Fukushima leak should we be worreid…How will they resolve it ?

over here in blighty ?

Is it even safe to be eating fish these days ? Tuna especially ?

How’s it going to get resolved ? It looks like a complete disaster with no end…

Naah Nu-clear powah is all cuddles and kittens.

They’ll sort it when they employ a German or American or Russian to lead who will make decisions without referring to committee.

You would say that, you despot! You’re not accountable to anyone!

The first step will be for them to tell the rest of the world how bad it actually is, and ask for help. The Japanese are notoriously bad at this.

Bit of Sugru to bung in the hole surely will suffice?

The first step will be for them to tell the rest of the world how bad it actually is, and ask for help. The Japanese are notoriously bad at this.

so would you if the end result is Seppuku 😉

It’s press scare-mongering of a non-story according to this guy:

The Register – Lewis Page[/url]

The situation is this. The melted-down cores at the damaged reactors (the site is not “crippled”, two reactors were undamaged and will return to service) are still hot – though much less hot than they were two years ago – and need to be cooled. This is done by pumping water through their buildings, then sucking it out again and putting it into holding tanks before purifying it to remove the radiation it picks up from the cores. Then it gets used again.

What has happened is that one of the holding tanks, containing water that had only been through one stage of purification, has sprung a leak and about 300,000 litres of water has got out. Almost all of this was contained by a backup dam which had been built around the tanks when they were set up (this is the nuclear industry, there is always a backup). However, “two shallow puddles” of the water got out of the dam via a rainwater drain valve which has since been sealed off.

The water is quite radioactive, and dose rates measured next to the puddles were 100 milliSieverts per hour. Nuclear powerplant workers, whose cancer rate is somewhat lower than in the general population (probably because they don’t smoke so much) are allowed to sustain 50 millisievert in any one year in normal times and average doses across five years of 20 millisievert/yr.

However what Reuters haven’t picked up on is that the high 100 milliSievert reading is for beta radiation only. The reading for gamma rays is only 1.5 milliSieverts per hour.

As we no doubt all recall from skool, beta radiation is not very penetrating: it can’t get through human skin and it only travels a few feet through air. So you’d have to stand very close indeed to the two puddles, in them probably, for their beta rays even to reach you. A sturdy pair of wellingtons would have a good protective effect, if you should do this. As far as beta radiation is concerned, the only ways to seriously harm yourself with that water would be to get it on your exposed skin and leave it there for some time, or to drink it. This is also true of many domestic cleaning products.

Well Beanum if you believe that I’ve got a Magic Bean I want to sell you…

Have they not heard of Duck Tape?!

El Reg is pissing me off these days with it’s increasing levels of uncalled-for pictures of scantily-clad women. I understand the history of it, but it’s all going a bit Clarkson for me.

Plus the Arch. wars have kinda died off so I’ve got less to read about.

Lewis is also not the Oracle he thinks he is.

I seem to recall there was quite a lot of nuclear radiation let loose in the Pacific in the late 40s & 50s, but a lot of people kept eating tuna and haven’t grown 2 heads.

Apparently you’ll be fine if you have a positive attitude…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iruuJj1e3Kk

Relax; they have everything under control. There is nothing for you to worry about…

Is anyone else disappointed that Godzilla hasn’t shown up yet?

You missed him – there was a Radiation leak on the other thread, the forum went mad, my alter-ego showed up and Godzilla too.

Then King Kong Cougar turned up with the Ghostbusters and now it’s all back to normal.

Ho-hum…

How did they clear up after the Yanks nuked them? ,they should have more experience than anyone else

If it is being re-used, why are there now so many tanks?

the technique is called “dilute and disperse”

Same as letting it flow into the sea then?

Don’t go to Dounreay then, particularly the shaft where they just used to throw ‘rubbish’ in.

You would say that, you despot! You’re not accountable to anyone!

