Japan Earthquake (1 Viewer)

[The General]

How on earth would you 'lighten up' after your town ceases to exist and friends and family members swept away never to be seen again, beggars belief . And how anyone links this to WW2 is absurd.

Rob

Rob, I believe the "lighten up" quotes were by comedians in reference to what happens when you become radioactive. These same comedians would be outraged if Japanese comedians had been making 9-11 jokes.

Anyway we all agree it's in bad taste.

 

[Rob]

Rob, I believe the "lighten up" quotes were by comedians in reference to what happens when you become radioactive. These same comedians would be outraged if Japanese comedians had been making 9-11 jokes.

Anyway we all agree it's in bad taste.

Well said.

Rob

 

[Scott]

..................,its starting to sound like "On the beach",I want to drive in the last race.

And I want to date Ava Gardner!

 

[nmrocks]

I heard that also but, they are still going to get prolonged exposure even if they are working short hours. What I could not understand was why they stopped the hellicopters flying for fear of radiation exposure to the pilots yet, those guys are working shifts on the ground.
Mitch

I betting on the valiant Japanese crews working the plant. I bet in the next several days they'll get the generators replaced, the power on and pumping water again. that will reverse the entire process and get it all under control. The Japanese people are huge about Honor and the people working these plants are driven by that beyond what most of the people of the earth would find acceptable risks to get this under control. This entire process will take years off there lives but there honor is more important than life itself in the japanese culture.
Please pray for them....

 

[Combat]

Interesting information on this from the NY Times (from a longer article linked below):

Years of procrastination in deciding on long-term disposal of highly radioactive fuel rods from nuclear reactors is now coming back to haunt Japanese authorities as they try to control fires and explosions at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

Some countries have tried to limit the number of spent fuel rods that accumulate at nuclear power plants — Germany stores them in costly casks, for example, while Chinese nuclear reactors send them to a desert storage compound in western China’s Gansu province. But Japan, like the United States, has kept ever larger numbers of spent fuel rods in temporary storage pools at the power plants, where they can be guarded with the same security provided for the power plant.

Figures provided by Tokyo Electric Power on Thursday show that most of the dangerous uranium at the power plant is actually in the spent fuel rods, not the reactor cores themselves. The electric utility said that a total of 11,195 spent fuel rod assemblies were stored at the site.

That is in addition to 400 to 600 fuel rod assemblies that had been in active service in each of the three troubled reactors. In other words, the vast majority of the fuel assemblies at the troubled reactors are in the storage pools, not the reactors.

Now those temporary pools are proving the power plant’s Achilles heel, as the water in the pools either boils away or leaks out of their containments, and efforts to add more water have gone awry. While spent fuel rods generate significantly less heat than newer ones, there are strong indications that the fuel rods have begun to melt and release extremely high levels of radiation. Japanese authorities struggled Thursday to add more water to the storage pool at reactor No. 3.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/world/asia/18spent.html?_r=1&hp

 

[Mitch]

I saw that when it showed on the news the people watching and listening to the emperor address the country. you could almost see the change in their demenour after he spoke. A totally different culture and I expect they will do everything possible and more to stop this disaster.
Mitch

I betting on the valiant Japanese crews working the plant. I bet in the next several days they'll get the generators replaced, the power on and pumping water again. that will reverse the entire process and get it all under control. The Japanese people are huge about Honor and the people working these plants are driven by that beyond what most of the people of the earth would find acceptable risks to get this under control. This entire process will take years off there lives but there honor is more important than life itself in the japanese culture.
Please pray for them....

 

[lancer]

4000 dead, 12000 still missing. No one can agree on the radiation danger. What must the poor Japanese people think? Boy, I sure hope the Japanese government can get some good info to all the victims of this escalating disaster. -- Al

Good lord, the news tonight reported dead at 12,000 with thousands still missing. I suppose there is no hope for more survivors at this point. What's up with the Japanese gov't telling Americans and other foreigners to stay 50 miles outside the reactor radiation zone but it is safe for their own people at 12 miles? Hope things start to improve soon. -- Al

 

[Scott]

............. What's up with the Japanese gov't telling Americans and other foreigners to stay 50 miles outside the reactor radiation zone but it is safe for their own people at 12 miles? .............. -- Al

Might be to keep them out of the way during clean up and rescue. Might be a "courtesy" to visitors/guests to keep them from danger.

 

[modwalls]

This is a real tragic event, the worlds third largest economy, this is going to effect everyone in the world for years to come. As far as nuke plants go, I am totally against these things, when you way the cost of life with one tragic event like this, they are not worth it. There really is no safe way to store the waste, and never count on any Goverment to tell you the truth of a Meltdown. I feel real sorry for the people of Japan, there will be alot of cancer, and birth defects in the coming years. They are telling their people to stay at least 13 miles away from the plants. The US, is telling their people to stay at least 50 miles away. These rods are exposed, this is a meltdown. I don't know who in their right mind would ever want to work in those survieing plants. Our thoughts and prayers should go out to those who have passed, and hope and pray they can get that Meltdown stopped.

 

[lancer]

Newspaper this morning says there is a plan to bury the reactors in dirt and sand. Apparently it is a feasible, but last ditch, plan. -- Al

 

[Mitch]

BBC news also said they are looking at burying everything in concrete like they did at Chernobyl. I must say though after what they have been through earthquake at 9 level and a Tsunami they have held well as I thought they may have totally gone earlier.

