Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 55

@George Gibb Will do, one moment.
by Andy 3/26/2011 11:57:06 PM

so we are back on the banana level and "fear mongering". i will not feed the trolls.
by Matsuoko 3/26/2011 11:57:21 PM

It's safe to wear watches with radioluminescent dials but don't lick the brush used to paint the watch face: en.wikipedia.org
by Alaskan 3/26/2011 11:57:55 PM

I found this link from the Washington Post to be very helpful in understanding the situation at Fukushima: Japan’s nuclear emergency (7 pages of diagrams, reactor status, etc.) tinyurl.com
by James Ward 3/26/2011 11:58:23 PM

@Andy The alpha radiation particulate sources, if ingested, lodge in organs and cause damage, may lead to cancer.
by Bobby1 3/26/2011 11:58:35 PM

@James Ward The "expert" Takashi Hirose is a writer that has been writing anti-nuclear power books for years. I saw the TV program where this interview was made, and he was exaggerating. A lot. I'm not saying that he's lying, but he's clearly got an agenda.
by kb 3/26/2011 11:59:56 PM

@bobby. but the stuff from the reactos has allready been shot in the air. And cesium is nasty,
by rob 3/27/2011 12:00:10 AM

@ george gibb the pictures of the trees interesting me, I don't know enough to have a clue what it means, but i'd like an informed opinion
by Kat 3/27/2011 12:00:14 AM

@kat, we discussed this here earlier today and theorize that the brown trees are in low-lying areas inundated by salt water
by Alaskan 3/27/2011 12:01:11 AM

@George Gibb Very interesting photographs! I can dismiss the hole in the building as a piece of the reactor building that smashed through the roof but the trees are much harder to dismiss. I can only say that when you take two different photographs of the same forest from different angles you will see more shrubbery in one angle compared to the other. For example, look at the base of the power line on the tree line edge...the trees at the base in the first photo do look sickly...now keep in mind how those trees look and match up that appearance in the second photograph. I can see how they look dead in the second picture- they are a different color in the first. I can be wrong, though.
by Andy 3/27/2011 12:01:24 AM

NHK is showing steam from all 3 www3.nhk.or.jp
by Sinthia Domina 3/27/2011 12:01:40 AM

@Bobby1 And not just ingested - they can be breathed in or even enter through the eyes. Once inside the body they are most problematic.
by es 3/27/2011 12:01:45 AM

Alpha emitters are dangerous if inhaled or ingested because the alpha particle is big, and therefore causes a huge amount of damage on tissues. Think of alpha radiation as a bowling ball, and gamma radiation as a sand particle.
by WolfDK 3/27/2011 12:01:59 AM

@sin I suggested on reuters that we start our own blog. They didn't post it, but pulled the plug 2 hours later.
by Jim Carver 3/27/2011 12:02:09 AM

Best way to free yourself from being manipulated by those with agendas is to understand the science, get the facts, and form your own conclusions, but tes these conclusions with an open mind (scientific method)
by Alaskan 3/27/2011 12:02:13 AM

The red trees are 'burnt' from radiation exposure.
by Miles 3/27/2011 12:02:30 AM

Thank you for explaining what alpha particle emmission is everyone.
by Andy 3/27/2011 12:02:32 AM

@Andy : earlier we dimissed the trees for salty water by the tsunami.
by Matsuoko 3/27/2011 12:02:42 AM

@Alaskan that makes sense
by Kat 3/27/2011 12:02:56 AM

How long does it take 700 "engineers" to inspect this Plant ???
What is the status of the IAEA own send inspectors ?......no wonder people are concerned...THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANSWERS 15 Days later..still.we don't know the status or location of leak....
Ok, there were explosions so, let's just say counting from the last 3 days x 700 men...what is the scoob??..it is absolutely justified to ask questions, it is absolutely justified to criticize IAEA which pushes itself into the limelight with outdated and missing information......but now.....nada, nothing at all on news ?.....how can anyone be expected to not get irritated who is following this ?!
by VeenOui 3/27/2011 12:03:20 AM

@Matsuoko Ah, that makes sense, didn't think of that. Would the salt kill those trees that quickly? Wow. That's horrible!
by Andy 3/27/2011 12:03:24 AM

Too much salt inside a living cell makes the cell walls burst because more water tries to enter the cell due to osmotic pressure
by Alaskan 3/27/2011 12:04:43 AM

@Andy Salt kills plants very quickly. Osmosis.
by Jim Carver 3/27/2011 12:04:58 AM

@andy. yes it would kill them that quick, just think if you drank salt water for 15 days what would happin. a lot of land will not be able to be grown on again.
by rob 3/27/2011 12:05:21 AM

