Japanese reactor crisis

[Medusa]

There's just been a report that the last 50 workers have been released

Which means that nobody is manning the reactors.

Which means they've given up

I hope like hell that is just a bad translation. They are clarifying now.

[Medusa]

Oh shit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...joa_story.html

[Diva]

Whoa......................

[socialjustice_fsu]

Where is Dreadgeek? I want to know more and who better than to turn to for laymen's terms than our own scientist?

[Linus]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2...r-worries.html

[Medusa]

I bet she'll be in shortly.


From what I understand, the radiation has become too high for the workers to continue (based on the most recent preliminary reports). I keep thinking that these poor people probably haven't slept in days. I noticed that there was already a story referring to them as the "Fukushima 50"

[Wryly]

U.S.S. Ronald Reagan received almost a month’s worth of radiation in just one hour.

[Rockinonahigh]

I know very little about reactors,ive read some post but im a simple minded person who just deals with life as it comes.I just hope that when all this is over ...whenever its over,we all learn a lesson on how to protect ourselves and the world we live on from these things when they happen.My heart goes out to all off the people of Japan as well as many others who will be effected by these circumstances.Who ever our highr power may be,may he or she look upon us with benevolent eyes.

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Medusa

There's just been a report that the last 50 workers have been released

Which means that nobody is manning the reactors.

Which means they've given up

I hope like hell that is just a bad translation. They are clarifying now.

Actually it appears that they were off-site for 45 minutes. There was a spike in radiation, they do not know why it spiked. I'm trying to get the latest update from the IAEA but right now, their traffic is so high that I can't get the page to load!

I will update as I get more information.

Cheers
Aj

[dreadgeek]

Here's the latest from the IAEA.

Japan Earthquake Update (16 March 2011, 03:55 UTC)
Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that a fire in the reactor building of unit 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was visually observed at 20:45 UTC of 15 March. As of 21:15 UTC of the same day, the fire could no longer be observed.

Fire of 14 March

As previously reported, at 23:54 UTC of 14 March a fire had occurred at unit 4. The fire lasted around two hours and was confirmed to be extinguished at 02:00 UTC of 15 March.

Water level in unit 5

Japanese authorities have also informed the IAEA that at 12:00 UTC of 15 March the water level in unit 5 had decreased to 201 cm above the top of the fuel. This was a 40 cm decrease since 07:00 UTC of 15 March. Officials at the plant were planning to use an operational diesel generator in unit 6 to supply water to unit 5.

The IAEA continues to liaise with the Japanese authorities and is monitoring the situation as it evolves.


Japan Earthquake Update (15 March 2011, 22:30 UTC)
Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that the evacuation of the population from the 20-kilometre zone around Fukushima Daiichi has been successfully completed.

The Japanese authorities have also advised that people within a 30-km radius to take cover indoors. Iodine tablets have been distributed to evacuation centres but no decision has yet been taken on their administration.

The IAEA continues to liaise with the Japanese authorities and is monitoring the situation as it evolves.

[suebee]

A new quake hit Japan about 15 minutes ago. Enough to make buildings sway in Tokyo. From the BBC: "The Japan Meteorological Agency said a change in sea levels was possible, the AFP reports."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[Diva]

So there's a lot of talk about radiation....and thyroid issues....and iodine tablets......


But what about the rest of one's body? How does radiation affect THAT?

Just curious.....cuz I'm thinking that thyroid cancer may just be a drop in the bucket compared to other things which high doses of radiation can jerk around!

[AtLast]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapc...pt=T1&iref=BN1

Continuing problems raise fears of greater radiation threat By the CNN Wire Staff
March 16, 2011 12:34 a.m. EDT

Still, many conflicting reports. Verification is difficult and it appears the Japanese government is quite angry with the utility company that runs this plant in terms of not reporting the full story with on-going problems and to the Japanese government. So much is going on there all at one time.

The 50 remaining workers have been evacuated from the plant due to radiation levels (gamma level). It sounds like this is a temporary measure.

[Mtn]

I heard one talking head say that pregnant women and young children should be out of the area, as they are most vulnerable to radiation, I hope that already happened, before the talking head said it. In the late 80's early 90's I worked at a preschool that had several families that had "survived" Chernobyl, the long lasting effects, the future health issues, and in fact deaths makes one question the term "survival". I just keep praying.

[AtLast]

[QUOTE=Mtn;302259]I heard one talking head say that pregnant women and young children should be out of the area, as they are most vulnerable to radiation, I hope that already happened, before the talking head said it. In the late 80's early 90's I worked at a preschool that had several families that had "survived" Chernobyl, the long lasting effects, the future health issues, and in fact deaths makes one question the term "survival". I just keep praying.[/QUOTE]

I agree with your statement about quality of life in terms of survival from radiation exposure. Something to consider with future building of nuclear power plants worldwide. Frankly, I fear the present and future lack of R&D funds in the US (both public and private- Wall St investors don't like the risk in nuclear power). What is learned by this situation can't be corrected unless research is supported further.

