Earthquake in Japan....9.0...ouch!

Just hope the eco mentalist don't bang on about the possbile radioactive leak. Have to say im really impressed by the lack of nuclear meltdown in those plants hit by the tsunami.
 
Their saying now that the reactor has recovered power. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

And now their saying radiation is 8 times instead of 1000 times.
 
elmuzzy66. said:
Just hope the eco mentalist don't bang on about the possbile radioactive leak. Have to say im really impressed by the lack of nuclear meltdown in those plants hit by the tsunami.
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Same.

I'm also very impressed with how their buildings held up to the earthquake. It's only really the tsunami that's caused them problems. In other countries you have an earthquake of half the size and they're ****ed.
 
jonno.co.uk said:
what are the potential effects of a radioactive leak?
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Worse case something like Chernobyl (30km or so exclusion zone) - high chance if it was hit by a magnitude 7 or higher quake in local area right now, more likely will be more like <5 miles if current failure management continues and probably perfectly safe within a few years (what they are venting would be like a low grade dirty bomb - moderate localised health issues probably not many fatalities)
 
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jonno.co.uk said:
what are the potential effects of a radioactive leak?
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Chernobyl all over again. Radioactive material thrown into the atmosphere and carried by the winds irradiating everything it floats over. You'd have to abandon the area for miles around the plant. Increased risk of cancers. Birth defects including mutation and retardation and various other physical and mental abnormalities. And other stuff.
 
Westyfield2 said:
Same.

I'm also very impressed with how their buildings held up to the earthquake. It's only really the tsunami that's caused them problems. In other countries you have an earthquake of half the size and they're ****ed.
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Got love the japs, they get hammered during the war, get dropped a couple of nukes and yet they stride to become the 2nd largest economy in the world for a long time. No doubt they'll dust themselves off and get back to work. As for there buildings, im not surprised by it as they are used to earthquakes so they plan for the worst but how can you plan for a 33ft wave?
 
ojrules said:
I'm trying to trawl through wikipages and get a grasp of what effect the radiation is likely to have on someone in the immediate vacinity: (studided radiation briefly in alevels last year)

WIKI:
The worldwide average background dose for a human being is about 2.4 millisievert (mSv) per year.

here is a table http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_poisoning#Exposure_levels
indicating the effects of said radiation.... by my math (2.4x10^-3 x 1000 = 24), we're looking at the 8-30 column... immediate effects include heavy Diarrhea, severe headaches and incapacitation...

don't take my word for it, im not 100% sure on the maths, but thats what i recon....poop has most deffinately met the fan
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Yes but by going by your assumptions and calculations it would take an entire year to get that dose!

So 1) the radiation levels would have to stay this high and 2) you'd have to stand there exposed to it for the next 365 days to get!
 
Atrox Moris said:
Chernobyl all over again. Radioactive material thrown into the atmosphere and carried by the winds irradiating everything it floats over. You'd have to abandon the area for miles around the plant. Increased risk of cancers. Birth defects including mutation and retardation and various other physical and mental abnormalities. And other stuff.
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Don't think it will be that bad as technology has advanced a lot since then and i wouldn't expect for the japanesse to be as bad as the ussr was back then.
 
wmb said:
Yes but by going by your assumptions and calculations it would take an entire year to get that dose!

So 1) the radiation levels would have to stay this high and 2) you'd have to stand there exposed to it for the next 365 days to get!
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you sure about that?... that was my initial thinking, but came to the conclusion that it had somehow been factored in... its been a long week and im veyr tired anways so as i said i may well be wrong

-had another look at the tables on wiki and i still think i should be right, but i need sleep so your probably right

3rd look :P .. yeh you're right...
 
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So im typing on the coach back from Heathrow, I was in Tokyo a while ago. I managed to escape, helps to be in a good family.

anyway, Japan is also one of the fastest countries to recover from events like these, And i hope the spirits are kept,

RIP to those who lost their lives x
 
Westyfield2 said:
Same.

I'm also very impressed with how their buildings held up to the earthquake. It's only really the tsunami that's caused them problems. In other countries you have an earthquake of half the size and they're ****ed.
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As I mentioned earlier, it's because of Japan's very strict building codes that things are not as worse (thankfully) as they otherwise would have been.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/w...ans strict building codes saved lives &st=cse

Chernobyl all over again. Radioactive material thrown into the atmosphere and carried by the winds irradiating everything it floats over. You'd have to abandon the area for miles around the plant. Increased risk of cancers. Birth defects including mutation and retardation and various other physical and mental abnormalities. And other stuff.
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Come on this isn't a drama contest. Chernobyl's reactor exploded for starters.....
 
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Sky are saying second plant now suffering cooling failure.

Has the chap who claimed this would be insignificant been back yet ?
 
ojrules said:
you sure about that?... that was my initial thinking, but came to the conclusion that it had somehow been factored in... its been a long week and im veyr tired anways so as i said i may well be wrong

-had another look at the tables on wiki and i still think i should be right, but i need sleep so your probably right

3rd look :P .. yeh you're right...
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And when they say radiation levels they may be referring to a particular isotope, rather than dose rate, in which case levels will probably be considerably lower still.
 
The six reactors at the site use some of the oldest nuclear technology, dating back to the 1960s.

The reactor uses a single cooling loop and does not have a containment dome, but rather uses a smaller containment vessel around the reactor core.

"These first-generation boiling water reactors have the least margin of safety of any reactor design," said Frank N. von Hippel, a Princeton University physicist and former White House advisor.

Without electrical power to circulate water inside the core, the cooling water would begin to boil off, he said. But operators still should be able to add new cooling water and keep the core fully immersed while it cools down.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-japan-quake-nuclear-20110312,0,2627198.story
 
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