Why You Can Stop Worrying About the Japan Nuclear Reactors

[theogt]

Viewpoint: We should stop running away from radiation
By Wade Allison
University of Oxford

More than 10,000 people have died in the Japanese tsunami and the survivors are cold and hungry. But the media concentrate on nuclear radiation from which no-one has died - and is unlikely to.

Modern reactors are better designed than those at ***ushima - tomorrow's may be better still Nuclear radiation at very high levels is dangerous, but the scale of concern that it evokes is misplaced. Nuclear technology cures countless cancer patients every day - and a radiation dose given for radiotherapy in hospital is no different in principle to a similar dose received in the environment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12860842

 

[SaltwaterServr]

Viewpoint: We should stop running away from radiation
By Wade Allison
University of Oxford

More than 10,000 people have died in the Japanese tsunami and the survivors are cold and hungry. But the media concentrate on nuclear radiation from which no-one has died - and is unlikely to.

Modern reactors are better designed than those at ***ushima - tomorrow's may be better still Nuclear radiation at very high levels is dangerous, but the scale of concern that it evokes is misplaced. Nuclear technology cures countless cancer patients every day - and a radiation dose given for radiotherapy in hospital is no different in principle to a similar dose received in the environment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12860842

 

[YosemiteSam]

When did death become the only measure of destruction?

I guess you've always got people really to slam down the panic button, but then you also got people who like to act like nothing is wrong too. There is a middle ground and that is where this event sits.

To say there were "only 28 deaths" at Chernobyl is not telling the whole story. Chernobyl's effects may have only 28 confirmed deaths (which is a lot), but the destruction at Chernobyl was far beyond 28 deaths. It was a major catastrophe. To act as if it wasn't shows ignorance.

The biggest problem I have this the article Theo posted is not the fact that it's true, but the fact that the incident at ***ushima isn't over yet. What is true today might not be true tomorrow. ***ushima's effects thus far are relatively minimal, (though it is far worse than TMI) but until everything is contained. That can change.

 

[burmafrd]

true its not over. But if you had believed what the media was peddling we would all be dead by now.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

[youtube]3973tfsllqw[/youtube]

[youtube]1m-DYM7JvMA[/youtube]

 

[Khartun]

[youtube]1m-DYM7JvMA[/youtube]

not as cool as yours but fitting

[youtube]2XYAwpVtYrE[/youtube]

 

[SaltwaterServr]

bump since we're all supposed to be cooked by now.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

bump since we're all supposed to be cooked by now.

I love extremes on both sides. Makes the world a better place.

 

[CowboyDan]

Hate to buck the title of this thread but...............

Nuclear disaster now on par with Chernobyl
Japan has raised the severity level of its nuclear crisis to seven to put it on a par with the Chernobyl accident 25 years ago as engineers battled a fire at the ***ushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Meanwhile, another major aftershock rocked eastern Japan today, swaying buildings in central Tokyo and closing runways at Narita Airport.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told national broadcaster NHK that it raised the crisis level to seven as the damaged facilities at the plant were continuing to release large amounts of radioactive substances.
Engineers were fighting a fire at Japan's crippled nuclear plant today as another major aftershock rocked eastern Japan, swaying buildings in central Tokyo and closing Narita airport runways.
Japan is considering raising the severity level of its nuclear crisis to put it on a par with the Chernobyl accident 25 years ago, the worst atomic power disaster in history, Kyodo news agency reported.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/nuclear-disaster-now-on-par-with-chernobyl-20110412-1dbpa.html

 

[theogt]

Where the stories of sickness and death?

Oh, right, there aren't any.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Hate to buck the title of this thread but...............

Nuclear disaster now on par with Chernobyl
Japan has raised the severity level of its nuclear crisis to seven to put it on a par with the Chernobyl accident 25 years ago as engineers battled a fire at the ***ushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Meanwhile, another major aftershock rocked eastern Japan today, swaying buildings in central Tokyo and closing runways at Narita Airport.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told national broadcaster NHK that it raised the crisis level to seven as the damaged facilities at the plant were continuing to release large amounts of radioactive substances.
Engineers were fighting a fire at Japan's crippled nuclear plant today as another major aftershock rocked eastern Japan, swaying buildings in central Tokyo and closing Narita airport runways.
Japan is considering raising the severity level of its nuclear crisis to put it on a par with the Chernobyl accident 25 years ago, the worst atomic power disaster in history, Kyodo news agency reported.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/nuclear-disaster-now-on-par-with-chernobyl-20110412-1dbpa.html

It might be on the same level (7) as Chernobyl, but this one didn't explode blowing massive amounts of radioactive mass into the air in one fail swoop.

While they carry the same 7 rating, it's not quite the same. (so far anyhow) Seven is the maximum. All the reactors could explode blowing tons and tons of radioactive material into the sky and it wouldn't change the rating.

 

[CowboyDan]

Where the stories of sickness and death?

Oh, right, there aren't any.

How soon after Chernobyl did the sickness and deaths start? According to what I could find, the reports started about a month after the accident, except for those who were killed in the initial explosion. Today is exactly 1 month after the accident in Japan.

 

[CowboyDan]

It might be on the same level (7) as Chernobyl, but this one didn't explode blowing massive amounts of radioactive mass into the air in one fail swoop.

