How much longer before a full scale fission criticality? Radiation in No. 3 reactor too high for work
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1499495/pg1
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says radiation levels in one of the reactor buildings remain too high for workers to do their jobs.
Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, sent 9 workers into the No.3 reactor building for about 20 minutes on Thursday, in a bid to start stabilizing the reactor.
I swear...
...There are people out there who WANT this to be The End of the World, just so their Web sites will up their traffic. Godlike Productions, InfoWars, and, particularly, Alexander Higgins' blog being at or near the top of that list.
There is no EVIDENCE at this time of recriticality, ANYWHERE. Though the basement of Unit 2 looks pretty damned bad. The building housing Reactor 3 is simply radioactive almost beyond belief, is all. I would venture to guess that at the end of the day, it will be Unit 3 that will be the MOST difficult to reconstitute, assuming such a thing is possible ANYWHERE at the plant... Which I would consider an EXTREMELY low-probability outcome in any event.
For whatever it's worth, unless something else happens to trip up Units 5 or 6 or one of the Spent Fuel or Common Pools, or the substructure of the Building 4 SFP gives way, or another major quake, aftershock, or tsunami targets Fukushima Dai-ichi, or a massive Coronal Mass Ejection fries all electronics on the planet, I think the worst of this is behind us. Excepting the wholesale contamination of the Pacific Ocean, naturally, but, what can you do? At least we still have a planet (for the moment) -- albeit one with drastically lowered resale valuation.
Rick Cromack.
Allen, Texas
"There is no EVIDENCE at
"There is no EVIDENCE at this time of recriticality, ANYWHERE"
Where is the iodine coming from then?
From your lips to G-d's ears...
I sure hope that you are right and that the worst is behind us!
Amen, brother, or sister...
...and for what it's worth, I doubt very much if God minds anyone using His name, here. I certainly don't.
...Also, bear in mind: Statements like "the worst is behind us" DOESN'T necessarily mean that "the worst" CAN'T happen... It just means that it's already likely to have occurred ALREADY. In this case, "the worst" being: One Reactor thought to have fully melted down, two more substantially so, several Spent Fuel Pools having engaged in some degree of overheating and production of radioactive emissions, and perhaps a quarter-million tons of concentrated radiological death emptied into the Pacific.. with more flowing into it every day. That's not the ABSOLUTE "worst-case scenario", but by ANYONE's estimation, it's pretty damned bad.
The wild card, of course, is: How bad will the Pacific Ocean impact be? I'm afraid no one is rushing to answer that question, with the possible exception of Greenpeace. BRAWM's doing their fair share, naturally, and more... But, they need help.
The lack of urgency all-around is unnerving. I don't want to find out that what's in my refrigerator, pantry, larder and stomach is slowly poisoning me... Particularly, after-the-fact. I never thought I would ever say this, but as far as being able to have confidence in my government regarding the safety of the food supply goes... I wish I lived in France.
Strange days, indeed.
Rick Cromack.
Allen, Texas
on sea monitoring scientists have work to do
Doing anything to monitor ocean.
Tepco vents No. 2 reactor while U.S. surveys ocean
Kyodo
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday it began filtered venting of the No. 2 reactor building at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to reduce radiation levels to the point where workers can go inside.
If the airborne radioactivity inside drops enough after three days, Tepco plans to open up the doors and send workers in to make repairs.
The No. 2 unit's high radioactivity and humidity have prevented workers from checking gauges and pipes, hampering the beleaguered utility's efforts to guide the reactor into a cold shutdown.
Meanwhile, a U.S. private research institute is conducting a survey of waters off Fukushima to assess the radiation's impact on the ecosystem.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110612a5.html
An international team of experts led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution began the 15-day survey June 4. It is being carried out on a research ship from the University of Hawaii, with permission from the Japanese government, government officials said.
They want it to SEEM like it's the end of the world
There are many that see this event as the opportunity of a lifetime. And it's not just the Godlike Productions, InfoWars and Alexander Higgins' blog types. Unfortunately, some who are taking advantage of this tragedy have achieved "rock star" status in some peoples minds. And their primary goal is to keep milking this event for as long as they can.
FUBAR - rub the royal noses in it THEN off to stocks to rot.
And Why Not ?
