Japan earthquake + tsunami + nuclear problems

The Finnish sources are also saying that the largest radiation exposure to the workers in Fukushima has been 100 mSv, and that an exposure of under 500 mSv does not cause serious health problems.
 
I don't think the zero bodycount is correct though, I remember one worker being crushed to death because of the explosion or something like that, but yeah, that would make a good headline...
 
Kuko 4000 said:
I don't think the zero bodycount is correct though, I remember one worker being crushed to death because of the explosion or something like that, but yeah, that would make a good headline...
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I've had my ear pretty close to the ground on this and I haven't heard of one casualty yet.

Do you remember where you heard that?
 
Sword_Of_Truth said:
I've had my ear pretty close to the ground on this and I haven't heard of one casualty yet.

Do you remember where you heard that?
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Unfortunately there has been at least one death, two missing and a number of injured:

A seriously injured worker was trapped within Fukushima Daiichi unit 1 in the crane operating console of the exhaust stack and is now confirmed to have died. Four workers were injured by the explosion at the same reactor and have been taken to hospital. A contractor was found unconscious and taken to hospital.

Two workers of a 'cooperative firm' were injured, said Tepco; one with a broken bone. A Tepco employee who was unable to stand and grasping his left chest was taken to hospital.

At Fukushima Daiini unit 3 one worker received a radiation dose of 106 mSv. This is a notable dose, but comparable to levels deemed acceptable in emergency situations by some national nuclear safety regulators.

The whereabout of two Tepco workers remains unknown.
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http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Battle_to_stabilise_earthquake_reactors_1203111.html

Status of the injured
According to the report from TEPCO, the number of the persons injured in the
explosion is eleven (11) as of 16:00.
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http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/files/en20110314-3.pdf
 
Anyway, someone might want to step on over to Greg Laden's blog on Scienceblogs and tell him that he's openly advocating that nuclear reactors defy the laws of physics in order to be safe.
 
Mikemcc said:
Unfortunately there has been at least one death, two missing and a number of injured:
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This is unfortunate. He was a brave man to be up in that crane doing his job.

So the score since the quake is:

Quake & Tsunami: 10,000 to 20,000 and climbing

Coal fired power plants around the world: 1,800 to 5,800 and climbing (depending on wether Lovelock or Next Big Futures numbers are used)

Fukushima Reactor: 1

Anyone still afraid of nuclear power?
 
JihadJane said:
Perhaps "conventional" and "alternative" energy aren't the only choices. There is also the option finding a way of living on the planet that doesn't require using the amount of energy that the transient fossil fuel bonanza has convinced us we need.


!
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Yes, it's called returning to the 18th century, with all the drastically reduced food supply, lifespan, and medicine that implies.

Energy is not just fun and games. It is behind virtually every improvement in human well being in the past 150 years. Despite the problems, it's better than the alternative.
 
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macdoc said:
and this summarizes the 50 year old design performance very well...



If the world had actually pursued nuclear energy we

a) would not be cooking ourselves anywhere near the level we are ( see France )

b) "walk away" reactors would be common place.

c) the nuclear arsenal would be decommissioned in large part....a particularly satisfying swords to plowshares conversion.

But no .....the nimby idjits rule. :mad: ..:garfield:
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What would happen to nuclear energy infrastructure were advanced industrial civilization to become unsustainable and disintegrated?



jayh said:
Yes, it's called returning to the 18th century, with all the drastically reduced food supply, lifespan, and medicine that implies.

Energy is not just fun and games.
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Really, because that was definitely what I was claiming it to be (not)!

It is behind virtually every improvement in human well being in the past 150 years. Despite the problems, it's better than the alternative.
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There is a problem with having too much energy. It allows us to do too much work.


'Head of UN commission warns world is using too much energy and materials to sustain itself'
 
technoextreme said:
Anyway, someone might want to step on over to Greg Laden's blog on Scienceblogs and tell him that he's openly advocating that nuclear reactors defy the laws of physics in order to be safe.
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Wonderful... :rolleyes:

ETA: Good lordy lord! The man is using the New York Daily News as a source in his blog posts! I'm going to see if I can talk some sense into the man (at least I can comment on his blog...)