While they carry the same 7 rating, it's not quite the same. (so far anyhow) Seven is the maximum. All the reactors could explode blowing tons and tons of radioactive material into the sky and it wouldn't change the rating.

I'm not arguing that they're the same type of accident, but I don't feel any better about it either. The rating is given based on radiation release (if I'm reading correctly) and :

Kyodo said the government's Nuclear Safety Commission had estimated that at one stage the amount of radioactive material released from the reactors in northern Japan had reached 10,000 terabequerels per hour of radioactive iodine 131 for several hours, which would classify the incident as a major accident according to the INES scale.

Sounds pretty bad to me. Here's how it compares to Chernobyl.....

In the 10 days it burned, Chernobyl put out 1.76 × 1018 becquerels of iodine-131, which amounts to only 50 per cent more per day than has been calculated for ***ushima Daiichi....
Similarly, says [Gerhard Wotawa of Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics in Vienna], caesium-137 emissions are on the same order of magnitude as at Chernobyl. The Sacramento readings suggest it has emitted 5 × 1015 becquerels of caesium-137 per day; Chernobyl put out 8.5 × 1016 in total – around 70 per cent more per day.
​

1.76 × 1018 becquerels of radioactive iodine over 10 days equals 7.33 × 1015 becquerels per hour during the fire at Chernobyl.

Similarly, 8.5 × 1016 becquerels of radioactive cesium over 10 days equals 3.54 × 1014 becquerels per hour during the fire at Chernobyl.

Both Chernobyl and ***ushima have also released radioactive strontium, called strontium 90. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates:

As a result of the Chernobyl accident, approximately 216,000 curies of Sr-90 were released into the atmosphere.​

This is the amount released over the entire time the Chernobyl reactor leaked. 216,000 curies equals 7.992 × 1015 becquerels. Being conservative, and assuming that all of the strontium was released during the initial 10-day fire, results in an hourly strontium release of 3.33 × 1013 of becquerels of strontium 90 per hour.

7.33 × 1015 plus 3.54 × 1014 plus 3.33 × 1013 equals 7,717,300,000,000,000. In other words, Chernyobyl put out an average of 7.717 times 1015 becquerels per hour of radioactive iodine and cesium during the fire.

In contrast, ***ushima put out 10,000 terabecquerels per hour of radioactivity for at least a couple of hours. 10,000 terabecquerels equals 1 x 1016 becquerels, more than Chernobyl.

The above back-of-the-envelope calculation is not definitive, because there were some other (although less important) radioactive materials were also released from Chernobyl, and because the Japanese government has not released enough information to make a definitive comparison.

But the bottom line is that - as even the Japanese government is now reluctantly being forced to admit - the amount of radioactivity being released from ***ushima appears to rival Chernobyl.

 

[Doomsday101]

Where the stories of sickness and death?

Oh, right, there aren't any.

That comes later. I don't think this issue is something that should halt nuclear power but it is a problem and it is something Japan is very worried about as they should be.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I do find it funny when some consider death the only measuring stick for a disaster.

• Japan losing up to 29,891 GW·h of power a year isn't a big deal right?
• Due to the power lost, Japan's need for fossil fuels will increase to meet power demands
• Radioactive materials released will effect both land based and sea food resources.
• The radioactive materials released will effect both land and sea creatures. Yes, including humans (sickness, death, and deformities)
• A power planet that surely cost several billion dollars to build is now worthless and will require probably a billion+ dollars to maintain for the next 30 years due to the disaster.
• 130,000 people displaced from their homes. (all the infrastructure build in that area is effectively useless. (another billion+ at least down the tubes)
• The exclusion zone (Japan's not US) is about 20 miles from the site. That makes for about 400 square miles in an exclusion zone. (area of the sea included)

To act as if it's not a big deal shows ignorance what the real damage being caused is. This type of disaster isn't a simple gas explosion. The damage is extremely complex, expensive to clean up, and very long lasting.

 

[Concord]

To act as if it's not a big deal shows ignorance what the real damage being caused is. This type of disaster isn't a simple gas explosion. The damage is extremely complex, expensive to clean up, and very long lasting.

It's beyond ignorance ...it's just plain stupidity.

 

[Concord]

How soon after Chernobyl did the sickness and deaths start? According to what I could find, the reports started about a month after the accident, except for those who were killed in the initial explosion. Today is exactly 1 month after the accident in Japan.

The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986

Shortly after the accident, firefighters arrived to try to extinguish the fires. First on the scene was a Chernobyl Power Station firefighter brigade under the command of Lieutenant Volodymyr Pravik, who died on 9 May 1986 of acute radiation sickness

13 Days later was the first death.

Chernobyl was more severe obviously at the start and they sent those guys in with no protection...but there it is.

 

[zrinkill]

This is a really big deal ........


for Japan

 

[CowboyDan]

This is a really big deal ........


for Japan

Actually, it's effects are already being felt all over the world. One example is the cost of raw materials for telecommunications wire is climbing drastically because that area of Japan is a world leader in production of those raw materials. It's a global economy. Things like this have far reaching effects.

 

[zrinkill]

Actually, it's effects are already being felt all over the world. One example is the cost of raw materials for telecommunications wire is climbing drastically because that area of Japan is a world leader in production of those raw materials. It's a global economy. Things like this have far reaching effects.

Wait ..... I thought we were worrying about radiation poisoning ...... I had no idea my telecommunication wire was gonna go up in price.

It really is a global disaster.