Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 155

George thank you tremendously for opening and moderating this site. Pinning the latest news articles by name is very, very helpful and a time saver for everybody. Much gratitude.
by Sky 3/28/2011 3:29:56 PM

@Karen Warren Main media is focusing on nuc and dropped all the other issues
by George Gibb 3/28/2011 3:30:24 PM

@bobby1: i understand as well, and i agree with marie rich. borreden ~ one nuclear lake articles.latimes.com
by elise 3/28/2011 3:31:01 PM

@Kat - Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease - Public Health Statement for Plutonium - www.atsdr.cdc.gov
by Cup 3/28/2011 3:31:07 PM

NHK's report on the plutonium (Japanese) www3.nhk.or.jp I will translate some key portions. The tests were conducted on 5 soil samples taken from March 21 - 22 and at least 2 of them had miniscule amounts of plutonium that could either have come as a byproduct of uranium fission, or from MOX fuel.
by borrrden 3/28/2011 3:31:10 PM

@borrrden I fold... " * News
* World news
* Spain

Spain demands US clears earth from site of 1966 nuclear bomb mishap

Obama administration is told to remove Palomares soil contaminated with half a tonne of plutonium 'without delay'" www.guardian.co.uk
by kgriff 3/28/2011 3:31:22 PM

I'm wondering if they're going to have to go out and put-down all of the animals near the plant because they'll be contaminated? I presume people who evacuated had to leave pets behind? I haven't read anything about that, but of course animals shouldn't be a priority. I'm curious how they handle that?
by sheilatoulouse 3/28/2011 3:31:53 PM

A paper about Plutonium Contamination www.irpa.net
by Sin 3/28/2011 3:32:11 PM

Could the plutonium have come from perhaps a spent fuel rod that was ejected from a cooling pool during the earthquake and tsunami? I understand that a small quantity of Pu is produced in regular Uranium fuel rods as a byproduct of operating a reactor? (Somebody correct me if this is wrong.)
by Sky 3/28/2011 3:32:41 PM

I'm really just reading that plutonium isn't much of a risk and no one has yet died from exposure. Good to know.
by Kat 3/28/2011 3:33:03 PM

Reposting as link was broken: russp.org
Recapping:
-- Plutonium: fatal at 1 mg/kg
-- Botulinum toxin: fatal at < 1ng/kg (yes 1 nanogram)
Bottom line: There are lots of substances out there which are far more dangerous to public health. It all a matter of distribution [consider cigarettes/lung cancer, particulate automobile exhaust/asthma]...
by Joshua Diamond 3/28/2011 3:33:19 PM

A millionth of a gram of radioactive heavy metal, inhaled into the lungs, is sufficient to cause cancer. In nature, the substance only in minimal amounts, but is produced artificially as you can to build bombs. Depending on the degree of purity sufficient for a nuclear bomb as five kilograms. Until the beginning of eighties of the last century, the world's reactors had been bred about 300,000 kilograms. Every year about 20,000 kilos.
by hans 3/28/2011 3:33:46 PM

What about the INES scale? Level 5 with a "minuscule amounts of plutonium"?
by ilginger 3/28/2011 3:33:50 PM

@George: If you look, it's there. I'll try and find some relavent articles and post accordingly. I have to get to off and focus on my work. Thanks, buddy... :-)
by Karen Warren 3/28/2011 3:33:53 PM

@Kat It's not to say that it isn't very bad for your health if you breathe a certain amount of it. It is just the chances of enough of it accumulating for you to breathe that amount are highly unlikely due to its heaviness.
by borrrden 3/28/2011 3:33:53 PM

At Chernobyl thet had squads who had to go out and shoot all the animals they could find, including pets.
by Sin 3/28/2011 3:33:57 PM

@hans what is the source for that statistic?
by Joshua Diamond 3/28/2011 3:34:26 PM

@Karen Warren This one broke my heart
by George Gibb 3/28/2011 3:34:26 PM

@shelia - there is a group rescuing animals around Fukushima City, Sendai, Iyate (sp?). They have been working outside of the evacuation zone. I worry about their exposure since they are outside for long periods of time trying to catch scared abandoned animals. I did see a few pictures of animals being scanned at evac. centers but that is the only place with equipment to test.
by Nancy 3/28/2011 3:34:31 PM

www.cnn.com
by George Gibb 3/28/2011 3:34:32 PM

Isn't it funny how we are resetting our BS meter every day? We're willing to compromise at little more each time.
by Jim Carver 3/28/2011 3:36:20 PM

AH HA! I found it! The article I read before analyzing the effects of a terrorist attack using a dirty Plutonium bomb in an urban area. muller.lbl.gov
by borrrden 3/28/2011 3:36:44 PM

