Japan: 9.0 Earthquake-Tsunami-Nuclear Reactor Status #4

[buffetoflies]

I am worried here in NC. We still haven't heard results of the radioactive readings that were taken at the Brunswick plant yesterday by progress energy. We are working on an action plan just in case we need to stay inside.

KI tablets....check
face masks...check
old clothing we can dispose of after the dogs need walking ....check
storing water.....check
duct tape.......check

I am not panicking but just taking precautions as there is really nothing else we can do if this becomes a threat. I REALLY, REALLY worry about the accuracy of the information we are getting. I don't think we will know if there is a danger to the US until the last minute because I don't trust what the energy companies tell us. MOO

wm

If it comes down to the worst case scenario, and all or at least 1 + the MOX reactor blow and spew particles all over the place, all that's not really going to help. MOX has a half life of 24 thousand years, and the radiation if more than 1 blow will be enough I'd say to be in the air continuously, so you'd continuously exposed and the tablets wouldn't really help.

If it comes down to the worst... (this is going to sound bad) but honestly I think I'd just end it real quick. What you are preparing is only go to last for awhile, and you're just prolonging the inevitable (death).

Sorry for being negative nancy.

 

[Quiche]

If it comes down to the worst case scenario, and all or at least 1 + the MOX reactor blow and spew particles all over the place, all that's not really going to help. MOX has a half life of 24 thousand years, and the radiation if more than 1 blow will be enough I'd say to be in the air continuously, so you'd continuously exposed and the tablets wouldn't really help.

If it comes down to the worst... (this is going to sound bad) but honestly I think I'd just end it real quick. What you are preparing is only go to last for awhile, and you're just prolonging the inevitable (death).

Sorry for being negative nancy.

I processed it that way too-- going to have to go with the flow in a worst case scenario. But right now, while the levels are low-- my family is using a tiny bit of iodine solution on the skin a couple of times a week. Might help, won't hurt.

 

[peeples]

I iodined my husband when he got back from the Dallas Forth worth airport LOL
I haven't done myself or the kids though

 

[not_my_kids]

The way I see it, the US levels are enough to endanger our health, in the long run. But not enough to burn off our skin, and since most of us are adults, it's likely that most of us won't really be affected at all. It's our children that we need to worry about and the long term effects that we need to worry about. Switching over to bottled water and taking our iodine won't hurt anything, but the major things that we need to worry about are long term things, IMO.
Start eliminating the other things in our environments that expose us to radiation (less microwave, more stove) upgrading our medical coverage now to cover things that we weren't at risk of before, and learning how to make our own food, right down to the veggies.
Maybe getting used to the irony taste of purified water tablets and stockpiling powdered milk, but the biggest risk is going to be our genetics, what this will do to our genes, and what that will do to our next generations. Sadly, there isn't much we can do about that, so at this point, we are just sticking our fingers into holes in the dam, and not even knowing if those are the holes that are leaking yet.

It's time for the butt covering and soothing platitudes to stop. We need to know what we are up against, and we need someone in power to tell us so that we are all on the same page.

 

[Quiche]

This is interesting--

Interactive Maps: Worldwide Nuclear Power

Quote: As the world continues to watch the crisis at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant unfold, many are asking what the repercussions will be for the future of nuclear power. First, though, we must understand the current state of the nuclear industry: Where are the world’s nuclear power plants located? How much electricity do these plants produce? How much more nuclear generating capacity is planned, and for where?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kroodsma/interactive-maps-worldwid_b_842585.html

 

[not_my_kids]

Radiation levels in a Japanese town outside a government-ordered evacuation zone have exceeded one of the criteria for evacuation, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Wednesday.
The agency said it advised Japan "to carefully assess the situation."
The elevated levels were found in Iitate, a town of 7,000 residents about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the earthquake- and tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the agency said. The evacuation zone covers a 20-kilometer (13-mile) radius around the plant.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/japan.nuclear.iaea/

 

[Linda7NJ]

"National Cancer Institute Study Estimating Thyroid Doses of I-131
Received by Americans From Nevada Atmospheric Nuclear Bomb Tests The NCI's 'worst case' estimate is that fallout from nuclear weapons
testing likely generated from 10,000 to 75,000 cases of thyroid cancer! "

http://www.ki4u.com/illwind.htm

scroll down to almost halfway down the page

 

[Quiche]

EPA’s radiation detection system not 100 percent

Excerpt:
Further concerns: Bland assertions and political ramifications

Also of concern to Hirsch is the fact that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has superseded the EPA in the post-Japan response. He said that official guidance documents for radiation release place the EPA in charge. This is alarming, as the NRC has weaker standards than the EPA, he said.

When questioned directly about these statements, the EPA referred Raycom News Network back to a statement that appears on its website:

"As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said, we do not expect to see radiation at harmful levels reaching the U.S. form the Japanese nuclear incident," Gilfillan said.

Gilfillan re-emphasized that currently there is no domestic emergency response in effect because the U.S. is not expected to see harmful levels of radiation. Still, he said, "The federal government is monitoring the situation."

Hirsch said the "bland assertions that no harmful radiation could reach the U.S." are "idiotic," as no radiation is safe, according to the EPA itself.

"In setting limits, EPA makes the conservative (cautious) assumption that any increase in radiation exposure is accompanied by an increased risk of stochastic effects," the organization writes on its website.

http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=14343830

 

[not_my_kids]

Setbacks are mounting in the crisis over Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear facility, with nearby seawater testing at its highest radiation levels yet and the president of the plant operator checking into a hospital with hypertension.
http://www.sheppnews.com.au/aapArticle.aspx?aapID=16374

They are saying the stress of all this has taken such a toll on poor TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu that he had to check into the hospital Tuesday...Poor guy, being right there in the heart of the actual danger...oh wait...

