Fukushima More Dangerous Than Chernobyl

This is still a big problem. Hell in a handbasket. Earthfiles.com Environment | Part 2:  Fukushima Cesium-137 Danger Is Greater Than Chernobyl

 

Not to be crass, but it will be interesting to compare the damage done from these devastated plants and the Atomic Bombs of 1945, especially long term.

 

Is it the same type of radiation?

 

Id say it is Popcorn.
Hmmm...what are we talking here? Maybe Gamma rays (Look out...dont make me angry! CAC break things!) And Xrays...
The greatest problem is a build-up within the body...
Nice of the Japanese to give us real life studies on such things. Japan should not be using Nuclear power stations given their all over proximity to water and its propensity to earthquakes...what are they thinking? If they made friends with China, they could instead buy their power from them...and have underground cables to Japan. Its a problem of its own making.

 

Dang it. Forgot to refresh screen. My point was pretty much what CAC posted above. Though, I would suggest, if Japan must have nuclear power, that they might want to build their reactors on higher ground.

 

Cesium 137 is the byproduct of a meltdown/ bomb/explosion, or is it the raw material? And it produces gamma rays?.... which created Lou Ferigno?

 

Caesium-137 (

137
55​

Cs, Cs-137), or cesium-137, is a radioactive isotope of caesium which is formed as a fission product by nuclear fission.

There ya go.

 

Poppy,

Cesium 137 is not a naturally occurring element, but a byproduct of fission. So, any operating fission reactor, detonation of a nuclear fission bomb, etc. will produce Cesium 137. An operating nuclear reactor vessel will contain the Cesium 137, however, if that vessel is breached, as with Chernobyl, than the Cesium 137 is released into the atmosphere/environment.

Cesium 137 produces Gamma rays & Beta particles, the Gamma rays being the far worse of the two.


All in all, Fukushima, like Chernobyl, was an entirely preventable accident. There were several studies and reports that pointed out the vulnerability of Fukushima to tsunamis. However, such a large earthquake/tsunami had not occurred in that area since the mid-1890's, and, as such, these reports were summarily dismissed by TEPCO, the owner/operator of the plant.

 

i'M with cac in general...They shouldn't have nuclear for obvious ww2 reasons and protests etc for a start...Its hypocritical to want to make us feel guilt then go off and produce energy the same way... But not withstanding this...Putting your eggs into the China basket is never a good idea...not because they are China just because you should never be reliant on others for dependancy...Russia and gas are the biggest example over this side of world...Britain and France who own Britains energy companies with Germany is another...we will soon live to regret...

 

urqh makes a good point about making Japan rely on China for it's energy.

After all, look what happened in late '41. Japan relied on the US, Britain, and DEI for their oil, and when Japan did some things the US didn't like, the tap was turned off.

We wouldn't want that to happen again now would we...

 

Takao and myself are having a mutual love in...ignore us...But I'm going to agree to a point with him again..

We only have to look at the present US oil embargo...call it what you like an embargo is an embargo...of Irans oil exports is it seems only extended to nations the USA does not seem to like very much...Japan is exempt as are a few other ffriendly nations...Trade...Minerals..hypocracy all go together at times. Although its probably too far to think... Japan would once more extend her reach because of lack of minerals etc...Why shouldn't she...why wouldn't she...if the USA or Britain were to be at risk of going under because of the same reasons...just what does anyone think we would do...We would survive...I'll tell you that much...the cost may not be measured in monetary figures as a priority though.

 

Just a reminder for you/us to think about........all energy sources have risks.......for example......how many coal miners have perished in the mines bringing out the coal for our powerplants-(I might add that polute heavily). Natural gas plants have their fires as well, not to mention the rig accidents. I am going to point out that nuclear plants have a better record even if you put in the failures in other countries. We can do even more than we do now to improve the regulation and safety of nuclear power. I have been against nuclear power for only one reason....we do not really enforce strong regulation of any of our industries as OSHA is very much voluntary compliance until something serious happens. If we got pro active enforcing rules for safety with the regulations I would support Nuclear power. We can do it but we have to lose this "regulating by the government is bad" complex we have always had......then we need to improve government to more effectively regulate instead of following the industry inspired "copout" we follow. I would concede that OSHA(and the nuclear regulating agency) has accomplished a great deal and may only need a small amount of tweaking to make it as effective as it needs to be to handle the nuclear safety issues and there are corporations that have seen the monetary benefits of making safety a first concern so OSHA is not a failure by any means. I am saying we can improve things for all our energy sources but we must have the will to do it. Instead of having that will.....special interest lobbies and "rules" instead, so we get watered down regulations and we walk around echoing their montra----"government regulation is bad".

 

Can Werewolves be far behind?

 

Thanks for the learnin'....The show I saw said the seawall should have been 30 ft rather than 17 around Fukushima. Some guy had dug around where the plant was going to go and found that previous Tsunamis had reached far inland. They ignored his findings. We should have been prepared for the Fukushima tsunami | UNSW Newsroom

 

Please give an example of what is meant by "harmful mutation rate" as I don't know what that means. We have mined uranium here(with accidental spills) and exploded A Bombs---perhaps I am a mutant......but I don't think I am a ninja turtle---as there is but little water around and I know no natural martial arts.....unless word fights count. I don't think I am a werewolf as I don't recall any shapeshifting experiences although there is said to be many "skinwalkers" in my area. Here too, we should have been prepared. Be careful what you say as I am impressionable and may resemble what you describe. Also you may be amused to know that there are some little old ladies who live in my neighborhood who regularly have nursed a captive surviving group of wolves kept nearby for science purposes that I hope to not frighten with my lineage you may be now exposing.

 

There is one more thing to keep in mind here, the Chernobyl plant was a light water, LEU system (2% U-235), as were three of the four reactors at Fukushima. The one nobody seems to be mentioning much is that reactor #3 was a MOX plant using a plutonium mixed with uranium fuel. I think it had only been in place since September of the year previous to the tsunami. This is some particularly nasty stuff, and is said to be 2 million (?) times more toxic than low enriched uranium 235. Just a thought.

 

Proximity to water for cooling systems? Take a look at how many nuclear stations around the world are next to water...whether rivers or the sea.

And of course....if something SHOULD happen - well, they're on the coast...only HALF of the circle around them is going to be contaminated land!

China isn't that well off power-wise, there are still regular cuts and brown outs in many areas apparently, due to the huge increasing demands of the mega-cities like Shanghai, and China's ballooning and energy-hungry industrial sector.

 

I saw a show on PBS (Nova to be exact) which referred to a city in Japan that had a 30 foot tsunami wall. They got hit with a 30 food wave which easily topped the wall and destroyed the town. They had not anticipated that the earthquake would cause the city and it's protective wall to drop 3 feet in elevation.