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No doubt you have come upon this guy on youtube and his views on the current state of affairs in Japan. Man, I hope his slant is all hyperbole because if it isn't we are all at serious risk. I don't care about my wife and I but my 8 year old's future has me thinking about throwing in the towel and getting out of here.

What are you other SJers making of all this?

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You sure it's not Mt Granview?   But.. seriously.. all rather worrying isn't it. My dome idea might not have been practical but why is there not a building covering that thing up?

I'm in the dark too, no idea what you are referring to Chriselle.

I don't spend my time trawling youtube actually.

(Do some people actually do that?)

 

Embed one of the offending vids in here if you can and lets see it.

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Originally Posted By: Karnidge
Why don't you care about yourself and your wife? confused


She's 52 and I'm 45.....cancer in 30 years from a little radiation?? I'd rather concentrate on the risks of my kid getting sick as a young adult.
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Is this "The Best Interview" about Fukushima because the person agrees with what is being said?

You know, we could all perish in some massive earthquake on any given day really couldn't we - unlucky enough if we were - I don't see any reason to start stressing out more than is necessary.

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I haven't listened to it all but the problem with stuff like this is... what do you believe? and why? Is this guy someone who is to be believed? Are some people calling him an over-reacting plonker?

 

It's an annoying situation to be sure but I don't know I want to go fill my heard with very worst case stuff.

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Originally Posted By: big-will
You generally have sounded like you are almost half way out already Chriselle, with your prime Shizuoka location and all this lot.

wink


I sound that way sometimes don't I... but, no it's not all that easy and it is certainly a huge decision to pull up and leave.

I agree that Gundersen seems to be way over the top and has his own agenda but what else is there?? The Japanese are hopeless and fatalistic with everything being "shoganai". Sometimes I feel like we are that frog in the pot of water on the stove slowly building to a boil. Bekkerels and sieverts on every news program,....personal dosimeters, radioactive sludge, having France tell us that tea from here in Shizuoka is contaminated....WTF???

And the elected officials....Just look at the fiasco going on in the parliament and hardly a single citizen saying anything about it....other than grumbling to their spouses during dinner.

It's the apathy that concerns me more than anything.
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Is there any way of knowing that it's not going to be "worse than Chernobyl"? This isn't the only nuclear scientist with concerns. What happens if another series of quakes and tsunamis affects both Fukushima and another NPP at the same time?

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I know where you are coming from Chriselle, but worrying is going to do more damage to you.

Also, You can blame anything on whatever in 30 years time and regret that you didn´t take action. Or you can blame your health on your genes wink

 

I´ll tell you something. When I was a kid, my mom told me to always have an umbrella because there´s radiation if it rains. This is the time there were lots of nuke-test in the pacific.

People don´t talk or are concerned about the radiation here in Germany from Turnoble (it doesn´t disappear just because it was 30 years ago) or from naturally occuring Radon.

Drinking water quality is shit. I can go on and on.

Point I want to make is, we can´t immedately eliminate some of the pollution that has been done. Shi-yo-ga-nai. (meaning no way to do)

What we can do, we ought to do.

On a personal level, you figure it out. Do breathing excersise, eat well. stressfree life, so on...

I just try and take it (pollutants) as it´s building our resistance and immune system. Fine line where it breaks. wink

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A Becquerel is a rate of radioactive decay. One Bq is one nuclear decay per second. The IAEA here: http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html are reporting radioactivity at values ranging from 2.2 to 91 Bq/ m2 for Cs-137.

 

In context, the human body on average emits "4400 becquerels from decaying potassium-40 which is naturally present within the body." Wiki here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becquerel

 

A Sievert is a dose which we receive. From the IAEA:

"Gamma dose rates reported specifically for the monitoring points in the eastern part of Fukushima prefecture, for distances of more than 30 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, showed a general decreasing trend, ranging from 0.1 µSv/h to 17 µSv/h (149 mSv/year), as reported for 31 May." I think they have those numbers the wrong way round.

