Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 125

@Matsuoka Political policy, similar to US policy in the 50's (and maybe now).
by Bobby1 3/28/2011 1:58:12 AM

@pj They wouldn't detect that isotope that decayed, but you can measure daughter decay products.
by Jim Carver 3/28/2011 1:59:16 AM

Waiting to do the tests on the samples for any period of time would show less of the low half-life products.
by Ralph Unger 3/28/2011 1:59:39 AM

Unless they volitized or got mis-handled or some such. notq
by Jim Carver 3/28/2011 2:00:16 AM

@Jim Carver Yeah, the fact they're looking for Tc itself...they can wait FOREVER and still find that puppy. Sad...
by pj 3/28/2011 2:00:19 AM

@Jojo : can you link that report once more ? please
by Matsuoka 3/28/2011 2:00:28 AM

Oops, here is the link www.tepco.co.jp It shows the original measurement, the "magic" re-assessment, the re-measurement, and new data.
by Jojo 3/28/2011 2:01:07 AM

Half life time10 x make most things be gone. If half life is 5 minutes, 50 mins would make most of it disappear.
by Ralph Unger 3/28/2011 2:01:22 AM

Bad news is that the new data shows INCREASED Bq for most elements except for Tc-99m. La-140 almost doubled, for example.
by Jojo 3/28/2011 2:01:58 AM

@pj yeah, cessium134 half life of 52 min, so it's 'whole life' would be gone, right?
by marie rich 3/28/2011 2:01:58 AM

@Jojo I wonder if the testers listed the Cl38 that one time and then someone pointed out the implications so they decided they should omit the numbers of the telltales.
by RadioGuy 3/28/2011 2:02:25 AM

After 520 minutes it would be hard to detect.
by Ralph Unger 3/28/2011 2:02:31 AM

@Jojo : page not found ! they deleted the first measurings !!!
by Matsuoka 3/28/2011 2:03:03 AM

@RadioGuy Or maybe it was the Easter Bunny that magically made it disappear. Anything's possible.
by Jojo 3/28/2011 2:03:18 AM

@marie rich That's what I was thinking, but as a pp post pointed out, they can look for daughter isotopes, if they are so inclined (I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but I've got to how inclined would they really be?!).
by pj 3/28/2011 2:03:36 AM

Okay, so you can determine the composition of gamma-emitters with a multi-channel analyzer. This instrument can read out the energy spectrum of the detect decays. Each radio-isotope has got a characteristic energy peaks. From those peaks you can deduce what isotopes are in the sample. Of course, the longer you wait with your measurement, the more likely the short-lived isotopes escape your measurement. How is this for a start?
by Peter Melzer 3/28/2011 2:03:41 AM

Yeah in the absence of news, we're reduced to wondering.
by RadioGuy 3/28/2011 2:03:50 AM

NEWS ADVISORY: Iodine-131 1,150 times normal level found in sea north of nuke plant (10:59) (Kyodo) Does anybody have any details? How far was this measurement taken?
by Diane 3/28/2011 2:04:10 AM

according to cnn rising temp in one of the reactors.
by ricky 3/28/2011 2:05:33 AM

Here are the original measurements before Tinkerbell sprayed them with magic pixie dust to make the readings better: www.meti.go.jp
by Jojo 3/28/2011 2:05:37 AM

There is a concept in quantum physics called "negative information". In this case, we may know less than if they never said anything.
by Bobby1 3/28/2011 2:05:42 AM

8 days for iodine -131 half-life. Which is consistent with the readings I get from Tokyo.
by Ralph Unger 3/28/2011 2:05:54 AM

cnn got urgent message over wire from japanese official
by ricky 3/28/2011 2:06:31 AM

@Jojo Love the Tink comment - but you have to not do that, or I'm going to wake the little people who are supposed to be sleeping!
by pj 3/28/2011 2:06:32 AM

Re: the iodine story. That number has been up and down hasn't it? 1,250 then 1,850. Or is the news that it's in a different location.
by RadioGuy 3/28/2011 2:07:31 AM

Recent readings show an increase in Bq concentation: La-140 almost doubled, Ba-140 up 40%, etc. Anyone know implications? www.tepco.co.jp
by Jojo 3/28/2011 2:07:50 AM

@RadioGuy The headline just says NORTH of the plant, not by the plant or next to it, whatever they said before. So it makes me wonder. I guess we'll get the details in an hour or so.
by Diane 3/28/2011 2:08:27 AM

@Ralph_Unger, any insight on today's retail bottled water supply and quick-comfort-food situation in metro Tokyo? Thanks.
by alblee 3/28/2011 2:08:31 AM

@pj See, that's been our problem all along. We just have to BELIEVE we can fly (and the radiation numbers to go down). We had the power the whole time :)
by Jojo 3/28/2011 2:08:58 AM

I know I can really beat a dead horse, but I think they mihgt end up with more trouble on unit 1. The pressure has been steadily rising.
by marie rich 3/28/2011 2:09:13 AM

Thank you Peter Meltzer. If the sample is emitting gamma rays the multi channel analyzer would be useful. If there are an awful lot of different isotopes in the blend, some of their gamma ray spectra will overlap and there is a possibility of some confusion, I suppose. But we are getting closer to answers. I am proud of this team and what you folks are accomplishing.
by Sky 3/28/2011 2:09:22 AM

Love the quote from CNN: "But Tokyo Electric said that figure is a mere 100,000 times normal levels for reactor coolant, not the 10 million times normal reported Sunday. Sarcasm much?
by pj 3/28/2011 2:09:24 AM

Those readings were in the seawater, not Tokyo drinking water.
by Ralph Unger 3/28/2011 2:09:45 AM

"Regrettably, we don't have a concrete schedule at the moment to enable us to say in how many months or years the crisis will be over," TEPCO vice-president Sakae Muto said in the latest of round-the-clock briefings the company holds. AGENCIES
by elainekirk 3/28/2011 2:09:55 AM