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I need to step away for awhile.. will be back later tho

Timeline of events in Japan

Published: May 12, 2011

The strongest earthquake ever recorded in Japan at a magnitude of 8.9 struck the country on March 11. Below is a timeline of events following the earthquake and tsunami and the effect on nuclear power plants in Japan.
March 11 - May 12

FRIDAY, MARCH 11

* The earthquake took place at roughly 2:46 p.m. locally. The epicenter was located about 130 kilometers off the east coast of the island.
* Eleven reactors shut down in the quake effected area
* Cooling problem at TEPCO's 4,600 MW Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on the northeast coast of Japan. Fukushima Daiichi is a six-reactor plant that uses GE, Hitachi and Toshiba boiling water reactor technology. TEPCO confirms water levels falling inside reactors at the plant and says it is trying to avert the exposure of nuclear fuel rods by restoring power to its emergency power system so that it can pump water inside the reactors.
* Fire reported at Tohoku Electricity Co.’s 2,100 MW Onagawa nuclear plant, which has since been extinguished. The Onagawa consists of three boiling water reactor units.

The rest of the timeline here: www.powergenworldwide.com

UKVal.. the control rods at the japanese facilities have a history of cracking also... and it was essentially acceptable to let that happen

I can copy it into extra sheets and give edit access.

@dean hope you are feeling better. hugs

@Bobby1 How "Long-Term" one must wonder... What's our peak ablation rate? ;)

Air Radiation Level In Tokyo, Unofficial Version

As this blog has reported both in English and Japanese, the official number for the air radiation level in Tokyo is measured at only one location in Shinjuku, on top of the building about 18 meters from the ground.

However, there are many unofficial numbers, i.e. measured by concerned citizens and residents at the level where most people live and work - 1 meter above the ground.

Here is a Japanese site, "Environmental radiation monitoring by volunteers who are engaged in radiation and nuclear science". The site name says it all.

Looking at the numbers in different locations in Tokyo (PDF file for download), the radiation level varies significantly. To measure only at the Shinjuku location and tell the residents in Tokyo that the radiation level in Tokyo is back to normal range is highly misleading.

Here's some numbers from the "Environmental radiation monitoring" latest PDF file that exceed the "official" number (0.0629 microgray/hour, or microsievert/hour, 5/17/11)

Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku: 0.124 microsievert/hour, 100 cm above the side walk, 5/10/11

Kyobashi, Chuo-ku: 0.071 microsievert/hour, 100 cm above concrete, 5/10/11

Hongo, Bunkyo-ku: 0.14 microsievert/hour, 100 cm above asphalt, 5/10/11

Kanamachi, Katsushika-ku: 0.359 microsievert/hour, 100 cm above sand, 5/10/11

Shimo-Shakujii, Nerima-ku: 0.074 microsievert/hour, 100 cm above dirt, 5/6/11

Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku: 0.114 microsievert/hour, 100 cm above asphalt, 5/10/11

Nihonbashi Nakasu, Chuo-ku: 0.111 microsievert/hour, 100 cm above asphalt, 5/10/11

Kitano-maru Park, Chiyoda-ku: 0.085 microsievert/hour, 100 cm above dirt, 5/10/11

Fuchu City: 0.091 microsievert/hour, 100 cm above asphalt, 5/10/11


The number in Kanamachi, 0.359 microsievert/hour, would translate to more than 3 millisieverts per year. (8.61 microsieverts per day x 365 = 3.142 millisieverts per year)

@Rob in SF Cesium release has been pretty constant since April 1, it seems that this can go on for months or years. It's still spitting out Te-129m and Te-129 at about half the rate of Cs-137.

@Veenie Look at the difference in radiation levels between eye level and ground where rain collects. How much is your feet going to receive vs head? What about small children? And of course inhaling this stuff. www.youtube.com

Ok - the control rod seals are 'graphitar' & there are degredation & fatigue problems problems hps.ne.uiuc.edu

You should notice that radiation not only depends on the half-life of the particulates but also their concentration. There still are plumes of radioactive particulates flying around the world. It is hard to estimate the trend. Higher radiation levels at some parts of the world do not intrinsically mean more radiation being emitted from Fukushima.

@UKVal Chilling. Ooops. Rods stuck! Nuclear Plant Aging Research... Oy.

On a related note, Microwave sales on the West Coast are expected to drop 85% due to Natural capabilities

@Veenie LOL!

@Rob in SF: So developing my radiation to electricity cell technology would be a waste of time. No one around to buy it. :-(

@DonnerT Cockroaches will be all over that tech.

@Bobby1 and others about that - I said earlier that I would try to get more info on the CTBTO data. I called the Swedish Radiation Safety Agency but they told me to contact the defence ministry - all the data they get from Vienna goes through there so I will try to call tomorrow. If I understood the man correctly even the radiation agency had problems getting this data in the first days of the crisis... I found this on the CTBTO site : 'As interest in CTBTO monitoring data has increased over the past few days, more scientific institutions are being granted access to this pool of information, upon request'. bit.ly

@Jill in Sweden Thanks. This board is a scientific institution, isn't it? If we could get info on all the radionuclides they measure for every monitoring station for every day, it would be a great help.

@Jill in Sweden Thank you for following up with the CTBTO data hunting !

back for awhile.. greetings to all