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

SkScotchegg said:
It sounds as if there has been leaks of radiation and seems plausible that some people have higher radiation levels then normal so I'm wondering if its plausible that the government of japan and the energy companies might try create a cover up in order to keep peoples trust in nuclear power.

I can see 10 years from now a lot of people being sick because of this incident.

I'm not talking about conspiracy theories, but just seems like something that happens in this world? Do you think this is possible?
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No because the government isn't the only party interested in measuring radiation levels.
 
IS it just me or is news of them having gotten the water levels up worryingly late?

The bbc are reporting that the rods were exposed for up to 2.5hours the first time, though I don't know where they got that number from. Also sounds like they might not have covered them completely since and are again fully exposed, once the outter casing of the rods starts to melt heat production increases as oxidation of the zircaloy releases heat and it seems like theres plenty of steam for that reaction to happen.

EDIT:_ weird, i refreshed the page but the previous several posts weren't present, thats where the 2.5hours came from though, is it now, basically a large portion of the rods have been uncovered for hours and hours now, with half of them covered inbetween all the rods being fully uncovered, that really really doesn't sound good, neither other reactor had any rods fully exposed at any time and apparently only partial exposure for a short time.
 
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clv101 said:
3,130 micro sievert per hour. That's ~3 mSv/hour. Natural background is around 2.4 mSv/year. So we're around 11,000 times higher than background. A typical medical x-ray is similar to 10 days background, so this 3 mSv from the reactor is like ~50 xrays (per hour). That doesn't sound so good.
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An X ray gives less than 0.1mSv so I agree with that one but is that 3mSv in addition to background or ontop of?

There isnt really a /hr or /year. Not sure where you get that from, how close to the site? the Sievert is a dose equivalent and its effect on biological tissue.
 
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Thank you to the people in this thread providing some solid technical information on whats going on, I don't have the time to chase it all down myself and learn about it so it's been a real boon in understanding whats happening.
 
clv101 said:
3,130 micro sievert per hour. That's ~3 mSv/hour. Natural background is around 2.4 mSv/year. So we're around 11,000 times higher than background. A typical medical x-ray is similar to 10 days background, so this 3 mSv from the reactor is like ~50 xrays (per hour). That doesn't sound so good.
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I assume you mean = 3Sv/hour, which is, not at all good, a 6Sv dose is basically almost always lethal without treatment, over half with that kind of dose will die with treatment.

Is the radiation all coming from venting gas to prevent dangerous pressures, with the rods uncovered for so damn long now and them now talking about damage to the rods, will that all be short lived stuff that will be almost non existant by the time it gets near people, or is more dangerous stuff starting to leak?
 
drunkenmaster said:
IS it just me or is news of them having gotten the water levels up worryingly late?

The bbc are reporting that the rods were exposed for up to 2.5hours the first time, though I don't know where they got that number from. Also sounds like they might not have covered them completely since and are again fully exposed, once the outter casing of the rods starts to melt heat production increases as oxidation of the zircaloy releases heat and it seems like theres plenty of steam for that reaction to happen.

EDIT:_ weird, i refreshed the page but the previous several posts weren't present, thats where the 2.5hours came from though, is it now, basically a large portion of the rods have been uncovered for hours and hours now, with half of them covered inbetween all the rods being fully uncovered, that really really doesn't sound good, neither other reactor had any rods fully exposed at any time and apparently only partial exposure for a short time.
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I'd hope that if things really were as bad as the way you make it sound that they wouldn't be reporting it in such a lazy fashion. Its more likely someone who doesn't really understand whats going on is trying to make sense of it and is screwing it up. Even if they do know the field, unless they are actually at the NPP they still won't get a clear idea.
 
Isn't there an argument for constructing nuclear reactors down say a 100m shaft, so in the event they do go bad, you can bury them in concrete and rule out any radiation escaping into the atmosphere.
 
simulatorman said:
japan38.jpg
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uprightcarpicap66294282.jpg


That is what I thought of when I seen the above picture.

It's horrible how much destruction has been caused.

Payday=Donation day for me.
 
Wouldn't that just turn it into 1 hell of a big explosion when the pressure built up to such extreme levels it simply blasts its way through the concrete?

There will be considerably better options to improve the safety of a NPP than sticking it 300ft underground. Besides, its kind of a leap to suddenly condemn all NPPs around the globe as unsafe when this 1 was caught in an 8.9 earthquake with a giant tsunami also causing problems.
 
norm said:
Isn't there an argument for constructing nuclear reactors down say a 100m shaft, so in the event they do go bad, you can bury them in concrete and rule out any radiation escaping into the atmosphere.
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Would have to be deeper than that as the water table can easily be down to that region... not sure if its a consideration from going deeper, not really sure why they don't bury the construction more but have wondered.
 
Energize said:
No, micro (μg) means 1/1,000,000, milli (m) means 1/1,000.
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Gah, I really need sleep, or a dentist, or some gas and drugs. So used to seeing milli I just read it as 3,130 m and thats it do'h.

Still not great, not particularly bad though. Thing is it shouldn't get that bad, a meltdown "should" be contained, just a huge huge pain in the behind to deal with.

They are saying at 11pm the valve closed automatically for some reason and at the moment thats stopping them venting gas and putting in water. So it does seem like they are using a combination of injecting water while venting the gas when required to release pressure.

THey think they became exposed at 5pm and at 11pm they really can't be sure if how high the water levels got inbetween and they've probably been exposed at least partially for most of that time, and what, its 3am now with no news they've got water levels up yet.
 
R5Rich said:
Anyone else have the urge to go and help?

Wouldn't know where to even start tbh
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Definitely. If I was older and had more money I'd be willing to go over there and help out however possible. I can't stand sitting here looking at all these pictures and videos and not being able to do anything about it!

The one thing I've noticed looking through all these pictures and videos is that they all seem to be extremely calm and patient e.g. Waiting in lines for water and food without a fuss, it really makes me respect the Japanese people even more!
 
They got the valve open recently and are getting water in as quickly as possible, not heard how many pumps they've got working, if its just the one that was working earlier it didn't seem to be enough before, but its a start.
 
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