Nuclear accident follows Japanese earthqauke

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 23 Mar 2011, 07:01

Meanwhile the Japanese government is advising that infants should not be given tap-water in Tokyo. For one of the world largest cities to have a water supply containing iodine 131 is a non-trivial affair.

#3 reactor. More than a paint job required.

They've just said that all workers have been withdrawn from the site following the emergence of black smoke.

I wonder what it will take for the pro-nuclear lobby to admit that there may be a problem.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 23 Mar 2011, 09:24

nexus · Post by **nexus** » 23 Mar 2011, 09:35

Thanks for these Biff.

We need to keep our attention turned to the critical situation in Japan, because of the unfolding humanitarian disaster and the ongoing situation and risk posed by the release of radioactive material.

If the west hadn't intervened in Libya this would still be front page news.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 23 Mar 2011, 10:06

Yes and curiously tweets for #fukushima are mostly not in English. A lot in German, French and Spanish and things that are just weird scribbles to me.

Ooops, there have been two ~M5 earthquakes in the ~Fukushima area recently.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 23 Mar 2011, 11:38

First emission estimates
In the phase of March 12 to 13, the Fukushima emissions were mostly transported to the Pacific, eventually hitting the CTBTO
station in Sacramento/California. In the phase March 14 to 15, on the other hand, most of the emissions were transported inland,
hitting the CTBTO station in Takasaki, Japan. Based on simulated dilution factors and measurements, we were able to have a first
rough source estimate.
Regarding Iodine-131, the picture is relatively homogeneous. A source term of 10^17 Bq per day would explain the measurements in
Takasaki as well as Sacramento. The total 4-day emission of 4x10^17 Bq is on the order of 20% of the total emissions of Iodine-131
that occurred during the Chernobyl accident. Regarding Cesium-137, the situation is a bit different. In the cloud eventually
propagating to the United States, the ratio of Iodine-131 to Cesium-137 was about 30. This is similar to the Chernobyl accident. In
Takasaki, however, this ratio was four. This would indicate a much larger Cesium-137 release in the second two-day period after
the accident. Taking this together, the source terms would be about 3x10^15 Bq during the first two days, and 3x10^16 during the
second two-day period. In sum, this could amount to about 50% of the Chernobyl source term of Cesium-137.

http://www.zamg.ac.at/docs/aktuell/Japa ... 1500_E.pdf

(note: 1 becquerel = 1 buggerall but 10^17 is a magnificently large number)

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 23 Mar 2011, 13:02

biffvernon wrote:I wonder what it will take for the pro-nuclear lobby to admit that there may be a problem.

Who said there isnt a problem?
There is of course a problem and 6 nuclear reactors are almost certain to be lost.

What there isnt, is a catastrophe, a disaster, a calamity, an apocalypse, or any of the other weird and wonderful words.
Well, of course, there are those things, but not nuclear ones.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 23 Mar 2011, 13:12

DominicJ wrote:What there isnt, is a catastrophe, a disaster, a calamity, an apocalypse, or any of the other weird and wonderful words.
Well, of course, there are those things, but not nuclear ones.

Why are the Japanese making such a big fuss about dealing with the power stations? Surely if there was no problem they could just let them burn themselves out or whatever, and clean up the mess sometime in the future, when they've got the country up and running again.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 23 Mar 2011, 14:00

a catastrophe, a disaster, a calamity, an apocalypse

It's certainly three out four of those. We'll keep apocalypse for a rainy day.

(That's a rainy day when the wind from Fukushima is from the north-east.)

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 23 Mar 2011, 14:18

Neutron beam observed 13 times at crippled Fukushima nuke plant
TOKYO, March 23, Kyodo

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday it has observed a neutron beam, a kind of radioactive ray, 13 times on the premises of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after it was crippled by the massive March 11 quake-tsunami disaster.

TEPCO, the operator of the nuclear plant, said the neutron beam measured about 1.5 kilometers southwest of the plant's No. 1 and 2 reactors over three days from March 13 and is equivalent to 0.01 to 0.02 microsieverts per hour and that this is not a dangerous level.

The utility firm said it will measure uranium and plutonium, which could emit a neutron beam, as well...

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80539.html

The significance is that you don't get neutrons from iodine 131 or from caesium 137. Neutrons suggest that uranium or plutonium has leaked.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 23 Mar 2011, 14:30

The whistleblowers are emerging:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-2 ... actor.html

One of the reactors in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant may have been relying on flawed steel to hold the radiation in its core, according to an engineer who helped build its containment vessel four decades ago.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 24 Mar 2011, 11:23

According to NHK two workers at Fukushima have been hospitalised

NKH wrote: Japan's nuclear safety agency says 2 workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were taken to hospital on Thursday after being exposed to high-level radiation at the Number 3 reactor.

NHK

The Daily Hate reports that 5 workers have died and 15 hospitalised - not seen that reported elsewhere, so I'd take that with a Potassium Iodide tablet - for now at least.

Meanwhile, steam has been seen coming out of reactor no. 1 now.

An NHK helicopter crew has confirmed what appears to be steam rising from No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 reactor buildings at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

More fro NHK

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 24 Mar 2011, 12:00

RB
I've heard 5 deaths and 15 injured, but they died in the initial earthquake and tsunami.
There might be another 5 deaths, or it might be that the over excitied 12 year old girls who make up our fourth estate are as confused as normal.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 24 Mar 2011, 12:12

That would make sense - thanks for that.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 24 Mar 2011, 17:40

New Scientist reports on radiation levels:

Japan's damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Austrian researchers have used a worldwide network of radiation detectors – designed to spot clandestine nuclear bomb tests – to show that iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73 per cent of those seen after the 1986 disaster. The daily amount of caesium-137 released from Fukushima Daiichi is around 60 per cent of the amount released from Chernobyl.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2 ... evels.html

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 24 Mar 2011, 17:51

The Guardian - 24/03/11

The very human heroes of Fukushima

That plant workers are still risking their lives to help others seems to owe less to the selfish gene, more to ancestral culture.

Article continues ...