8.9 earthquake and tsunami in Japan!

To put things into perspective a banana is 36 μSv or 3.6 mRem. (I'm not joking. Bananas have potassium in them.) So if you eat 3 bananas in one hour you're getting the same dose that is shown on the highest level in this chart.

:confused3

Now, at the reactor, I understand there was a reading of almost 9000 uSv/hr at one point. (Just for a very brief period, I think.) Anywho, 9000 uSv/hr = 900000 urem/hr = .9 rem/hr. That was serious.


Thank you for making it more clear. I was trying to show that so far, the citizens of Japan haven't been exposed to dangerous radiation levels. I doubt that is true regarding the plant workers, though. As I understand it, the containment shielding on the plant is still intact, so hopefully a Chernobyl-type disaster (where there was no containment structure, period) will not happen, even in the event of a full meltdown.
 
The workers have returned to the plant.

I was just reading about the workers being pulled back, dated today.

--------------------

.."Workers battling to prevent nuclear meltdown at the stricken ***ushima Daiichi plant were evacuated on Wednesday morning after radiation levels became too dangerous for them to remain.

The withdrawal has further hampered efforts to secure safety at the atomic power plant and avert a major radiation leak."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/16/***ushima-workers-evacuate-radiation-spikes

---------------------

Wait. I did read where they are preparing to return.

----------------------

.."Workers withdrawn from the stricken Japanese nuclear complex are preparing to return.

Officials had ordered the workers to withdraw from the nuclear plant earlier on Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors."

http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/environment/2011/03/16/staff_return_to_japan_nuclear_site
 

I was just reading about the workers being pulled back, dated today.

--------------------

.."Workers battling to prevent nuclear meltdown at the stricken ***ushima Daiichi plant were evacuated on Wednesday morning after radiation levels became too dangerous for them to remain.

The withdrawal has further hampered efforts to secure safety at the atomic power plant and avert a major radiation leak."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/16/***ushima-workers-evacuate-radiation-spikes

---------------------

Wait. I did read where they are preparing to return.

----------------------

.."Workers withdrawn from the stricken Japanese nuclear complex are preparing to return.

Officials had ordered the workers to withdraw from the nuclear plant earlier on Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors."

http://latestnews.virginmedia.com/news/environment/2011/03/16/staff_return_to_japan_nuclear_site

Remember the time difference. Wednesday morning there was yesterday here. :)
 
There are currently 180 workers at the plant.
 
Annie, I'm not sure what time zone you're in, but Japan is 14 hours ahead of me. We're in Central Time. I'm assuming the entire country is all the same time zone.
 
My son's school has a trip to Japan planned for next March, I'm really thinking hard about not letting him go, DS still wants to go. The school is still going ahead with plans at this point. We have to commit and start making the payments now so I can't wait to see how things develop in the next year, and a lot of the decision depends on if they can get the reactors stabilised. Would you send your child to Japan next year?
 
My son's school has a trip to Japan planned for next March, I'm really thinking hard about not letting him go, DS still wants to go. The school is still going ahead with plans at this point. We have to commit and start making the payments now so I can't wait to see how things develop in the next year, and a lot of the decision depends on if they can get the reactors stabilised. Would you send your child to Japan next year?

Yes, I would. A year is plenty of time to get those reactors stabilized and shut down - even assuming your son's trip would take him anywhere near that area of Japan.

In a year, Japan will be rebuilding.
 
My son's school has a trip to Japan planned for next March, I'm really thinking hard about not letting him go, DS still wants to go. The school is still going ahead with plans at this point. We have to commit and start making the payments now so I can't wait to see how things develop in the next year, and a lot of the decision depends on if they can get the reactors stabilised. Would you send your child to Japan next year?

If it was somewhere that had been impacted by the earthquake/tsunmai, no, I wouldn't let my child go.
 
My son's school has a trip to Japan planned for next March, I'm really thinking hard about not letting him go, DS still wants to go. The school is still going ahead with plans at this point. We have to commit and start making the payments now so I can't wait to see how things develop in the next year, and a lot of the decision depends on if they can get the reactors stabilised. Would you send your child to Japan next year?

I wonder what information the school has put out since the calamities? It seems like the school would have responded in some way to the current news.

What part of Japan are the students scheduled to visit?

Regardless, I would want more time to see how the current situation unfolds before committing. If I couldn't be afforded the time, I wouldn't commit. I think it would be prudent to wait. That's just me.
 
Nuclear Crisis: Rising Radiation Levels Halt Work at ***ushima Plant
Experts Say Nuclear Emergency Nearing 'Point of no Return'

..."We're very close now to the point of no return," Dr. Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist, said. "It's gotten worse. We're talking about workers coming into the reactor perhaps as a suicide mission and we may have to abandon ship."

A group of 180 workers rotate shifts working at the plant in teams of 50 men. The men have been nicknamed the "***ushima Fifty." ...


..."In another sign of escalating nuclear danger, Cabinet Secretary Edano acknowledged that the containment vessels of some of the reactors are likely damaged. The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum confirmed damage to Units 2 and 3.

The last step in a nuclear meltdown is the breaching of the containment vessels. The fact that at least two containment vessels are damaged makes nuclear experts nervous.

"We have cracks now, cracks in the containment vessels...and if those cracks grow or if there's an explosion, we're talking a full blown Chernobyl, something beyond Chernobyl," Kaku said."...

..."I think the last ace in the hole is the Japanese Air Force, the military at some point may have to take over, may have to bury these reactors in concrete just like we did at Chernobyl, sandbagging the reactor with 5,000 tons of concrete, boric acid and sand," Kaku said."...


http://abcnews.go.com/International...ation-levels-halt-***ushima/story?id=13146516

-----------------------------

It's looking very grim. :(
 
They are saying that there are low levels of radiation being measured in Tokyo which is 220km away. The people in the 30km range are being told to stay inside, I'm wondering how effective that really is, and what the long term effects will be? Won't it irradiate the soil in the area so they can't grow anything for years? It's interesting that US and Canadian officials are recommending that our people stay at least 80km away from the region.
 
VIENNA (AP) -- Radioactive fallout from Japan's crippled nuclear plant has reached Southern California but the first readings are far below levels that could pose a health hazard, a diplomat said Friday.

The diplomat, who has access to radiation tracking by the U.N.'s Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, cited readings from a California-based measuring station of the group.

Initial readings are "about a billion times beneath levels that would be health threatening," the diplomat told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the CTBTO does not make its findings public.
 
Since this thread gets more viewers

Last 45 minutes or so to have Living Social double your Red Cross donation for Japan earthquake/tsunami relief

Visit http://ow.ly/4gCtL & donate $5 to Japan #tsunami relief. Livingsocial will match up to $1MM.
 















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