If someone or something looks like it is out to do you and yours damage or death I say kick it / them while they are down, toss some ice in the mouth to bring it / them around and keep on kicking. Get the picture ?
Namaste
Life is beautiful!
These comments here show that the ability of the human mind to protect itself from trauma is really quite impressive. By all means, throw rocks at those who attempt to do any investigative reporting that reveals imminent danger and suffering, from natural or man-made disasters. Better that the danger is man-made because then we can control it, right? How are we doing on controlling nuclear energy production now? What we really need are nuclear reactors that are immersible, impenetrable, totally enclosable, and automatically infallible, to function far beyond the short sighted illusions of humans. How soon are we going to get there? The reality is that the world wide threat of the reactors' spent fuel pools (the one's that haven't blown yet), the common pools, and corium hitting the ground table water are yet to be revealed! On top of this, we are in the midst of a full blown media blitz, to protect whom I ask? Surely a cover up does not protect the children of Japan, pregnant women, and all the marine and animal life of Honshu. Guess what, the media blitz is not going to protect you from accumulation of all the rad isotopes that are going around the globe for the next thousand(s) of years. The accrual of all our testing, all the little 'oops' from current nuclear reactors, and the continuing DUMP of radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean and air from Fukushima is guaranteed to change your DNA and mine. Unfortunately, the genetic errors it creates are permanent, that is, they are not self repairing in future generations. It is said that radioactivity deletes a portion of DNA that makes humans unique from all the other carbon life forms. Of course, it may take another 2,000 years for humans to realize what they've done to themselves. What a pity. 'No, Martha, this disaster is not over, far from it.'
That may be true to some extent
But, those who slant information to their own advantage are not interested in keeping us completely informed. And they deserve to have rocks thrown at them. Calling out those that put out a steady and very one dimensional stream of fear headlines has nothing to do with "the ability of the human mind to protect itself from trauma". It has everything to do with the disgust they instill in anyone that is simply trying to find out all the facts. But, instead, has to wade through their self serving attempts to put as negative spin on things as possible so they can stay "relevant" and profit from this disaster as long as possible.
Amazingly enough, I'm in agreement with you...
Life IS beautiful. And brief, and random, and precious, and painful, and irreplaceable, and sweet, and so, so unpredictable. And it's meant to be, you know, LIVED, not obsessed and worried over, with the jealous, mechanical non-enjoyment of a dog wilting down its supper, greedily devouring but never actually tasting it, all pleasure removed in a desperate bid to keep it from being eaten by other beasts. Nor with the anxious tedium of a clock-watcher, counting the seconds until the work day is concluded. LIVED, not with fear and dread of how it may END, but with a rich, gracious appreciation for all the moments between now and then.
There are people here who are so consumed with watching the mailbox for an eviction entice, that they are unable to enjoy the home they have while they're still actually residing in it. And that's a tragedy.
[Sigh] I am SO tired of being talked down to, derided and manipulated by the apocalypse cheerleaders. You're so obnoxious. You think you're the only people with any understanding of the magnitude and potential horror of this disaster. You think that pessimism connotes, if not outright bestows, wisdom. You equate gloom and resignation with enlightenment. You're like Goth kids on steroids.
I think half of you are so delusional as to actually BELIEVE that one must live convinced of the world's impending and unavoidable doom to "appreciate " it, and that the other half of you get some sort of sick kick out of amping up others until they want to put a gun in their mouth rather than experience the sheer awfulness of what you describe and insist will happen. You remind me of what migration happen if Roland Emmerich, David Koresh and Marvin the Paranoid Android ever had a love child.
"All is lost!" We get it. Good luck with all that, really. Just for the record: The REALITY of Fukushima is bad enough without all the constant "mutated e Coli! Fuel fleas! OMG, I can't see Building 4 for thirty seconds, the whole place must have just blown sky-high!"
People like you make those of us who are LEGITIMATELY worried about what all this means, its impact and eventual casualties, seem just as paranoid, delusional and hysterical as you, by virtue of association alone. I concede that this may in fact be the point of the exercise.
Regardless, thanks for that, really. Chicken Little, the Boy Who Cried Wolf, and Eeyore would be proud.
Rick Cromack.