There are so many variables involved in designing and building, then effectively running these plants. Yet, the magnitude of the natural disasters hitting those plants and how they rendered even the battery back up for cooling the cores inoperable demonstrates vulnerability even with the best and the brightest working in this field. And politics do get in the mix that I think blocks the real experts in these fields to build the best and safest plants possible.

Sitting with an elderly Japanese neighbor this past few days and hearing about what radiation posining does to people has been quite sobering. Her initial responses to what her home country is going through, as well as the loss of family still living there was one thing- the shift in her emotional response while hearing of the radiation threat is something else.

The new photos of the damage to the plants in Japan make me want the 50 workers that left for a short time to not be there at all.

Here is a link to a Mayo site about radiation posining and symptoms.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/rad...CTION=symptoms

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Diva

So there's a lot of talk about radiation....and thyroid issues....and iodine tablets......


But what about the rest of one's body? How does radiation affect THAT?

Just curious.....cuz I'm thinking that thyroid cancer may just be a drop in the bucket compared to other things which high doses of radiation can jerk around!

Diva:

Actually thyroid cancer IS just a drop in the bucket. There are a lot of things that can go wrong. I will try to explain why radiation is dangerous.

So, the first thing to keep in mind is that radiation is just another name for 'light'. What we call visible light is just a middle part of the spectrum of electromagnetic frequencies (which I'll call EMF from here out). The spectrum runs from (in ascending order of frequency) radio, microwave, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma ray. As you move up the scale the wavelength gets shorter and the energy of the photon (and ALL of these are just photons at different levels of energy) increases. Radio waves are kind of leisurely, poking along photons, X-ray and gamma rays are very fast-paced, energetic photons. Because your body is made of atoms, the higher energy frequencies can actually move with enough energy that they can penetrate your body and begin disrupting the atoms.

What happens is that a fast moving photon can strip an electron from an atom, thus changing the atom into an ion. It's still an atom but while most atoms in your body have a neutral charge because there's an equal number of protons (positive charge) and electrons (negative charge) an ion has a net positive or negative charge because there are more of one than the other. (Obviously, if there are more protons then the charge is positive and if more electrons then negative.) This can cause all kinds of problems because the atoms become chemically reactive in ways they may not be.

Radiation effects living cells so it causes the following kinds of problems*:


1) Cells undergo DNA damage, cannot repair the damage, and undergo cell death.
2) Cells undergo DNA damage, cannot repair the damage, don't *die* and the damage is then passed on to further cell divisions. This can lead to cancers of various sorts.
3) Cells undergo DNA damage, cannot repair it, don't die, errors of either replication or transcription are passed on leading to cancers or mimicking the effects of aging.

Different types of radioactive isotopes** have different characteristics. So, for instance, Strontium attacks bones causing problems with the marrow. Other isotopes attack the internal organs, other attack the skin, etc. If these isotopes get inside the body they can wreak havoc. The really nasty stuff (Cesium, Plutonium, Strontium) also have very long half-lives (the amount of time it takes for a given quantity of an element to lose half its mass) so they tend to *stay* in the body.

This all sounds very grim and it is. However, the news is not ALL bad. There are three types of radioactive particles that concern us--alpha, beta and gamma particles. Alpha and beta particles can be stopped by ordinary substances--like clothing. Gamma particles, on the other hand, are SO energetic that protection needs to be from a material with a high atomic number*** like lead. Unfortunately, lead is inconveniently heavy.

* This is not exhaustive
** (an isotope is when an atom has the same number of protons but differing numbers of neutrons which lead to slightly lighter or heavier versions of the atom in question)
*** Every atom has an atomic number equal to the number of protons in the nucleus. Each element on the periodic table has a unique number of protons. The isotopes of each element is because of the differing number of neutrons in the nucleus of the atom. The higher the atomic number, the heavier the element. Lead has 82 protons, for instance, carbon (which makes up most of your body) has 6 protons so lead is heavier than carbon.

Hopefully this helps.

Cheers
Aj

[Medusa]

Seems normal but still a little unnerving:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/mar/1...monitors-in-w/

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Seems normal but still a little unnerving:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/mar/1...monitors-in-w/

Here in Bay Area, CA, the local stations have been talking-up our radiation warning systems in place. And of course reminding us of the reactor (Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant) down state a ways "a top" an earthquake fault.

Reality....

The link Aj provided has some new info on the crisis-

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/...iupdate01.html

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Seems normal but still a little unnerving:

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/mar/1...monitors-in-w/

I wouldn't make too much of this. It's a precautionary measure. Better to have the radiation detectors in place, debugged, and known to be working BEFORE we might need to have them in place than to scramble at the last minute.

Cheers
Aj