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Comments · 19
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Before we get up in arms, read up on the science
Before we get up in arms, read up on the science.
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Re:what saved reactor 2's pressure vessel from exp
Leslie Corrice's Hiroshima Syndrome is the best all-round source. Corrice's site is an amazing work, he has collected into one place facts as they became known, and news coverage of the events. He is particularly attuned to distortions, exaggerations and certain scenarios that have been delivered to the press chosen for their dramatic description despite a laughably low probably. And unlike just about everyone else, he strives to segregate his news reporting from his own commentary.
Some no-hype and anti-hype information sources compiled by The Actinide Age,
What actually happened, written clearly by a radiation professional and teacher, Les Corrice
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Re:what saved reactor 2's pressure vessel from exp
Leslie Corrice's Hiroshima Syndrome is the best all-round source. Corrice's site is an amazing work, he has collected into one place facts as they became known, and news coverage of the events. He is particularly attuned to distortions, exaggerations and certain scenarios that have been delivered to the press chosen for their dramatic description despite a laughably low probably. And unlike just about everyone else, he strives to segregate his news reporting from his own commentary.
Some no-hype and anti-hype information sources compiled by The Actinide Age,
What actually happened, written clearly by a radiation professional and teacher, Les Corrice
-
Re:what saved reactor 2's pressure vessel from exp
Leslie Corrice's Hiroshima Syndrome is the best all-round source. Corrice's site is an amazing work, he has collected into one place facts as they became known, and news coverage of the events. He is particularly attuned to distortions, exaggerations and certain scenarios that have been delivered to the press chosen for their dramatic description despite a laughably low probably. And unlike just about everyone else, he strives to segregate his news reporting from his own commentary.
Some no-hype and anti-hype information sources compiled by The Actinide Age,
What actually happened, written clearly by a radiation professional and teacher, Les Corrice
-
Re:what saved reactor 2's pressure vessel from exp
Leslie Corrice's Hiroshima Syndrome is the best all-round source. Corrice's site is an amazing work, he has collected into one place facts as they became known, and news coverage of the events. He is particularly attuned to distortions, exaggerations and certain scenarios that have been delivered to the press chosen for their dramatic description despite a laughably low probably. And unlike just about everyone else, he strives to segregate his news reporting from his own commentary.
Some no-hype and anti-hype information sources compiled by The Actinide Age,
What actually happened, written clearly by a radiation professional and teacher, Les Corrice
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Re:Citation Needed
Of course Nuclear power does not pay for its own catastrophe insurance. That is provided as a hidden subsidy from the state. I live in Japan, and I'm paying the cost of Fukushima in taxes. It bankrupted the power company and the government is now picking up the entire bill, hundreds of billions of dollars, and they dont even know the final cost.
Japan has made mistakes along with any other developed country, but choosing to build out nuclear power was not a mistake. From 1973 onwards these nuclear plants grew to produce ~30% of Japan's electricity overall, and nuclear power made its rapid growth of industry possible. Japan is resource-poor and must import all of its oil and most of its coal. If it were not for nuclear energy you would not see the thriving metropolis today where Japanese-owned businesses manufacture and export. Japan would have been more a people-resource country and foreign corporations would have set up there, owning everything, compensating for the expense of powering those factories in part by granting low wages. Energy IS wealth, and every bit of nuclear energy Japan has produced, along with the energy that did not have to be expended to purchase and import fuel, has made every nuclear plant more precious even than those in the United States. We in the states have always had enough coal whether we use it or not, and coal is what has built our country. Japan has been built (in major part) by nuclear energy. I salute you!
But Japan made a few mistakes with Fukushima. Tragically silly mistakes like putting generators in the basement without water-tight doors, and failing to open the louvers to vent the hydrogen from the buildings which was barely radioactive and would not have harmed anyone.
