Japan Earthquake

Japan Earthquake | Page 164

@Karen Warren All righty then, I will go slightly off topic. I live in Maryland, and last July we experienced a 3.6 earthquake. Not big, but this is not an earthquake zone. This was the biggest quake recorded in this area. Prior to the quake, my creaky old house was rumbling and squeaking for a few hours. 90 minutes to the great Japan quake, I was in the bathroom and noticed a loud belch coming from the tub and it waved the shower curtain. 8-9 days ago, the rumbling and squeaking was so loud, I couldn't sleep. Now the nuclear plants on the east coast of the US are not adequately prepared for seismic events, I believe. I've been a tad jumpy about this.
by Bobby1 3/28/2011 5:52:26 PM

I thought there was a lag-time between the illness of initial exposure, then a couple weeks 'ok' then...downhill fast?
by sheilatoulouse 3/28/2011 5:52:38 PM

@Meretisa There was a lot of misinformation about that.
by Pedro Jesus 3/28/2011 5:52:47 PM

@Matsuoko So is it possible from those numbers/concentrations to extrapolate how much was released and how far? (not asking you to do it now, just seeing if it's possible :)
by Jojo 3/28/2011 5:53:15 PM

I wonder if they will be allowed to speak to the media.
by Maureen Burke 3/28/2011 5:53:17 PM

Yeah, they said 40 minutes. Yeah, basically they are screwed. Their immune systems would be affected. Nothing more that can be done. Maybe they will go talk to the press now.
by Sin 3/28/2011 5:53:39 PM

@sheilatoulouse No, not necessarily. It could take years to develop, depending on the dosage.
by Jojo 3/28/2011 5:53:46 PM

@Maureen Burke Doubtful. If they do, i doubt they will realize what their exposure means. Remember the mayors that didn't know the levels until told by media and then they wanted to evac their towns (40k away).
by Meretisa 3/28/2011 5:54:10 PM

www.newscientist.com
by George Gibb 3/28/2011 5:54:43 PM

@Meretisa 2 Sv makes a big difference from 6Sv. They might live, chances are not 100% fatality for this exposure. But it's certainly above 50%.
by Jojo 3/28/2011 5:54:46 PM

@sky there was an interview posted yesterday "they told us to listen closly only going to explain this once" -he was ref the instr on how to use his resperator.... later comented "i shave my beared after a few days" we have to train our guys for about four hours and they must be clean shaven to get a proper seal... it is criminial if the stories that the personnel are saying is true..
by fitter 3/28/2011 5:54:54 PM

Given the fact, that TEPCO and JAPAN's Agencies have downplayed @EVERY turn the severity of the Nuclear Situation AND the question of LIABILITY and media impact and "independent" hospital affiliation......would they really release medical implication of the three workers?
I mean, any negative finding would have MAJOR after effects in more ways than one.
by VeenOui 3/28/2011 5:55:08 PM

@Markfm I agree it's ludicrous. But then much of what they've said has been.
by es 3/28/2011 5:55:27 PM

geology.about.com The concentration of fissionable Uranium was higher then. Couldn't happen now.
by Jim Carver 3/28/2011 5:55:38 PM

@Bobby1 Japan 9.0 scale earthquake is 125 892 537 times as strong as the 3.6 quake you experienced. That's 126 Million times as powerful. Richter is logarithmic scale. And yes, there are a few nuke plants near the New Madrid fault line and right next to the coast in the US.
by vasra 3/28/2011 5:55:42 PM

@ Sin, I think the "don't need treatment" for the burns was possibly they don't need skin grafts or other in-hospital treatments right now. They may have sent them home with instructions how to treat the burns at home. If Japan is anything like US they shove the walking wounded out the door as soon as possible. I do worry about them being gravely ill in the future based on their doses.
by Nancy 3/28/2011 5:56:00 PM

Quote -"The company said the high radiation level in water in the trench connected to the No. 2 complex " that sounds like there was a trench there for whatever reason
by elainekirk 3/28/2011 5:56:02 PM

From NYT, referring to the #2 tunnel/ditch: "The contaminated water level is now about three feet from the exit of the vertical, U-shaped tunnel and rising, Mr. Nishiyama said. " www.nytimes.com
by Markfm 3/28/2011 5:56:12 PM

@bobby1: that is my concern as well, we are surrounded with the oldest plants in the US and they provide a lot of our electricity..they cannot just be unplugged. WE do get very bad 1
by elise 3/28/2011 5:56:13 PM

@Nancy From what I understood they walked out of the hospital.
by NHK Listener 3/28/2011 5:56:51 PM

