Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Space Bar]

Normally, I'd ask you to laugh at the following headline, but this situation has just gotten so serious and sad.

Radiation Over U.S. Is Harmless, Officials Say

By WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: March 22, 2011

Harmless traces of radiation from the stricken nuclear complex in Japan have been detected wafting over the East Coast of the United States, European officials said Monday.

Since last week, the officials have tracked the radioactive plume as it has drifted eastward on prevailing winds from Japan -- first to the West Coast and now over the East Coast and the Atlantic, moving toward Europe...

[OneWayTraffic]

Vistorq: I looked for the study I remember seeing. The numbers were apparently WHO figures. I couldn't find it, though I could see plenty of people quoting them. What I could find was several newspaper articles quoting a study putting that number at about 13,000 people, and WHO figures showing 40,000 people in the US dieing from air pollution. Roughly 2.4 million overall through the world, though many of those are indoor pollution (coal and wood burned on cooking fires.)

http://www.who.int/entity/quantifying_ehimpacts/countryprofilesebd.xls

Proving that one particular death was due to coal and not to some other source of pollution is as difficult as proving that my cancer is due to Chernobyl, and not that CT scan I had. In any case, the sheer amount of pollution that coal releases worldwide makes it a major contributor to air pollution deaths, and causes far more deaths than any official estimate of nuclear.

Nuclear accidents are big, messy and scary. They are rare, but devastating incidents reported worldwide. The deaths from fossil fuels in all their forms tend to happen in ones and twos, in hospital rooms and bedrooms, and aren't generally newsworthy. It's just like plane crashes vs car accidents.

To Spacebar. Modern detectors are hypersensitive. They can detect nuclear material at almost any concentration.

[visitorq]

[OneWayTraffic]

Visitorq: I think that we will have to agree to disagree on WHO and CO2. This isn't the thread for that. I doubt either of us will change our minds on that. Suffice to say that I think CO2 is a big (though I don't know how big) deal, and I generally trust the WHO (within reason, I don't think the figures on coal are stretched)

As for the rest, I don't think it's balanced to compare the best possible coal technology with existing nuclear technology. Fourth generation nuclear power plants are to PWRs as Clean coal is to what is actually used out there.

With all the new chemicals, hormones, increased particulate matter combined with our longer lifespans, it's not surprising that cancer is on the rise. Nuclear materials play their part; to those exposed to them.

[visitorq]

[ZIFA]

Meanwhile back at the ranch:

[Space Bar]

[caniff]

[visitorq]

^ yeah, there's been neutron beams being emitted for weeks. Apparently they're even visible at night (though I've not seen pictures).

Latest is they're mulling over entombing it with some kind of special fabric tent that would trap in radiation and condense any steam rising up to trap it inside. NHK has been showing an 'expert' plopping a duct-tape shell-type thingy with his fingers over the scale model of the exploded reactor buildings once again, not very confidence inspiring... They're also talking about spraying a bunch of plastic polymer stuff everywhere to try and stop the water from leaking out.

Basically, it just seems like the whole thing is a giant cluster%$# and they've still got no real solution in sight...

[visitorq]

Oh, and the Daini plant (10km away from the Daiichi complex) was now reportedly smoking as of yesterday evening.... just what we all needed to hear....

[ZIFA]

[Space Bar]

Fukushima beyond point of no return as radioactive core melts through containment vessel

Fukushima meltdown update: Cesium in the soil, ocean waters contaminated and fuel core meltdown now under way

Thursday, March 31, 2011
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

� As the Wall Street Journal reports (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...), the U.S. government has now admitted that radiation is being found in milk from Washington state. They say it's "safe" to drink, of course. That's the U.S. government for you: Irradiated milk is safe, but raw milk is dangerous!

� The battle to save Fukushima is now over, as Japanese officials admit the nuclear power complex must now be abandoned and entombed (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...). The Dailymail published, "officials said it would mean switching off all power and abandoning attempts to keep the nuclear fuel rods cool." The problem with that, of course, is that there are already "three raging meltdowns" under way as Dr. Kaku explains (below). If you abandon efforts to cool the fuel rods, then an accelerated meltdown is "inevitable," says Dr. Kaku.

� Japanese nuclear experts now admit it will require 20 years to decommission the Fukushima nuclear reactors. (http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/20...)

� Cesium-137 has now been found 25 miles from Fukushima at such dangerously high concentrations that they far exceed the threshold of land abandonment used by the Soviet Union following the Chernobyl catastrophe (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/w...). This is raising questions of whether the evacuation zone around Fukushima should now be expanded.

� It has now been revealed that Japan's nuclear disaster preparedness plans were written by complete morons. The entire Fukushima power plant complex, for example, called for only one emergency stretcher to be on-site, and only 50 protective suits (even though hundreds of people worked there). Do you see shades of the TITANIC at play here? (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...)

� In a shocking video interview, physicist Dr. Michio Kaku explained, "If it goes to a full-scale evacuation of all personnel, it means that firefighters are no longer putting water onto the cores. That's the only thing preventing a full-scale meltdown at three reactor sites. Once they evacuate, then we past the point of no return. Meltdowns are inevitable at three reactor sites, leading to a tragedy far beyond that of Chernobyl, creating permanent dead zones in Japan." Watch that video at: http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=604AB...

� Meanwhile, the Fukushima denialists are in full swing, complaining that anyone talking about Fukushima's meltdown is "fearmongering." One especially idiotic journalist in the UK constructed a completely fabricated article today, claiming that "nobody has suffered or will suffer any radiological health consequences [from Fukushima]." How's that for a total denial of reality? This writer goes on to say, "The nuclear power plants in the stricken region have suffered less damage and caused less trouble to local residents than anything else that was there." (I'm not linking to this source because they don't deserve the attention, but trust me, this is from a major newspaper in the UK.) It just goes to show you that these spin doctors will stop at nothing to try to convince people that nuclear power is the safest thing in the world. There's little question that most of these denialists are on the payroll of the nuclear industry (or just hate the human race for their own twisted or demonic reasons).

� As reported by the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/w...), "The level of radioactive iodine 131 in the waters off the Daiichi plant continued to increase on Thursday, rising to 4,385 times the statutory limit... The increases raise the possibility that contaminants from the plant are continuously leaking into the sea."

� Fears about radioactive seafood are growing as Japan's ocean waters are increasingly contaminated with very high levels of radiation, now even exceeding the 3,300 times recently reported (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Taint...).

But remember, everyone: There's nothing to worry about according to your government! Don't be concerned about radiation. It's invisible, so it must be safe!

[Kuros]

Okay. I've been won over. This looks pretty bad.

[Koveras]

Tokyo is my major worry. I have a good friend living in Nara. Pretty far away, yeah, but if Tokyo is badly affected, all of Japan will become unpleasant, to put it lightly. Gaijins should be thinking in these terms.

[visitorq]