The news about the death toll and missing gets darker every day now looking like it could reach 20,000
Mitch
Mitch

 

[The Military Workshop]

The nuclear meltdown scenario has always been very emotive as people think of Hiroshima and Chernobyl type situations and the images they evoke.

Chernobyl has been mentioned in the press a lot down here and the reality appears to be much less than people think. Have a look at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster#Assessing_the_disaster.27s_effects_on_human_health

I will let you draw your own conclusions.

Look up deaths in coal mines and you will find figures of 4,000 to 6,000 per year for China.

The nuclear situation in Japan now is admittedly scary but the reality is the damage
and death and injury from the quake and tsunami is far more significant. Those living abroad may not be affected by the quake or tsunami but the nuclear "cloud" fear is alive and well and it seems some in USA are making a quick buck out of it.

I don't know the distance, including wind factors, between Japan and USA but when compared to distances between Chernobyl and many major European or Middle eastern or Asian cities it does seem much further away.

Just my thoughts.

Regards
Brett

 

[Gideon]

Some people are incredibly stupid. I live in Philadelphia - mid-Atlantic-east coast.

There was a guy walking around in trader joes the other day with a Geiger counter. I wished I had thought to ask if he carried a dingy around when the horrible flooding hit Australia.

 

[thebritfarmer]

Some people are incredibly stupid. I live in Philadelphia - mid-Atlantic-east coast.

There was a guy walking around in trader joes the other day with a Geiger counter. I wished I had thought to ask if he carried a dingy around when the horrible flooding hit Australia.

The media feeding frenzy doesn't help either.

 

[The Military Workshop]

Gideon,
I hope whoever sold the geiger to him got a fistful of dollars !!
Brett

 

[Mitch]

I think people have a right to be cautious and aware of the great dangers from radiation and, regardless of media reporting which, has been rather low as nobody really knows whats going on in Fukoshima if you look at health studies from Hiroshima, Nagasaki and chernobyl there are real long term issues which the good old wiki seems to not address and areas where you still cannot go in the chernobyl area now.

If these reactors go then the facts are nobody really knows where all the radioactive fallout will spread to and, there is no information as to how much is leaking out apart from that we know very southernly cities in japan are seeing increased radiation levels as are other countries close by.

Better safe than sorry
Mitch

 

[lancer]

I think people have a right to be cautious and aware of the great dangers from radiation and, regardless of media reporting which, has been rather low as nobody really knows whats going on in Fukoshima if you look at health studies from Hiroshima, Nagasaki and chernobyl there are real long term issues which the good old wiki seems to not address and areas where you still cannot go in the chernobyl area now.

If these reactors go then the facts are nobody really knows where all the radioactive fallout will spread to and, there is no information as to how much is leaking out apart from that we know very southernly cities in japan are seeing increased radiation levels as are other countries close by.

Better safe than sorry
Mitch

Just watched a news report on Chernobyl. Says it will be dangerous for 1000 years. The Japanese need the truth, if anyone will tell them. -- Al

 

[The Military Workshop]

I am far from an expert but there are very significant differences between what happened at Hiroshima / Nagasaki and at Chernobyl or what is happening now. The former events were deliberate acts (ie. dropped by air) whereas the latter were accidents in buildings with safety features. Whilst I recall Chernobyl and being concerned I certainly don't associate it with the level of fatalities / injuries and images and destruction associated with the two nuclear bombs.

A visit to the web page of the International Atomic Energy Agency

http://www-ns.iaea.org/meetings/rw-summaries/chernobyl-conference-2005.asp

and a search on Chernobyl will bring up Conclusions of the Chernobyl Forum (which are summarised in the Wikipediea entry).

The news centre on that page has the Agency's most recent report on the situation and that states :

"Radiation Monitoring

As mentioned yesterday, regular dose rate information is now being received from 47 Japanese cities.

Dose rates in Tokyo and other cities remain far from levels which would require action - in other words they are not dangerous to human health.

First measurements in Tokyo by the Agency's newly arrived radiation monitoring team today showed no indication of Iodine-131 or Caesium-137. A second sampling will be carried out overnight".

When looking around for Chernobyl info on the web I noted references to the "panic" abortions with figures ranging from 50,000 to 200,000. That alone is a far more significant impact that the direct results of the radiation on any victims.

Whilst nobody likes what is happening it does appear what is being reported is often sensationalised. Some may find this Blog interesting (Fear deadlier than the fallout).
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/...ar_of_fukushima_is_deadlier_than_the_fallout/

The blog has a link to a "brilliant video explanation of what really happened - that makes you astonished such an old plant could survive such an unimaginable challenge, not least the tsunami would took out its fuel tanks and soaked its electronics "

Apparently an Aussie TV news broadcast said words to the effect that “it could result in a nuclear explosion that could wipe out Japan and half of Asia”. Not sure what wipe out means in this context but it is an example of scaremongering.

Regards
Brett

PS Can't remember which sites I saw it mentioned but I saw that the Chernobyl plant continued in operation until 2000 !

 

[The Military Workshop]

Another useful link from World Health Organisation on Chernobyl health effects

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs303/en/index.html

 

[glossman]

Here is a link to a LA Times article which provides some insight into the Chernobyl incident as it relates to the current Fukushima nuclear plant.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...r-environment-impact-20110319,0,3438970.story

Raymond.