 

[Quiche]

Low levels of radiation found in US milk

Quote: The Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration say that very low levels of radiation have turned up in a sample of milk from Washington state. But federal officials say consumers should not worry.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/03/30/state/n145310D86.DTL&tsp=1

 

[peeples]

OMG if "they" tell me not to worry 1 more time i'm gonna spit nails!!!!

 

[Nova]

OMG if "they" tell me not to worry 1 more time i'm gonna spit nails!!!!

I SO know what you mean! I think quiche and not_my_kids should be required to remove the phrase from every future link. (Totally j/k, of course.)

 

[Quiche]

Fukushima shines light on U.S. problem: 63,000 tons of spent fuel

Excerpt:
"I truly believe we must re-think how we manage spent fuel," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said at a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing Wednesday.

In California, Feinstein said, fuel removed from reactors in 1984 is still held in spent-fuel pools, well beyond the minimum five to seven years required by federal regulators. "It's hard to understand why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not mandated a more rapid transfer of spent fuel to dry casks," Feinstein said.

Currently, there is no maximum time fuel can remain in spent fuel pools, the NRC said Wednesday. As a result, critics say, nuclear plants have made fuel pools the de facto method of storing fuel, crowding pools with dangerous levels of fuel, industry critics say.

and

"At many sites there is nearly 10 times as much irradiated fuel in spent fuel pools as in the reactor core," he said. "The spent fuel pools are not housed in robust concrete containment structures designed to protect the public from the radioactivity they contain. Instead the pools are often housed in buildings with sheet metal siding like that in a Sears storage shed," Lochbaum said.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/30/spent.nuclear.fuel/

 

[peeples]

Instead the pools are often housed in buildings with sheet metal siding like that in a Sears storage shed," Lochbaum said.


That's soo comforting!!

 

[Quiche]

Good article covers many things...

Reactor feared in meltdown, radiation spreads

Excerpt:
Officials at the stricken plant are also planning to cover three badly damaged outer reactor buildings with special fabric caps and fit air filters to limit the release of radiation.

Another plan is to anchor an empty tanker off the No. 2 reactor so workers can pump huge volumes of radioactive water into its hull.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/31/3178263.htm

I pulled this quote because I think it illustrates that they have no idea what they're doing. :banghead:

 

[Quiche]

Desperate conditions of the Fukushima Fifty: How Japan's selfless heroes shun sleep, food and water as they battle to tame the nuclear monster

Quote:
Few drivers prepared to deliver vital supplies to Fukushima Fifty
Men survive on crackers for breakfast and a can of meat for dinner
Water is so scarce they wash hands in alcohol
They sleep on lead-lined floor just 300 yards from the leaking plant
Masks worn at all times, even to sleep
Men's bedtime ritual is a synchronised clap and shout of 'Let's do our best'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...p-food-water-battle-Japan-nuclear-crisis.html

Bless their efforts... this makes my full stomach hurt.

 

[not_my_kids]

Radiation threat low as Japan tries to stabilise nuclear plant
(This is the headline, but...)
Work is continuing in Japan to bring its shattered nuclear reactors fully under control as levels of radioactive iodine reach their highest point yet.
(This is the first line of the article. WTH???)
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/201103/s3178543.htm

 

[not_my_kids]

Desperate conditions of the Fukushima Fifty: How Japan's selfless heroes shun sleep, food and water as they battle to tame the nuclear monster

Quote:
Few drivers prepared to deliver vital supplies to Fukushima Fifty
Men survive on crackers for breakfast and a can of meat for dinner
Water is so scarce they wash hands in alcohol
They sleep on lead-lined floor just 300 yards from the leaking plant
Masks worn at all times, even to sleep
Men's bedtime ritual is a synchronised clap and shout of 'Let's do our best'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...p-food-water-battle-Japan-nuclear-crisis.html

Bless their efforts... this makes my full stomach hurt.

I ordered pizza for dinner and that made me feel like a bad person. God bless these men. Whatever else they may have done in their lives, let them have a place in heaven. They deserve it, they've already been to hell.

 

[scandi]

Fukushima shines light on U.S. problem: 63,000 tons of spent fuel

Excerpt:
"I truly believe we must re-think how we manage spent fuel," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said at a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing Wednesday.

In California, Feinstein said, fuel removed from reactors in 1984 is still held in spent-fuel pools, well beyond the minimum five to seven years required by federal regulators. "It's hard to understand why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not mandated a more rapid transfer of spent fuel to dry casks," Feinstein said.

Currently, there is no maximum time fuel can remain in spent fuel pools, the NRC said Wednesday. As a result, critics say, nuclear plants have made fuel pools the de facto method of storing fuel, crowding pools with dangerous levels of fuel, industry critics say.

and

"At many sites there is nearly 10 times as much irradiated fuel in spent fuel pools as in the reactor core," he said. "The spent fuel pools are not housed in robust concrete containment structures designed to protect the public from the radioactivity they contain. Instead the pools are often housed in buildings with sheet metal siding like that in a Sears storage shed," Lochbaum said.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/30/spent.nuclear.fuel/

I know in Wa State at Hanford, spent fuel is buried in the ground in special boxes.

I think there is only the one nuclear plant operating in the Pacific Northwest, Hanford over in the Tri Cities area {SE Wa}. Trojan in Ranier Oregon was decommissioned in 1993. We mostly use electricity generated by dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. Thank goodness !!!

 

[coastal]

Low levels of radiation found in US milk

Quote: The Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration say that very low levels of radiation have turned up in a sample of milk from Washington state. But federal officials say consumers should not worry.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/03/30/state/n145310D86.DTL&tsp=1

WTF??!