@Sinthia Domina : i have seen the same video 2 days ago. there is heavy snow and i do not believe that it is snowing every day. it does not seem new pictures.
by Matsuoko 3/27/2011 12:05:45 AM

@VeenOui I'm irritated, too. I hate turning on the television to see reports on Libya and a dog that can dance salsa. The lack of information is upsetting but I'd rather have the government be mum because there is no threat to large populations rather than say that Tokyo will be destroyed by radiation. In this case, and I hate to say this, no news is good news.
by Andy 3/27/2011 12:05:55 AM

Thank you for explaining the osmosis issue with the salt water, too, thank you.
by Andy 3/27/2011 12:06:18 AM

ok - it was suggested that maybe its salt damage from all the sea water being sprayed - well I think we can dismiss that for several reasons. First water will drain to the sea and if it is damage from reactor cooling activities then no containment is in place to for contaminated water. Water uptake in trees is not that fast to cause the browning.
by George Gibb 3/27/2011 12:06:44 AM

We have areas near AnchorageAK that were inundated by saltwater after the 1964 earthquake -- they are only starting to support plants now, over 40 years later. But they weren't also contaminated by fallout.
by Alaskan 3/27/2011 12:06:45 AM

I think the picture with the trees has something to do with the color balance. I took the earlier picture with the greener trees and changed the color balance lightly toward red in Photoshop and now it looks exactly like the second picture with the red trees. Try it for yourself if you have Photoshop.
by M 3/27/2011 12:06:59 AM

@kb Just my opinion, but Takashi Hirose has no more of agenda than those advocates for the nuclear industry who have been all over CNN and MSNBC since this thing started telling everyone there's "no problem". Tell me specifically what Hirose was exaggerating instead of just implying that he was. Is there a problem if you ingest radioactive particles or not?
by James Ward 3/27/2011 12:07:40 AM

Here's a random picture of a red forest from Chernobyl - etlau.deviantart.com
by Miles 3/27/2011 12:07:40 AM

@ George, not from the cooling spray, from the Tsunami. And yes, trees take up water quickly on warm windy days
by Alaskan 3/27/2011 12:08:02 AM

@Andy. You're right - I don't expect anyone really wants to hear the bad news.
by es 3/27/2011 12:08:09 AM

OlK. no news good news. However, (although I have not been able to corroborate this in any other source) AJW by the Asahi Shimbun posted this on Friday: "Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, crippled by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, has discharged more radiation than the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the United States, according to calculations by the central government.
...It has already reached a level 6 serious accident on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).
Separately, calculations made by experts place the level of soil contamination in some locations at levels comparable to those found after the Chernobyl accident in 1986."
by Dom 3/27/2011 12:08:58 AM

Gotta go do my taxes -- nice talking to you all!
by Alaskan 3/27/2011 12:09:19 AM

listening to NHK while cooking dinner. They said Japan and commander of USA task force have agreed to cooperate on nuclear situation. Just so you know....bye
by marie rich 3/27/2011 12:09:49 AM

Take Care Alaskan
by Jim Carver 3/27/2011 12:10:29 AM

@Andy : no news is good news ? think about that twice.
by Matsuoko 3/27/2011 12:10:42 AM

@Miles, and anyone else who's interested, there's a good article about the red forest of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in The Week magazine this week.
by Janis 3/27/2011 12:10:47 AM

@Dom Yes, there are hotspots with megabecquerels per cubic meter, similar to Chernobyl.
by Bobby1 3/27/2011 12:10:54 AM

@Dom I've been reading Asahi Shimbun since this started...appear to have very good internal sources.
by James Ward 3/27/2011 12:10:58 AM

@Dom It sounds credible.
by Jim Carver 3/27/2011 12:11:12 AM

@Andy I don't even want to go there "regards to Tokyo"......what my interest is, is the Nuclear Plant situation itself.......
by VeenOui 3/27/2011 12:11:37 AM

One thing I was wondering and haven't found mentioned anywhere in the press.. GRS data (from www.grs.de ) has
---
Dose rate in the containment / pressure suppression pool:
R1: 40.9 Sv/h / 25.8 Sv/h
R2: 47.7 Sv/h / 1.36 Sv/h
R3: 53.3 Sv/h / 1.45 Sv/h
--
Any idea what that means? To me that looks like some fuel must have leaked from the reactor to the suppression pool in R1 (?).. but if it has, why don't people seem more worried about that - everyone seems focused on R3 mainly judging by the news?
by sims 3/27/2011 12:13:12 AM