But the biggest mistake Japan made was giving in to fear and hysteria, and shutting down all nuclear plants in 2012, as if decades of 'free' energy, accident-free operation and prosperity suddenly meant absolutely nothing, and as if Japan's entire nuclear fleet was being and had always been operated by idiots. I think you (collectively) misjudged their character and professional ability and owe them all an apology. In the United States we investigated the causes of Three Mile Island and took steps to ensure scenarios like that would not happen again, but we did not hysterically shut them all down in the following months, though some people wanted to do that. We did not listen to those people, though the US did enter a 'dark age' of madness as nuclear technology has been sidelined,and the delusion that wind and solar could power the world has taken hold. Meanwhile our nuclear plants have been running. Time (and an incredible amount of safe, clean energy) has shown that it was the correct decision. It wasn't even much of a gamble, nuclear energy had already shown itself to be beneficial and well managed.
Japan continues to pay for that mistake, importing around ¥3.8-4 trillion ($40 billion) in fuel to make up for the idle nuclear plants in addition to the amount being spent to clean up and the not so small amounts being directly paid to evacuees of Fukushima Prefecture. Time alone and a great deal of post-accident analysis will tell whether those evacuations were really necessary, and whether compensating 'radiation refugees' to an incredibly greater extent than 'tsunami refugees' was a wise decision. I'm not trying to be condescending in pointing these things out, it's just that they are crucial in coming to grips with the tragedy. I believe Japan has acted in hysteria and the risks of nuclear energy have been grossly overstated by the press. It has been a time of madness! That is true in Japan as it is in the United States.
Please check out the writings of Leslie Corrice at Hiroshima Syndrome . I would have chosen a different name for the site but no matter, the man is a brilliant writ
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Re:Fukushima was NOT WORTH IT
Why do you think that TEPCO worked so hard to remove the fuel rods from the structure that is failing. What do you think would happen to plutonium fuel rods in a spent fuel pool without water surrounding them to moderate neutron activity had the structure collapsed?
Nothing spectacular --- MOX or no MOX.
Circumstances of Unit #4 fuel pool was the biggest money-making lecture bonanza for Arnie Gundersen and Harvey Wasserman, two disingenuous prophets of nuclear doom whose popularity peaked in 2013. I am sorry to see that your scenario is directly taken from their playbook. Wasserman it was who doubled down on TEPCO's offloading of fuel for his bread and butter, saying âoeWe are now within two months of what may be humankindâ(TM)s most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis.â Even then the experts could see that aside from a few places where debris had fallen into the pool there was nothing even remotely resembling the dangers espoused by these two men. To make matters worse the Japanese press picked up their remarks verbatim without even attempting to verify the physics, then the wussy American press echoed the stories as if their Japanese colleagues were 'reliable sources' and also failed to interview experts. Web sites like enenews serve up this crap again every day as if it's still fresh or has an ounce of merit. That's their bread and butter.
The doomsday scenarios rely on some miraculous condition where all convection was blocked and all bundles are somehow pushed together and reach the 900C-2500C sustained temperatures required for ignition and meltdown. It is like announcing that a wildfire is likely to melt a steel building and having the newspapers pick up the story.
Leslie Corrice documented the unfounded hysteria centered on #4 In almost any other branch of science there would have been an immediate and severe blowback of ridicule, but in matters pertaining to nuclear energy the press seems to feel there is no such things as journalist 'thin ice'. Doom porn sells.
it would be, IN FACT, an extinction level event
So ease your worries. Give TEPCO a pat on the back for a successful and uneventful fuel offload. If you were so worried about this why cannot we hear the jubilation in your voice?
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Re:Yes. Shit.
sites like Enenews have been reporting how all the underground water has been polluted near Fukushima.
Web sites like Enenews are full of shit.
That's saying a lot. Even shit is not really full of shit, it is mostly comprised of (wholesome, drinkable) water. With Science and Special Equipment we can separate the shit particles from the water, but only a fool would attempt this with a inappropriately configured or blunt instrument like the human tongue.