@Jim Carver Can't do much about a bad situation
by George Gibb 3/28/2011 3:36:48 PM

@George Gibb Yeah guess it's a coping mechanism.
by Jim Carver 3/28/2011 3:38:13 PM

@George: I saw that and remember the hospital that was left on its own. There were a few articles written that focused on the workers at the plant that are very telling. It's the kidos that break my heart. IMHO, the GoJ needs to call it a mandatory evacuation zone and do everything in its power to get the people out and do it NOW!
by Karen Warren 3/28/2011 3:38:26 PM

I had mentioned that Pu is produced in the other reactors -- the latest Kyodo news flash states they are not sure which reactor sourced the Pu.
by Markfm 3/28/2011 3:39:32 PM

Another Kyodo news item -- Monitoring to be strengthened. (It took how much prodding to get TEPCO to look for it, and now they will strengthen the monitoring -- hopefully some semi independent group that actually is interested in seeing what is there.)
by Markfm 3/28/2011 3:41:19 PM

It is a bad-news-fatigue. The first few days I could hardly sleep. When the Reuters news blog opened, and we started being able to mentally process some of the information, my sleep improved, not because of worrying less, but because of the sense of being able to do something constructive, and feeling that we had a handle on some of the information and a source to keep up with unfolding events in a timely way.
by Sky 3/28/2011 3:42:00 PM

@Jim Carver Like Gorbachev said, "there can never be to much truth"
by kgriff 3/28/2011 3:42:24 PM

*too
by kgriff 3/28/2011 3:42:32 PM

@Jim Yep.
by Sin 3/28/2011 3:42:46 PM

@Sky It had the opposite effect on me, as I was unable to separate myself from it for things like 8 hours of sleep >_<.
by borrrden 3/28/2011 3:42:48 PM

@all I didn't mean to sound like it's the end of the world... I cn't help but think about the nuke workers- and take it rather personally because my son would be one of them, he's a radtech. :(
by marie rich 3/28/2011 3:43:07 PM

@Karen Warren One thing to consider is how small of a force the SDF is and the magnitude of the disaster. Initially the search and rescue focus- opening roads up etc.
by George Gibb 3/28/2011 3:43:48 PM

@marie rich Well, plutonium is an alpha-emitter, so as long as they wear masks that block particles from being inhaled, it won't hurt them.
by borrrden 3/28/2011 3:44:26 PM

@borrrden Thing is, s**t happens, and it happens much easier around debris and in chaos. like I said, I over-identify because my son is the hero type- he'd definitely stay, and "go in" first.
by marie rich 3/28/2011 3:46:17 PM

Map of where the plutonium samples were found : plixi.com
by vasra via Plixi 3/28/2011 3:46:23 PM

@borrrden "At least" two of them? Nice. Very scientific number in a finite quantity of samples.
by radioguy 3/28/2011 3:47:12 PM

can anybody tell which unit the test areas are?
by marie rich 3/28/2011 3:47:22 PM

Pu levels at Fukushima according to the TEPCO press conference which has just ended:

TEPCO Source: 1) Pu-238 (5.4+-0.62) x 10^-1 & Pu-239,Pu-240 (2.7+-0.42)x10^-1

TEPCO Source: 2) Pu-239,Pu-240 (2.6+-0.58)x10^-1

TEPCO Source: 3) Pu-239,Pu-240 1.2+-0.12

TEPCO Source: 4) Pu-239,Pu-240 1.2+-0.11

TEPCO Source: 5) Pu-238 (1.8+-0.33) x 10^-1 & Pu-239,Pu-240 (1.9+-0.34)x10^-1
by es 3/28/2011 3:47:47 PM

NISA is saying that the fuel pellets themselves may have partially melted along with the rods in reactor 2 (sorry Japanese again) www3.nhk.or.jp
by borrrden 3/28/2011 3:48:47 PM

@es units?
by Jim Carver 3/28/2011 3:48:56 PM

es -- Did the conference say whether there were many more places tested, that only 5 found traces, or were there only 5 places checked (so 100% of tested sites were positive)
by Markfm 3/28/2011 3:49:04 PM

@Markfm The NHK article said out of 5 tested, at least 2 were positive.
by borrrden 3/28/2011 3:49:33 PM

@George: The JSDF numbered 239,430 in 2005[update] with 147,737 in the Ground Self-Defense Force, 44,327 in the Maritime Self-Defense Force, 45,517 in the Air Self-Defense Force, and 1,849 in the Joint Staff Office. Reserves numbered 57,899 en.wikipedia.org Another thing: Kan has been in office less than a year. I think that he's in over his head.
by Karen Warren 3/28/2011 3:49:46 PM