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

mrbios said:
I've found posts like that are always met by smartass replies like that from quite a few people on these forums :( not knowing EVERYTHING is apparently an offence on here.
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The worst part is he was completely wrong! I wouldn't mind being patronised by someone that actually brought something useful to the discussion.
 
So, the radiation levels in my area have stayed normal since this started at around 40 to 50 nGy/h. At 4:30 pm the reading was 40. The reading from 6.55 pm, less than an hour ago shows the level to be at 553. That's about 14 times the normal level.

Can someone tell me at what point I should grab some stuff, jump in my car and drive south? It seems quite a few companies in the area are telling their staff to do that and offering to pay all travel and hotel costs. But I work for a horrible company that will fire me and withhold at least some of my last pay if I do it.

Does anyone know what a nGy/h actually is and when it gets dangerous?
 
Sorry if it is reading like that but we already have enough conjecture so why did you open with some.

And yes you are right I made a typo on that one 235 is the enriched element as natural is 238. To enrich they basically spin it such that the heavier element moves outwards in the matrix, hence the centrifuges.

Just for clarity I have works on Rolls Royce Submarine nuclear steam raising plant design, particularly the RPV however these are Naval spec PWRs rather than BWR so im not uber familiar with the commerical install - if that makes me a 'smart-arse' so be it.

The 235 nucleus will be smashed apart by the neutron, it at no point forms 236, too much energy and if it did the isotope would emit neutrons to fall back to 235 rather than creating instanteous elements of ~half the atomic mass and sudden release of nuclear binding energy.

Can comments only come from GE employs now?
 
Robbie G said:
Obviously it's not this simple, but...I'm surprised if there's no way to automatically withdraw the U-235 or whatever it is from the fuel rods / core, so that the U-236 is never created and the heat is not produced. Too much reliance seems to be placed on the cooling systems which are obviously fragile in cases like this.
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the heat is from decaying elements so cannot be stopped, there is no reaction going on any more....

if the fuel rods were withdrawn the control rods were not be in the gap between them so it would make things worse

I would assume if the hole thing melts it *could* go critical again?
 
Niigata city. They have several geiger counters around the prefectures which have all been showing normal and they all still are except the one I mentioned, which has now gone up to 570.

Edit: I take that back. The others are going up as well!
 
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Redrum said:
Does anyone know what a nGy/h actually is and when it gets dangerous?
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micro Gray per hour or nano, that new (squiggly n sometime get written as n). That might help you find some information. I have no idea about the effects on that. Good that you have real time data available though.
 
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Obviously only an expert can say yes or no to should you run, but being where you are i guess you'd be pretty safe for now. Pay attention to the winds on various weather sites though! Fingers crossed for your sake and the rest of japan they carry on blowing out over sea like yesterday.
 
I'd like to know what reserve factors they used in the construction of those reactors.

If anyone can correct me they are designed for a 7.2 EQ for something like 30 seconds and instead they took a 9.0 for 90 seconds?

Either way, credit to the civil engineers who built that thing! Belts, braces and everything else approach to reactor structural design.
 
It would seem likely you are at least at increased risk of cancer from such radiation. Are you sure the roads are clear, if they are not it might be best to stay put.

Take a shower regularly might reduce any contact you've had, I hope you have access to better advice
 
Concorde Rules said:
I'd like to know what reserve factors they used in the construction of those reactors.

If anyone can correct me they are designed for a 7.2 EQ for something like 30 seconds and instead they took a 9.0 for 90 seconds?
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7.9 was apparently on the project scope presentation as the design requirement. Based on previous earthquake sizes as the precedent set by a 1938 quake for that fault line!
 
I have to laugh at some of the so called experts (even on here)

How can any of you even state some of the things above. You aren't there - you have NO IDEA of what the real situation is like, the real truth about what is happening (or possibly how the reactor designs have been modified over the years - the repairs/quick fixes put in place etc) - Have most of you even worked in a heavy manufacturing industy or even a power station ?

For all we know, the cooling systems could have been cut down in size years ago, the containment systems should have been replaced / serviced years ago - and for all we know - they may not even be following the designated safety processes they have in writing. How do you know their budget wasn't cut years ago - and they never even had a rapid resonse team to shut off the systems in time (with all the news statements a lie so far ) ?

So stating (with absolute certainty) that it's going to be nowhere near as bad as this or that disaster, is a bit to presumtious in my opinion- we aren't experts - and we aren't there. We have no idea what is going to happen in the next few hours - how bad it may or may not get.... all we have is limited guesswork that we can make from the limited news and reports we have.
 
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Redrum said:
Niigata city. They have several geiger counters around the prefectures which have all been showing normal and they all still are except the one I mentioned, which has now gone up to 570.

Edit: I take that back. The others are going up as well!
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The whole-body exposure threshold for acute hematopoietic syndrome or "radiation sickness" is 500 mGy. A dose of ~3,000 mGy produces an acute gastrointestinal syndrome that can be fatal without major medical intervention, and a dose of ~ 5,000 mGy is considered the human LD 50 / 30, that is, the lethal dose for 50% of the population in 30 days, even with treatment. These are acute thresholds: the same dose fractionated over a series of exposures or over a longer time may produce less injury, as the body has a chance to repair damage between exposures.
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All I could find on it.
 
PASONIX said:
apart from the limited guesswork we can make from the limited news and reports we have.
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I thought that was all anyone was doing?

Nothing wrong with speculating and talking about possibilities, it's not like we're going to make it worse!
 
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