Nuclear Meltdown Watch

[crikkett]

"although it has a relatively short half-life of 5.3 days, it remains radioactive for 106 days."

That doesn't even make sense. Perhaps they mean remains detectable? Anyway, with such a short half-life, it's mean life time will be just over a week.

Crikket, the half life means you can expect half of the stuff to have decayed, in this case in 5.3 days, and according to wiki, into caesium 133, not 137. (133Cs is a stable isotope.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon-133

"It is a radionuclide that is inhaled to assess pulmonary function, and to image the lungs. It is also often used to image blood flow, particularly in the brain."

(Wolfram agrees with wiki: xenon_133)

"133 Cs is the only naturally occurring and only stable isotope. It is also produced by nuclear fission. It is also used to define the second."

Heh, from the Global Research article:

"Xenon 135 decays to cesium 135 with an incredibly long half-life of 3 million years. "

Nope, "Caesium-135 [...] is mildly radioactive, undergoing low-energy beta decay to barium-135 with a half-life of 2.3 million years."

Probably why it's mildly radioactive, if it takes that frigging long to decay...

"135Cs's low decay energy, lack of gamma radiation, and long half-life, make this isotope much less hazardous than Cs-137 or Cs-134."

What happened to Global Research?

Thank you, Tazmic.
so what I need to pay attention to is the isotope of xenon... 135 and 133 not so dangerous, 134 and 137 more dangerous.

[eyeno]

I don't remember if I mentioned this or not, but they vented that #3 reactor a week ago. So 7 day travel time is just right on the jet stream clock. Should be here today in sync with the ZAMG simulation.

http://squall.sfsu.edu/scripts/nhemjetstream_model.html

[23]

My apologies if this was posted earlier. I'm ready to do penance, if that's the case.

[eyeno]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 48107.html

Japan's nuclear accident 'beyond belief'

Japan's nuclear experts admitted today that the Fukushima reactor disaster was worse than anything they ever imagined could have happened.

"We have experienced a very huge disaster that has caused very large damage at a nuclear power generation plant on a scale that we had not expected," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of the country's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

And another official with the agency admitted: "There is nothing else we can do but keep doing what we've been doing."

Engineers are struggling to restore electricity to the plant, but getting the power flowing will not be the end of their battle.

With its mangled machinery and partly melted reactor cores, bringing the complex under control is a monstrous job.

Restoring the power to all six units at the tsunami-damaged complex is key, because it will, in theory, power up the maze of motors, valves and switches that help deliver cooling water to the overheated reactor cores and spent fuel pools that are leaking radiation.

Ideally, officials believe it should only take a day to get the complex under control once the cooling system is up and running. In reality, the effort to end the crisis is likely to take weeks.

Conditions at the plant have remained volatile since the earthquake and tsunami wrecked it. Today a plume of smoke rose from two reactor units prompting workers to evacuate.

In another setback, the plant's operator said it had just discovered that some of the cooling system's key pumps at the complex's troubled Unit 2 no longer worked - meaning replacements have to be brought in.

Tokyo Electric Power Company said it had placed emergency orders for new pumps, but how long it would take for them to arrive was unclear.

If officials can get the power turned on, get the replacement pumps working and get enough seawater into the reactors and spent fuel pools, it would only take a day to bring the temperatures back to a safe, cooling stage, officials predicted

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that Units 1, 2 and 3 have all seen damage to their reactor cores, but that containment is intact, relieving concerns about Unit 2, where an explosion damaged a pressure-reducing chamber around the bottom of the reactor core.

Today's evacuation of workers from the plant came after smoke began rising from the spent fuel storage pool of the plant's problem-plagued Unit 3, which also alarmed plant officials over the weekend with a sudden surge of pressure in its reactor core.

What caused the smoke to billow first from Unit 3 and then from Unit 2 is still under investigation, nuclear safety agency officials said.

Problems set off by the disasters have ranged far beyond the shattered northeast coast and the wrecked nuclear plant, handing the government what it has called Japan's worst crisis since the Second World War. Rebuilding may cost as much as 235 billion dollars and the death toll will exceed 18,000.

Traces of radiation are contaminating vegetables and some water supplies, although in amounts the government says do not pose a risk to human health in the short term.

Sale of raw milk, spinach and canola from prefectures over a swathe from the plant toward Tokyo ahve been banned. The government has just started to test fish and shellfish.