Reading Enenews for information on Fukushima or nuclear topics in general is like trying to separate out shit with your tongue. It may be possible to do it on small scale, since there are bits of fact scattered around there, but when all is said and done you wind up with a mouth full of shit.
It doesn't take a lot of shit to create a world of shit, since we have a low tolerance for knowingly eating shit. People who believe that the whole world is turning to shit enjoy reading Enenews because it gives them a delicious sense of hopelessness, and even the most secular will find there a yummy stew of End Times Crap, Brought To You By Science! (tm) that they can savor without buying into the whole god-thing.
If you ever tire of the shit, visit Hiroshima Syndrome where Leslie Corrice has gathered an amazing amount of Fukushima information from the early days of the disaster. He also calls out the shit that has appeared in news sources through the world, and does it with an amazing amount of diligence and patience. I read the whole damned site and sent him a couple of contributions because his willingness to sift through shit is a noble endeavor worthy of recognition and reward.
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Re:Nuclear Generating Station Shuts Down Safely
The number of Japanese who oppose nuclear power is now in excess of 80%.
It's hard to know without a link, but are you referring to the March 2014 NHK poll where the 80% actually represents those asked if Japan should 'scrap some or all plants', not necessarily abandon nuclear power? Where 37% are 'very concerned' that another Fukushima may happen, but the majority are 50% 'slightly concerned' or 14% 'not concerned'? And when asked whether plants should be restarted, 44% (presumably those 'very concerned' and a few more) said NO, 11% said plants should 'go on-line soon'... and the most astounding figure of all: 44% are 'undecided'.
Let me pause for a moment in earnest admiration of the Japanese people. In the USA it seems we hardly ever admit to being 'undecided' on any hot issue, even in anonymous polls. It's always this-or-that. Or better go with this because we dislike people who like that. Or something like that. To have 44% of Japanese polled choose 'undecided' to me means two things: the issue is in a state of flux, surely... but more impressively, these people must be weighing more than one important factor in their deliberation. Good for them. I honestly hope that in the end they do not follow Germany's knee-jerk lead of economic austerity via energy poverty.
I'm sorry you think I should be ashamed for thinking that the world press should be ashamed of itself. A good resource for tallying shame is Hiroshima Syndrome run by nuke industry veteran Leslie Corrice. Not only has he covered the accident from its first days, he has consistently called out disinformation and unwarranted speculation in the press (Japanese and other) with a fine attention to detail. Also, like any journalist should and usually doesn't, he segregates his editorial opinions from the news. And some of those are eye-opening.
It is widely accepted that Japan could construct nuclear weapons in a matter of a few months at most, and maintains that capability for defence. It allows Japan to remain a non-nuclear state while still giving it the option to acquire nuclear weapons quickly if the situation escalates. Wikipedia has some information for you: Japanese nuclear weapon program: De_facto_nuclear_state
WOW. What a sorry-ass Wikipedia page that is. It really pisses me off. Someone created a page that chronicles the budding nuclear weapons program of the Empire of Japan under Emperor Hirohito while the country was at war. After which there was no real continuity, government or military or otherwise.
To which someone has added a suggestively worded postscript (was that you, Donald Rumsfeld?) that implies that an internationally vetted atoms-for-peace fuel reprocessing program and some HEU for research purposes is practically a dastardly "screwdriver's turn away" from nuclear weapons. The irony of this WikiPropaganda burns, for the construction of at least one reprocessing facility is one of the broken promises my own government had made to the nuclear power industry. I'm glad we did not build one now, or we'd have a footnote like that too.
Let us waste no time here. We must invade Japan and confiscate the screwdrivers.
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Re:Nuclear Generating Station Shuts Down Safely
The number of Japanese who oppose nuclear power is now in excess of 80%.
It's hard to know without a link, but are you referring to the March 2014 NHK poll where the 80% actually represents those asked if Japan should 'scrap some or all plants', not necessarily abandon nuclear power? Where 37% are 'very concerned' that another Fukushima may happen, but the majority are 50% 'slightly concerned' or 14% 'not concerned'? And when asked whether plants should be restarted, 44% (presumably those 'very concerned' and a few more) said NO, 11% said plants should 'go on-line soon'... and the most astounding figure of all: 44% are 'undecided'.