Allen, Texas
pick a bale of cotton
pick a bale of hay!
Over worst
This event is far from over cold shutdown hasn't been obtained on reactor 1,2 or 3 so until this occurs any type of other statements that this event is over is far from realistic .it is still a question if tepco and areva can decontaminate water that is over 1000 millisieverts u see this level of radiation in water has never been scrubbed.if the water can't be dealt with we will have a catastrophe in itself .
Agreed...
There are significant engineering and logistical challenges ahead; you're correct in pointing out that a decontamination effort of this magnitude has NEVER been attempted before. And the clock is ticking -- they might very well put this "scrubbing" facility into operation mere hours ahead of a truly catastrophic release of massively contaminated water, not only into the open sea, but onto the plant grounds and, potentially, into above-ground facilities there, making the environment even more dangerous and potentially preventing further reconstruction, recovery, or even operations efforts at Fukushima Dai-ichi. We're right up against it, now; there is NO margin for error. Not to mention: The new "remediation" process is a completely new invention. It's being tested now, but its REAL test will come when it's put into motion for-real, hopefully no later than Wednesday.
HOWEVER -- Things are moving forward pretty rapidly at the moment. The last few weeks have seen some good progress on what CAN be accomplished presently, and there have been no major incidents of late. I would still feel better if:
- The military, and not TEPCO, was in overall authority;
- The IAEA was maintaining a CONTINUOUS presence at the plant and was directly involved in recovery efforts;
- Other nations' militaries were providing personnel and materiel assistance;
- Multiple efforts were underway to establish redundant systems at the plant, particularly for water-relocation, -storage and -remediation / -treatment;
- Other nations were manufacturing and transporting appropriate storage containers to Fukushima as fast as humanly possible; and
- We were getting CONTINUAL updates from the authorities in Japan... that could be believed and relied upon...
...But, I'll take what I can get at the moment.
Have hope, if not, exactly, faith, trust or confidence. We all dodged a pretty big bullet a week or so ago when the plant only got sideswiped by that typhoon. There have been no major temblors in awhile. TEPCO's finally moving the ball down the court some, after months of near-paralysis. We just need the next week to ten days to go VERY smoothly and very much according-to-plan. This may be a tall order, but it's NOT impossible.
We should know by the end of next weekend if the water-treatment plan is viable. If it is, then MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, we can begin to put a tourniquet in place on the crisis. If not... Then we may have some real challenges yet ahead, and no one knows how this thing may shake out, ultimately.
Praying folk ought to ask God to bless that water-treatment plant. For the non-practicing, hopeful thoughts can't hurt.
We shall see.
Rick Cromack.
Allen, Texas
Fragile-Handle With Extreme Care!!
In Short; There's really not much anyone outside of those we'd elected to lead us can do about the issues now anyway-except to follow the rest of the lemmings over the side of the cliff>loudly protesting & criticizing as opposed to the mute majority obediently stepping over the edge quietly as we go...I spent countless hours sending emails protesting & critical of the way it was/is handled and putting my "X" on petitions,etc.-and yet it seems that when Fukushima & radiation are concerned people I used to have respect for their intellect now seem to be in an alarming state of ignorance & denial. Seeing this lack of willingness to even educate themselves,much less respond to the inexcusable manner those entrusted with our well-being have handled every aspect of this issue. Even worse-way over 50% of those I've attempted to bring up to date didn't even know 3 reactors had melted down or think the threat has passed without ever affecting them personally now or in the future!!?? One lesson that should be learned sooner than later is that,from now on when we go to the polls we need to rethink our logic behind our choices to include our candidates ability to act in our best interests when previously unthinkable,life-threatening events occur. It's become painfully obvious our current leadership is loyal to his sponsors in the pro-nuke sector and they will line the pockets of their benefactors & buy another term for such useful "tools" however much they need to dig into their deep pockets to further their agenda. I'd hoped there would've been evidence of a huge international response effort undertaken to stop or limit the amount of radiation into the environment by now-even if they'd downplayed the level of the response that should've quietly begun as soon as ANY nuke facility of this size had begun to deteriorate. I'd somehow feel more comfortable having official confirmation that our leadership acknowledged the fact that evenly vaguely perceptive individuals realize in that our lives & the future of the planet hangs precariously on the assumption that setbacks,delays & new obstacles hampering efforts to stabilize the situation