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Merged nuclear power safe?

I find it amazing, despite the increasingly overwhelming evidence that the media is over-playing this situation for all it's worth, that people are still quoting the media as "evidence" that the situation is bad.

Take this line which a_unique_person bolded:

HARMFUL radiation was spewing from damaged reactors at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant today in a dramatic escalation of the four-day-old catastrophe.
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If we remove the emotive words from this sentence (words that seek to invoke a specific emotional response from the reader, rather than inform) we're left with:

radiation was from damaged reactors at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant today in a of the four-day-old
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Gibberish.

Try use a little critical thinking people. The media want you to think this thing is about to turn into doomsday. Stick with the facts any ignore the despicable hyperbole, it helps no one except the shareholders of these media outlets.

I actually think the media's embarassing treatment of this nuclear story is actually starting to overshadow the scope of the disaster happening in Japan from the earthquake and Tsunami.
 
bobdroege7 said:
This one says 11,900 microsieverts 3 hours after the blast up from 73 microsieverts before the blast.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14248009

The other one you cited said that the 8217 microsieverts was a spike that dropped to about a third of that, but still a steady 2700 microsieverts or so at the plant boundary is bad.
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So, 2700 microsieverts, what does that mean in practice? That people will get sick if they stay there for a while?
 
gumboot said:
I actually think the media's embarassing treatment of this nuclear story is actually starting to overshadow the scope of the disaster happening in Japan from the earthquake and Tsunami.
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Over here, it already has. AFAIK one person has died at the nuclear plant -- not due to radiation, but because he was caught in a crane during one of the aftershocks. Elsewhere in Northern Japan, well over 10000 people are dead, and probably hundreds of thousands if not millions in need of shelter, food, and drinkable water. These are not equally bad. Things in Fukushima still have to take a pretty dramatic turn for the worse before they're even in the same ballpark.
 
TubbaBlubba said:
So, 2700 microsieverts, what does that mean in practice? That people will get sick if they stay there for a while?
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20 millisieverts is what you get in a CT scan. Thousand millisieverts in an hour will make you nauseous, 3 thousand in an hour has a good chance in resulting in your death within a month. 6 thousand millisieverts in an hour will kill you.

(That's from a Finnish-language source.)
 
Any predictions on how this is going to affect further implementation of nuclear?

If it doesn't get implemented on a large scale, I might have to move to a place that already has a lot of nuclear.

And I really, really don't want to move to France.
 
Every source that i have that says radiation 23 times normal links back to that marketwatch article. Can anyone give more info? What does 23 times normal mean? Arent there different types of radiation?
 
TubbaBlubba said:
So, 2700 microsieverts, what does that mean in practice? That people will get sick if they stay there for a while?
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According to Wikipedia the base level for onset of symptoms of Radiation Poisoning is a one-off dose of 1 Sievert (1 million micro sieverts), and a dose of 6+ Sievert will almost certainly be fatal.

However prolonged exposure to doses less than 1 Sievert can result in development of cancer long term.

According to our media, Japanese authorities were cited saying that the base level at which health complications became a concern was 100,000 microsievert per hour. Even peak levels seem to be well below this which suggests there's no serious health risk to the public at this stage.
 
Well the stock markets seem to think that the world is going to end so someone is making money out of the scaremongering. Stocks down 10-15% that have nothing at all to do with Japan, nuclear power, earthquakes or anything else.
 
Eddie Dane said:
Any predictions on how this is going to affect further implementation of nuclear?
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Well, follow this general guideline:

Any good thing or lack of incident involving nuclear has NO effect on its implementation. Any bad thing, whatsoever, results in bad press. That includes an employee farting at the plant.
 
gumboot said:
Take this line which a_unique_person bolded:



If we remove the emotive words from this sentence (words that seek to invoke a specific emotional response from the reader, rather than inform) we're left with:
Click to expand...

That was just a cut and past of information I thought pertinent. The bolding was the headline, which explains the hyperbole, and I didn't intend to include it, my bad. I make no claims as to how correct it is, as I don't think we know exactly what has happened yet.
 
