here are "relatively safe".
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#8
I sincerely hope the people who've been exposed will be okay and that this ends well, however, this incident really confirms my fears about nuclear power in general. Reactors shouldn't be anywhere near populated areas. There will always be some unforeseen variable—or the underestimation of one seen—in the safety controls.
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#9
Lux Interior wrote:
[quote=Chakravartin]
but they won't say how much exposure.


How would they know?
Emergency workers should have radiation badges that would measure their exposure with precision.

Others may have their dose guesstimated by the radioactive particles present in their bodily fluids, tissues and exhalations.

In the case of moderate exposure victims will show symptoms including general weakness, bloody diarrhea, bloody vomiting, hemorrhaging and hair loss starting within a few hours after the exposure. If they got a very big dose, those symptoms could start almost immediately after exposure and the victims are well advised to get their estates in order.
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#10
Here's how the incident is similar to both 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/worl...le1939779/

...Getting closer to Chernobyl with every passing hour.
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