threaten to increase the odds of another "mistake,mis-step' being nearer to the dreaded day when the situation that couldn't get worse-in fact does!! At least I'd have the small comfort felt by being able to feel our Govt.acknowledged the threat and we could at least assume they had our backs & were on the same page. Instead they've shown their true colors and there isn't any Intl. Coalition or alliances formed to pool resources and make some sort of effort to figure this whole mess out and formulate a viable plan to somehow entomb the site permanently,or at least to the best of their collective abilities. Instead,those of us who grasp what this disaster may imply & are learning to live each day like it's our last-must also accept the depressing reality that we can't trust those we'd let be put in charge of making the right decisions and keep us informed. The thought of being "surprised" by waking up in the middle of the night gasping for thick,acrid,contaminated air,just in time to see those closest to me die without the chance of holding & hugging them while we say our goodbyes & try to comfort each other in our final moments is something that I haven't been able to shake off and it's also been the factor that not only keeps me feeling down & hopeless at times-it has & will continue to be the biggest factor behind my own quality of life. At least the people I cared enough about to inform them of this critically relevant issue would take the issue more seriously had our government told the truth about it. The only ones it would've been "bad" for if they'd told the public how serious it was and how grave it could still get-they could've put a positive spin on the response effort and the odds of successfully completing the operation with a outcome more promising than what I expect from the current track record of unpreparedness,incompetence,irresponsibility,deceit,lies and obvious underlying greed & corruption. It wouldn't be surprising to learn that people like us who do what little we can online,etc.-but who become a bit "too vocal" for govt. & nuke industry players_might find ourselves "yanked" off the street,zip-tied,gagged & duct-taped in the back of a cargo van never to be heard from again!!? If that sounds like some kind of paranoid delusional impossibility worthy of a fictional TV drama inspired by 2 days in an opium den-then just think about how much these bastards spend to continue the news "blackout" to continue their agenda of continuing promotion of a ridiculously complex,yet obsolete method of boiling water to generate power! They've spent untold $$ planning for this very event wherever it was fated to occur,the logistics & planning for their activities to be allowed to continue goes way beyond what they'd invested or provided for regarding responses & solutions to the event that wound up happening in Japan instead of here. It seems likely now that we wouldn't be informed at all if it had happened here,maybe it has before to lesser degrees and we never even knew it?!! All I can say in closing is that the policy our leadership has stubbornly implemented inspires neither "reassurance" nor confidence in their ability to selflessly serve constituents and their dismal failures regarding the environment,economy,foreign relations have exposed just how grim our future looks unless they get their sh_t together & start taking care of business at home & abroad-starting with making a massive effort including technology,resources and trained personnel to end the Fukushima crisis and then try to work on the other issues globally & domestically,that seem far less threatening.LOL*I started with "In Short"(LMAO)-but I wound up writing a novel!!,I apologize for being long-winded-but this whole things got me PO'd & riled up and then sad again. Whatever the outcome is-I applaud & thank everyone who continues to contribute to the effort to keep this issue from being swept under the rug. I sincerely hope & wish for the best for everyone-including those who'll never pull their head out of the sand(or their a__)& get to read this!!GOOD LUCK & GODSPEED!!
Best estimate tepco gives .Gos / grain of salt
The embattled operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), says it hopes to bring all reactors to stable cold shutdown some time between Oct and Jan, although decommissioning the crippled plant will take years.
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_678378.html
re;gr. of salt
It raises the all-important question~"Do we have the ability to survive that long"?!! It seems that the "haphazard & slipshod" manner TEPCO & Japan have handled things thus far points to the need for changes in command!!-I hope the un-trained subcontractors they use to perform tasks in the most hazardous & sensitive areas don't have any unknown behavioral health issues that could become a problem should they flip out during some already suicidal task in some area filled with sensitive material & equipment. I also hope the military has put some type of defensive apparatus in place to protect against 9/11-type attacks,etc. It seems that one lesson that should be considered is that defensive measures against terrorist attacks should be included in ALL new nuclear safety upgrade planning if it hasn't been already. I hope I didn't give any creeps any ideas though-in case that's why I haven't seen the issue mentioned much?...