8.8 earthquake hits japan, followed by tsunamis

i like how the first thing they mention on that page is the estimated cost: 310 billion. woop-de-do
 
I thought everyone knew human lives could be quantified in dollars?
 
No doubt. Depends on the human. naturally this will be more expensive than katrina was
 
All workers evacuated from the area around at least one of the reactors(Not sure if entire plant has been evacuated) after radiation levels ten million times above normal were detected in the immediate area.

Fears are now growing that there has been a reactor breach.

Source: Swedish state TV.
 
this has gone from bad to utter worse. i'm willing to bet many more people will move out of Japan and head elsewhere
 
Warped said:
this has gone from bad to utter worse. i'm willing to bet many more people will move out of Japan and head elsewhere
Click to expand...

I find that doubtful, but it depends on how you define "many more", but I don't think that this will drastically increase emigrations rates in Japan.
 
800px-INES_ensvg.png

I just pooped my pants
 
Was it actually upgraded to level 7 or did they recommend it should be? This would put this at the same level as Chernobyl, which most "experts" seemed sure wouldn't happen.
 
Well ****.

Why haven't they solved this problem by now? I was under the impression that everything was under control, at least according to Jap. news sources.
 
Japan has not been entirely forthcoming it seems. TEPCO has had a history of trying to cover up any aberrations in its adherence to safety regulations.
 
They said that the upgrade was not due to any new event or change, but rather due to the level of released radiation that has accumulated over the past few weeks.
 
Well surely they have to strike a balance between informing the public of the radiation levels, but then not telling them just how bad the problem is. Not just the Japanese being informed though, as they would remain cool-headed and disciplined.

It's the idiots in the rest of the world that would start running around screaming like lunatics with panic. ''ZOMFG! ANOTHER CHERNOBYL!...I want super-speed atleast!''
 
The Monkey said:
They said that the upgrade was not due to any new event or change, but rather due to the level of released radiation that has accumulated over the past few weeks.
Click to expand...
Doublespeak. Radiation that's accumulated as a result of nuclear materials melting down.
 
Still, most of Northeast Japan will be a dead zone for a long long time. Unless we create a bacteria or nano-organism that can eat nuclear material
 
NRC, Nuclear Industry, and TEPCO are limiting the flow of information

NRC, Nuclear Industry, and TEPCO are limiting the flow of information
[video=vimeo;22062314]http://vimeo.com/22062314[/video]
 
No Limit said:
Was it actually upgraded to level 7 or did they recommend it should be? This would put this at the same level as Chernobyl, which most "experts" seemed sure wouldn't happen.
Click to expand...

Why does this mean it's "the same level as Chernobyl"? I mean it's technically correct, but what it implies is highly misleading.

Still, most of Northeast Japan will be a dead zone for a long long time.
Click to expand...

Err.. no. The only thing released in any significant amount with a long half-life (30 years) was Cs-137 with an estimated total activity of 6.1 PBq (and this new estimate is the reason why it's now level 7) and Wikipedia shows that 1g of Cs-137 has an activity of 3.215 TBq, letting us easily calculate that around 2kg of Cs-137 was released into the environment and from my understanding most of it into the Pacific Ocean (which happens to be pretty big). The radioactive emissions from a coal fired plant are far greater, one source claiming 3 tons of uranium per year for a coal plant that burns 3 million tons of coal (and that's just uranium, there's also thorium, C-14, K-40, etc) directly into the air. Even if you assume that coal plants have improved that number by 100x since then, it's still a whole lot more. And that's considered normal operation! While of course not directly comparable because concentrations are different, 2kg is just nothing and it won't be long until it's just as diluted. Also about 50x the amount of iodine-131 was released, but that has a half-life of only 8 days.

Jesus Christ, people. This is no doubt a serious accident (by nuclear standards anyway) but so far no one has been exposed to any dangerous levels of radiation, especially no one of the public. And if put into perspective of the scale of the disaster (30.000 dead?) this accident is little more than an inconvenient, expensive mess.
 
alota people are staying in China now some Hotels that have never been fully booked are booked up for the next 2-3 months...Imagine not being able to go back home because of something you can't even see....really sad.
 
PvtRyan said:
Jesus Christ, people. This is no doubt a serious accident (by nuclear standards anyway) but so far no one has been exposed to any dangerous levels of radiation, especially no one of the public. And if put into perspective of the scale of the disaster (30.000 dead?) this accident is little more than an inconvenient, expensive mess.
Click to expand...

To be fair, that megaton of radiation that is seeping from the Nuclear Power Plant (Nuke-ular) is going to be airborne, and it will affect the ocean next to it which could affect the ENTIRE ocean eventually. I say eventually like that because who knows how long that will really take. Regardless, this will make that whole part uninhabitable for quite some time.
 
Shamrock said:
To be fair, that megaton of radiation that is seeping from the Nuclear Power Plant (Nuke-ular) is going to be airborne, and it will affect the ocean next to it which could affect the ENTIRE ocean eventually. I say eventually like that because who knows how long that will really take. Regardless, this will make that whole part uninhabitable for quite some time.
Click to expand...

Uh.. based on what, exactly? There's estimated to be at least 4 billion tons of uranium in the ocean, with a back-of-the-napkin calculation activity of 5 * 10e20 Bq (or 100,000 times as much as what was released by Fukushima and this radiation will persist for billions of years). What exactly do you think 2kg of Cs-137 is gonna do? And let those estimates of Cs-137 to be wrong by three orders of magnitude, it's going to be diluted pretty quickly.

Why do people consider radiation to be some magical force? Not every quantity of it kills or even harms. Inside your body, ~4000 atoms decay every second.
 
So prolonged exposure and ingestion of radioactive particles doesn't increase any risks of cancer?
 
Mogi67 said:
So prolonged exposure and ingestion of radioactive particles doesn't increase any risks of cancer?
Click to expand...

Quantify. How many particles? Mode of decay? Decay speed? The energy of the radiation? Biological half-life of the particle?

You are exposed to radiation every second of your life. You have in you atoms of every common radioactive element, including plutonium from nuclear tests. Like I said, your body has a natural activity of 50 decays per second per liter.

Give me numbers. Talking about radiation without quantifying is utterly useless and only good for fear mongering.
 
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