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timhau said:
Over here, it already has. AFAIK one person has died at the nuclear plant -- not due to radiation, but because he was caught in a crane during one of the aftershocks. Elsewhere in Northern Japan, well over 10000 people are dead, and probably hundreds of thousands if not millions in need of shelter, food, and drinkable water. These are not equally bad. Things in Fukushima still have to take a pretty dramatic turn for the worse before they're even in the same ballpark.
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Over here, Hiroshima, updates on the developments at the Fukushima reactors are part of the earthquake related news coverage but these don't have a vastly different status than the other events related to the aftermath. If anything the coverage has been matter of fact and downplayed rather than hyped. An item about the reactor will immediately be followed by an item on interrupted train service and coverage of the rescue efforts mixed with new footage of the earthquake and tsunami as it becomes available. All are reported in the same "tone".
 
Last of the Fraggles said:
Well the stock markets seem to think that the world is going to end so someone is making money out of the scaremongering. Stocks down 10-15% that have nothing at all to do with Japan, nuclear power, earthquakes or anything else.
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That's the stock market for you. Panicking in the morning is a great reason to panic in the afternoon.
 
pipelineaudio said:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tokyo-radiation-levels-23-times-normal-officials-2011-03-15-04540

and already we hear

"this is indeed very bad,,,worse than Chernobyl.A lot worse.One of the most densely populated countries in the world and so far 3 reactors that have blown and another thats on fire."
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*facepalm*

Here's the latest update from the World Nuclear News. Some points of note...

... Radiation levels on the edge of the plant compound briefly spiked at 8217 microsieverts per hour but later fell to about a third that.

In line with the theory that non-condensed gases in the torus will be released fairly promptly and not replenished at the same rate, it is possible that the radiation release - at least via this route - will dimininsh and stabilise.
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And on the issue of containment:

A close watch is being kept on the radiation levels to ascertain the status of containment. As a precaution Tokyo Electric Power Company has evacuated all non-essential personnel from the unit. The company's engineers continue to pump seawater into the reactor pressure vessel in an effort to cool it.

A message recieved from Tepco at about 5pm said the primary containment vessel around the reactor and secondary containment provided by the reactor building "show no significant change."
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And about that fire:

... Kan's spokesman Noriyuki Shikata said that there had been "a sign of leakage" while firefighters were at work, "but we have found out the fuel is not causing the fire." The fire is now reported extinguished. The International Atomic Energy Agency did confirm that the fire had taken place in the used fuel storage pool.
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Concerning evacuation:

Kan has requested that evacuation from a 20 kilometer radius is completed and those between 20-30 kilometers should stay indoors. He said his advice related to the overall picture of safety developments at Fukushima Daiichi, rather than those at any individual reactor unit.

Shikata added that radiation levels near the reactors had reached levels that would affect human health. It is thought that the fire had been the major source of radiation.
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Note that it says "radiation levels near the reactors had reached" (as in, past tense), and the fire is now out.
 
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Eddie Dane said:
Any predictions on how this is going to affect further implementation of nuclear?

If it doesn't get implemented on a large scale, I might have to move to a place that already has a lot of nuclear.

And I really, really don't want to move to France.
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Come to Illinois, USA :)
 
Nuclear Power - Safer than houses. So good infact, that it makes you evacuate your clearly inadequate abode.
 
gumboot said:
According to Wikipedia the base level for onset of symptoms of Radiation Poisoning is a one-off dose of 1 Sievert (1 million micro sieverts), and a dose of 6+ Sievert will almost certainly be fatal.

However prolonged exposure to doses less than 1 Sievert can result in development of cancer long term.

According to our media, Japanese authorities were cited saying that the base level at which health complications became a concern was 100,000 microsievert per hour. Even peak levels seem to be well below this which suggests there's no serious health risk to the public at this stage.
Click to expand...

According to the media here, Japanese Authorities say now the radiation level around the nuclear plants are a health risk.
 
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