 

Again, from wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sievert

 

"Average individual background radiation dose: 0.23μSv/h (0.00023mSv/h); 0.17μSv/h for Australians, 0.34μSv/h for Americans

The hourly doses are 1.6μSv/h (0.0016mSv/h, equivalent to 14mSv/year) in the city of Fukushima and 0.062μSv/h (0.000062mSv/h, equivalent to 0.54mSv/year) in Tokyo as of May 25, 2011

 

Dose from background radiation in parts of Iran, India and Europe: 50 mSv/year"

 

In English, if you lived at Fukushima Daiichi, you would be getting about 3 times the dose of people living in parts of Iran, India and Europe.

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Originally Posted By: Ocean11
Is there any way of knowing that it's not going to be "worse than Chernobyl"? This isn't the only nuclear scientist with concerns. What happens if another series of quakes and tsunamis affects both Fukushima and another NPP at the same time?


Then the technical answer is that we are in "deepshit". The probability is very low, but we don't know it, and it can't be calculated.

Life isn't without risk. Thirty nine dead in Gemany from eating organic vegetables. That's 39 more than have died from Fukushima radiation. What happens if there's another outbreak of deadly mutant bacteria?
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Originally Posted By: soubriquet
The probability is very low, but we don't know it, and it can't be calculated.

Life isn't without risk.


Well the probability of what actually happened wasn't taken into account in the design of Fukushima, but nevertheless it happened. And indeed, the probability of further major earthquakes happening is quite high, if the historical record is anything to go by.

This Arnie chap isn't to be trusted as an authority at all, but inasmuch as his message is "it ain't over yet", you must concede, he does have point.

The outcome of the Fukushima thing seems to be hinging on things like workmen making sure they've got their valve handles on the right way. But seeing as Japanese valve handles have markings that are as hard to tell apart as space invaders with their wings up and their wings down, there are going to be mistakes. There will be 'industrial accidents', and nuclear proponents are going to say that they've got nothing to do with radiation. But that won't be strictly true either, just as what Arnie is saying isn't strictly true.

What happens if one of the guys working in Fukushima eats deadly mutant bacteria and has to take a shit right there and everybody starts puking like in Jackass...?
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I'm not an apologist. What happened was a major stuff-up (all organisations do that): a serious management, and closer to my heart an engineering failure. The events were both predictable and solvable. What is clear in hindsight is that the emergency power backup should have been in a bunker. That it didn't happen is a lesson.

 

Must do better. Steam boilers, bridges, aircraft.... the list goes on. Count the bodies, and try harder.

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Well, the wiki level info and the breakdown of the definitions I can reasonably handle...I do have a BSc. in marine biology (water analysis) and organic chem. for whatever that's worth. Actually, Soubriquet, your post is just my point....we shouldn't even be talking about and rationalizing micro and milli sieverts or becquerels per square meters... on a ski forum.

 

I also have little trouble with the "shit happens" theory of life. I've got that one down tight.

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Thanks Chriselle. I'm inclined to trust wiki on the textbook physics, and the IAEA too. It is basic physics and all you need is a tool to go out and measure things. It's a free country and anyone can buy a geiger counter. With the right accreditation (or a good map at night) you could get right up close and check things for yourself.

 

We are a lot closer than you. I'm ignoring the internet on this. My area (Earth science) has enough loons already. I don't need to take on anti-nuclear conspiracists.

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I don't think I'll get too involved in listening to all this. My mind is full enough as it is. Can't understand lots of it either, probably best left. Interesting to read the discussions about it on here though.

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well i'm getting out...

 

mostly because I have a 2 year old and my wife is pregnant.

Even if there is no effect from the radiation it's having to live with the thought of it everytime you go outside.

 

The job i just happened to find is in Hokkaido too. Not sure whether to be sad and angry or happy and excited....

 

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