"Please do not overreact, and act calmly," Chief Cabinet spokesman Yukio Edano said in the government's latest appeal to ease public concerns. "Even if you eat contaminated vegetables several times, it will not harm your health at all."

The World Health Organization said Japan will have to do more to reassure the public about food safety.

"Walking outside for a day and eating food repeatedly are two different things. This is why they're going to have to take some decisions quickly in Japan to shut down and stop food being used completely from zones which they feel might be affected," a spokesman said.

The troubles at Fukushima have in some ways overshadowed the natural catastrophe, threatening a wider disaster if the plant spews more concentrated forms of radiation than it has so far.

The World Bank said that Japan may need five years to rebuild from the disasters, and the cost to private insurers will be up to 33 billion dollars.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 48107.html

[tazmic]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/japans-nuclear-accident-beyond-belief-2248107.html

Japan's nuclear accident 'beyond belief'

Japan's nuclear experts admitted today that the Fukushima reactor disaster was worse than anything they ever imagined could have happened.

I wonder who copied who? (similar facts and paragraphs, different headline)

"The top US nuclear regulator said the quake and tsunami-ignited Japanese nuclear crisis appeared to be on the verge of stabilising."

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/asia-pacific/2011/03/201132117458723111.html

[eyeno]

I feel pretty certain that we are just listening to the lullabye to keep us ignorant and calm as these suckers melt full down. Its on, it almost has to be.


http://www.zerohedge.com/article/nhk-fi ... decontamin

[The Consul]

Is there anything we can believe, true or false, that will in itself change what is happening? Reality is upon us either way. Hundreds of thousands of people can flee to Osaka. Maybe 120,000 can fly away or hop on a boat. But at what point will other govt's not allow entrance to radioctive passports? The Kantei can do the can-can while limbo-ing under spent fuel rods reciting the kadish backwards and all the experts in the world would disagree on what to make of it.

One of the the guys that flew on the Enola Gay after the war kept committing crimes so as to be punished but the law kept letting him go because he was a hero. Eventually they comitted him to a mental institution and he escaped two or three times. Few wanted to know about it.
Few want to know the truth. It is totally indefensible.

[eyeno]

I cannot imagine that there could be much left to hook generators to electronically speaking. The salt water should have done a pretty good job on that.

[eyeno]

Number 3 is history.


http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BN ... 69333.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/jap ... s_homepage


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2 ... aiich.html

[eyeno]

Holy shit

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/0 ... apan-8780/

[eyeno]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX8ZJbOrMoY

[eyeno]

What do you guys think? Number 3 is over with. I've read enough to believe it. That one reactors is equal to god knows how many. Already tried to broach the subject with my mother about getting ready but it wasn't real because wolf blitzer didn't tell her. Thinking about leaning on her. Talk to me guys. I'm feeling a little tripped out. I don't know if I have looked at this too hard or not hard enough.

I know this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... drugs.html was designed to be sensational but i'm really wondering where this is headed. This thread went quiet and and i feel like its because you guys are maybe like me. Not much else to see because the shit, whatever it is, has hit.

Where is justdrew? Hey drew.

[DoYouEverWonder]

In a report issued nine days before the earthquake and tsunami struck, Japan’s nuclear safety agency criticized Tokyo Electric for repeatedly failing to make inspections of critical equipment, the Associated Press reported Monday. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) cited the company for ignoring inspection schedules and failing to examine 33 pieces of equipment at Fukushima Daiichi, including crucial cooling system parts, emergency diesel generators in unit 3, pumps for reactors in units 1 and 2 and generator equipment for unit 4, AP said. However, nuclear safety officials declined to blame the cited violations for the current crisis.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/japan_earthquake_and_tsunami_caused_up_to_235_billion_in_damages_world_bank_says/2011/03/21/ABtzwn4_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage

[justdrew]

What do you guys think? Number 3 is over with. I've read enough to believe it. That one reactors is equal to god knows how many. Already tried to broach the subject with my mother about getting ready but it wasn't real because wolf blitzer didn't tell her. Thinking about leaning on her. Talk to me guys. I'm feeling a little tripped out. I don't know if I have looked at this too hard or not hard enough.

I know this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... drugs.html was designed to be sensational but i'm really wondering where this is headed. This thread went quiet and and i feel like its because you guys are maybe like me. Not much else to see because the shit, whatever it is, has hit.

Where is justdrew? Hey drew.

I'm just tapped out. I don't get it. This should already be far worse than it is. I don't really understand how it is possible that this is progressing so slowly.

[anothershamus]

This one doesn't make it look too bad.