Unfortunately I’m accountable to Mrs Ming…… 🙁

two reactors were undamaged and will return to service

I thought they stated shortly after the tsunami that the whole plant would be decommissioned.

is easy sorted..you just get like a huge rug an a big broom an sweep it all under the rug when the worlds media reckons you aint no longer news worthy ..TA DAAA..all good as new..carry on like nothing happened..ermm cept the tuna apparently 🙄

Can’t be any worse than the Hanford site where the first plutonium plant was built. And don’t even think about what happened in the Soviet union….

I thought they stated shortly after the tsunami that the whole plant would be decommissioned.

while the public were concerned about the radiation.

two reactors were undamaged and will return to service

now the public are concerned about security of power supply.

^^ this.

When asked “do you think nuclear power is a good idea” 93% of people said “No!”

When asked “do you think nuclear power is a good idea as it will keep your lights on at home, instead of having rolling blackouts and having your ‘lecy prices triple” 93% of people said “yes!”

Fortunately Fukushima has had its quota of earthquakes for the foreseeable, so we don’t need to worry about a quake testing them water tanks.

#shouldastucktozengardening.

When asked “do you think nuclear power is a good idea” 93% of people said “No!”

I’m surprised by that. Have you got a link to the poll ?

What percentage of people think tsunamis are a bad idea?

Everyone except Laird Hamilton.

What percentage of people think radioactive tsunamis are an even worse idea?

(this is the nuclear industry, there is always a backup)

Thats reassuring!

As we no doubt all recall from skool, beta radiation is not very penetrating: it can’t get through human skin and it only travels a few feet through air. So you’d have to stand very close indeed to the two puddles, in them probably, for their beta rays even to reach you. A sturdy pair of wellingtons would have a good protective effect, if you should do this. As far as beta radiation is concerned, the only ways to seriously harm yourself with that water would be to get it on your exposed skin and leave it there for some time

To a point this is correct, but as someone who uses radiochemicals in his day-to-day lab work, I can assure you not all ?-radiation is equal, and depending on the isotope, you may well require considerably more than a pair of wellingtons. I’ve got some stocks of C-14 (a pretty low energy beta) that are so hot they release bremsstrahlung radiation as a result of the interaction between the glass wall of the vial they’re in and the ? particles. Free x-rays anyone? And for reference, my definition of ‘hot’ is a few MBq – feeble compared to what’s being discussed here

or to drink it.

.

Or let a fish eat it, then eat the fish.

Ultimately, what most people (and especially this reporter) don’t get is that sources of radiation are not just sources of radiation. They can behave remarkably differently, with differing implications as a result. Some can be high energy with short half-lives, others can be low energy with long halflives, they can emit ?, ?, or ? radiation, or a mixture. What gets in the way of that radiation can either attenuate it, or exacerbate the dose.

An example of this is P-32. Correct shielding for this when working with it in the lab is high-density perspex to stop the ?. Use lead instead (what, intuitively, you’d think is better), and you’ll give yourself a high-energy x-ray from the bremsstrahlung, possibly worse than not using shielding at all.

(and that, by the way, is written by someone who by most peoples’ standards would appear to be pro-nuclear, or at least not anti-nuclear.)

I told you Lewis was getting ahead of himself.

Yo, zokes, pop over to The Register and post that as a comment. Or can I do it [with your name on it]?

zokes,

generally, in their covereage of fukushima, have the reg got the panic level about correct (low to none), cause its mainly been a lot less panicky than rest-of-world’s media (holyshitwereallgoingtodie)

WRT Chelyabinsk, doesn’t someone think the wikitravel page should have some mention of it? Perhaps in the [currently empty] section on Staying Safe?

Yo, zokes, pop over to The Register and post that as a comment. Or can I do it [with your name on it]?

Gopher it. I’m away for the weekend with a roaring log burner, a nice bottle of red, cricket on the telly and a beautiful wife.

where your wife going then this weekend 😉

Zokes, thanks for the info, the Imperial Bunker is having it’s radiation shielding upgraded! Braking radiation, would’ve thought……….