 
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macdoc said:
and this summarizes the 50 year old design performance very well...

A rational debate would acknowledge that Japan’s largest recorded earthquake produced an incident at a 40-year-old reactor that was ranked at a level less than the Three Mile Island emergency, he said. ”I think the nuclear reactors have come through remarkably well.”
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Menawhile, from the New YorkTimes:

“[US?]Industry executives in touch with their counterparts in Japan Monday night grew increasingly alarmed about the risks posed by the No. 2 reactor.

‘They’re basically in a full-scale panic’ among Japanese power industry managers, said a senior nuclear industry executive. The executive is not involved in managing the response to the reactors’ difficulties but has many contacts in Japan. ‘They’re in total disarray, they don’t know what to do.’”

'3rd Blast Strikes Japan Nuclear Plant as Workers Struggle to Cool Reactor'
 
I just posted this on Greg Laden's latest blog entry on the matter...

Greg, I thought you were a more rational blogger than this; you are inadvertently feeding into the hysteria around this situation with the Fukushima nuclear plants by referencing shoddy media reporting. I suggest you and others here take a look at my blog post on the matter:

Know Nukes: The Japanese Earthquake & Anti-Nuclear Hysteria
http://skepticalteacher.wordpress.c...he-japanese-earthquake-anti-nuclear-hysteria/

Please take some time to read up on information regarding the Fukushima incident from reputable sources that understand the nuclear physics & engineering involved. Otherwise, you are merely feeding the hysteria.
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I hope it helps. Others here should do likewise.

ETA: I also posted a comment in this entry.
 
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I wonder if it would be impossible to move a ship with large pumps alongside the plant and use it to provide cooling water?
 
Two things.
I thought reactor 1 was the only reactor without redundant cooling.
I would have expected Japan to have some sort of robotic apparatus to check on the containment vessels.
 
manofthesea said:
The containment vessel?
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14248009
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You might want to pay particular attention to the last paragraph in that article...
... Detectors showed 11,900 microsieverts of radiation three hours after the blast, up from just 73 microsieverts beforehand, Kinjo said. He said there was no immediate health risk because the higher measurement was less radiation that a person receives from an X-ray. He said experts would worry about health risks if levels exceed 100,000 microsieverts.
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So, while not good news, this certainly isn't horrible news. It's just going to make the cleanup more difficult & expensive.
 
Sword_Of_Truth said:
How's this for a headline:

Fukushima Death Toll Stubbornly Remains at Zero, Anti-Nuclear Lobby Frustrated, but Hopeful
:D
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The harm to the nuclear industry won't be through deaths, it will be through a loss of confidence. People aren't scared of nuclear energy, they're scared of the tsunami after the earthquake that knocks out power to the back-up pumps. They're scared of the operator that runs from his station before turning off the reactor.

Every time the nuclear industry says "Nothing could possibly go wrong" this incident will come up. I don't usually agree with CapelDoger but I think he's correct in his evaluation of what this will do to the industry. Even if no one dies it's going to be a major setback.
 
Question: This has come up in recent comments in other threads, and I am seeking clarification if anyone knows something... the recent higher radiation readings outside (unit 2, I believe) are pretty high, but are those readings consistent or were they just a temporary spike? I had thought that I'd read they were just a spike, but if they are indeed consistently high then it could indeed be a more serious situation than I have previously thought.

Anyone got any news on that particular point? Thanks in advance!
 
3bodyproblem said:
The harm to the nuclear industry won't be through deaths, it will be through a loss of confidence. People aren't scared of nuclear energy, they're scared of the tsunami after the earthquake that knocks out power to the back-up pumps. They're scared of the operator that runs from his station before turning off the reactor.

....
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They're scared of radioactive Plutonium waste with a half-life of 24,000 years. They're scared of environmental contamination. They're scared of cancer that might take years to develop.

And so on.
 
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