@elise Remember to put a space after your ellipses before the link, but that's a relevant article perhaps. Chugging as water, added to cool, becomes a moderator.
by radioguy 3/28/2011 5:56:59 PM

en.wikipedia.org for 2-6Sv, fatality rate is 5-50%, with a 7-28 day onset. This is what TEPCO said: "They were discharged Monday, with officials of the center saying the exposure has not affected their health."
by Jojo 3/28/2011 5:57:08 PM

I remember seeing the fire chief explaining on NHK how he was using his own personal dosimeter to calculate the other firefighters length of exposure, and telling the others to hide behind the truck for protection.
by Sin 3/28/2011 5:57:21 PM

@Jojo : not at all. these numbers do not explain anything. it needs better sources.
by Matsuoko 3/28/2011 5:57:40 PM

I learned everything I know about radiation from my crazy HS chemistry teacher in the height of the cold war. He had a bomb shelter and prob'll traumatized a whole generation of us with stories about what the bombs would do when the commies came. So, obviously i was a liberal arts major ;-) I appreciate being able to come here to read 'unvarnished' information and analysis. I'm no science genius, but i'm also not stupid enough to believe most of what TEPCO says when it is so contrary to common sense. THanks
by sheilatoulouse 3/28/2011 5:57:58 PM

@Jojo what was their dose? Any reports of that?
by Jay77 3/28/2011 5:58:02 PM

@sin: I saw that too
by sheilatoulouse 3/28/2011 5:58:39 PM

@Matsuoko Another reason that the GoJ needs to nationalize this. Are we to wait another week to get another sample from 2 days ago?
by Jojo 3/28/2011 5:58:49 PM

PEOPLE - the workers experienced 2-6 Sv exposure TO THEIR FEET only... The lethal doses you are discussing are WHOLE BODY exposures. It's disturbing to hear such misinfo about their health risks... PS. I am not an apologist or expert, just been reading the reports thoroughly.
by NiDan 3/28/2011 5:59:03 PM

dog ran into my arm..sorry. thanks radioguy ~ that was the issue * a natural chain reaction which starts and stops the "chugging" and that the reaction can be 'weak'
by elise 3/28/2011 5:59:10 PM

@jojo They have now changed their amount of exposure to be "up to 3000 millisieverts, less than first thought." as per the article. for two hours.
by Sin 3/28/2011 5:59:11 PM

@Jay77 I just saw here it was 2-6Sv. I haven't verified that.
by Jojo 3/28/2011 5:59:19 PM

hallo everyone, is dean around? i would like to hear his expertize on latest development
by kresimir 3/28/2011 5:59:23 PM

@vasra Base 10 log scale. It means the difference from one unity to the next is 10 times more powerful. Example, a 4.8 quake like the one we experienced in the south of Portugal about a week ago is 10 times more powerful than a 3.8 quake and 10 times less powerful than a 5.8 (pardon my intrusion, for the sake of clarification).
by Pedro Jesus 3/28/2011 5:59:46 PM

So, 40 minutes or 2 hours... does it metter which if they got 3 sievert?
by radioguy 3/28/2011 6:00:01 PM

@NiDan How do you have whole body exposure to soil? You think they assume people are going to roll around in it? 1 Sv = 1Sv, it's already factored in that you're just going to step in it.
by Jojo 3/28/2011 6:00:03 PM

@ Sin- Of course they did.
by Maureen Burke 3/28/2011 6:00:13 PM

@Jojo they should take samples EVERY DAY, that's tepco's damned job !
by Matsuoko 3/28/2011 6:00:18 PM

IAEA says 2-6 Sv on their site.
by Sin 3/28/2011 6:00:30 PM

@Sin 3 Sv is still pretty bad!
by Jojo 3/28/2011 6:00:40 PM

@sheilatoulouse However, common sense and science don't get along well together.
by Pedro Jesus 3/28/2011 6:01:28 PM

As a quake scale reference, the Tohuko quake was 8,000 times stronger than the one that took out Christchurch.
by radioguy 3/28/2011 6:01:44 PM

@Jojo....I know, its just maddening how they keep changing their story about everything.
by Sin 3/28/2011 6:01:52 PM

2-6Sv to the toes, 2-6Sv to the leg, 2-6Sv to the chest, 2-6Sv to the head, 2-6Sv to the hand, totally different things, all bad but theres no way to predict exactly how much effect it will have to the individual. even if you got two people pretty much same attributes with pretty much the same exposure to the same radiation you may get very different effects. the predictions here are all statistics telling you "average effects".
by sgt fuzzyboots 3/28/2011 6:01:57 PM

I was referring to the two workers who were exposed to the water in the turbine room the other day. (There was a third worker who was wearing protective boots.) Their exposure was reported as 2-6 Sv (now apparently adjusted to 3 Sv) TO THEIR FEET. This is very different from a whole body exposure...
by NiDan 3/28/2011 6:02:02 PM