Nuclear power debate

GWC Community Off-Topic/Other
#181

sorry to bring this thread back. Japanese authorities and the responsible electric company have revealed last month that back when the reactors first failed in march, and they said there was possible partial melt, they actually knew No.1 and No.3 had already melt down.

then yesterday they said No.3 already had a melt through (core melt to the point that nuclear fuel has burnt through the reactor). Though it hasn’t damaged the concrete barrier shell, there is pretty much nothing that can slow down the reaction at this point. So the hope is the water they pump in will keep the concrete barrier from being damaged as well…

who knows, maybe another 3 months later they’d come out and say it already happened, we just didn’t bother to tell y’all again.

#182

In the 3 months since the Tsunami, rougly 6,000 people in the US have died prematurely of causes related to coal pollution and roughly 1,000-1,500 have died in China while coal mining.

#183

sorry to bring this thread back. but after half an year, Japanese government finally divulged more information on the Fukujima incident.

According to the report, the amount of Caesium 137 released by the Fukujima Daiichi Plant incident is 168 times of the the amount released by the Hiroshima nuclear bomb. Half-life of Caesium 137 is about 30 years. In areas where the annual radiation levels are over 200 mSv, it will take 20 years before it is habitable again.

The survey of 2,200 locations—conduced by 400 researchers in June and July—found that 33 of those locations had cesium-137 in excess of 1.48 million becquerels per square meter, the level set by the Soviet Union for forced resettlement after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, Japanese authorities said.

Another 132 locations had a combined amount of cesium-137/134 of more than 555,000 becquerels per square meter, the level at which the Soviet authorities called for voluntary evacuation and imposed a ban on farming.

related report from WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904332804576540131142824362.html

#184

It’s with great sadness that I have post in this thread… new development in the Fukujima Daiichi plant…

New York Times - More Radioactive Water Leaks at Japanese Plant
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/world/asia/more-leaks-from-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-plant.html?ref=science

TOKYO — At least 45 tons of highly radioactive water have leaked from a purification facility at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, and some of it may have reached the Pacific Ocean, the plant’s operator said Sunday.

The company said that the water had about one million times as much radioactive strontium as the maximum safe level set by the government, but appeared to have already been cleaned of radioactive cesium before leaking out. Both elements are readily absorbed by living tissue and can greatly increase the risk of developing cancer.

The Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety in France estimates that between March and mid-July, the amount of radioactive cesium 137 that had leaked into the Pacific from the Fukushima Daiichi plant amounted to 27.1 petabecquerels, the greatest amount known to have been released from a single episode.

#185

Holy Frak, sounds like a never-ending story!