Let me pause for a moment in earnest admiration of the Japanese people. In the USA it seems we hardly ever admit to being 'undecided' on any hot issue, even in anonymous polls. It's always this-or-that. Or better go with this because we dislike people who like that. Or something like that. To have 44% of Japanese polled choose 'undecided' to me means two things: the issue is in a state of flux, surely... but more impressively, these people must be weighing more than one important factor in their deliberation. Good for them. I honestly hope that in the end they do not follow Germany's knee-jerk lead of economic austerity via energy poverty.
I'm sorry you think I should be ashamed for thinking that the world press should be ashamed of itself. A good resource for tallying shame is Hiroshima Syndrome run by nuke industry veteran Leslie Corrice. Not only has he covered the accident from its first days, he has consistently called out disinformation and unwarranted speculation in the press (Japanese and other) with a fine attention to detail. Also, like any journalist should and usually doesn't, he segregates his editorial opinions from the news. And some of those are eye-opening.
It is widely accepted that Japan could construct nuclear weapons in a matter of a few months at most, and maintains that capability for defence. It allows Japan to remain a non-nuclear state while still giving it the option to acquire nuclear weapons quickly if the situation escalates. Wikipedia has some information for you: Japanese nuclear weapon program: De_facto_nuclear_state
WOW. What a sorry-ass Wikipedia page that is. It really pisses me off. Someone created a page that chronicles the budding nuclear weapons program of the Empire of Japan under Emperor Hirohito while the country was at war. After which there was no real continuity, government or military or otherwise.
To which someone has added a suggestively worded postscript (was that you, Donald Rumsfeld?) that implies that an internationally vetted atoms-for-peace fuel reprocessing program and some HEU for research purposes is practically a dastardly "screwdriver's turn away" from nuclear weapons. The irony of this WikiPropaganda burns, for the construction of at least one reprocessing facility is one of the broken promises my own government had made to the nuclear power industry. I'm glad we did not build one now, or we'd have a footnote like that too.
Let us waste no time here. We must invade Japan and confiscate the screwdrivers.
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Re:Nuclear Generating Station Shuts Down Safely
The number of Japanese who oppose nuclear power is now in excess of 80%.
It's hard to know without a link, but are you referring to the March 2014 NHK poll where the 80% actually represents those asked if Japan should 'scrap some or all plants', not necessarily abandon nuclear power? Where 37% are 'very concerned' that another Fukushima may happen, but the majority are 50% 'slightly concerned' or 14% 'not concerned'? And when asked whether plants should be restarted, 44% (presumably those 'very concerned' and a few more) said NO, 11% said plants should 'go on-line soon'... and the most astounding figure of all: 44% are 'undecided'.
Let me pause for a moment in earnest admiration of the Japanese people. In the USA it seems we hardly ever admit to being 'undecided' on any hot issue, even in anonymous polls. It's always this-or-that. Or better go with this because we dislike people who like that. Or something like that. To have 44% of Japanese polled choose 'undecided' to me means two things: the issue is in a state of flux, surely... but more impressively, these people must be weighing more than one important factor in their deliberation. Good for them. I honestly hope that in the end they do not follow Germany's knee-jerk lead of economic austerity via energy poverty.
I'm sorry you think I should be ashamed for thinking that the world press should be ashamed of itself. A good resource for tallying shame is Hiroshima Syndrome run by nuke industry veteran Leslie Corrice. Not only has he covered the accident from its first days, he has consistently called out disinformation and unwarranted speculation in the press (Japanese and other) with a fine attention to detail. Also, like any journalist should and usually doesn't, he segregates his editorial opinions from the news. And some of those are eye-opening.
It is widely accepted that Japan could construct nuclear weapons in a matter of a few months at most, and maintains that capability for defence. It allows Japan to remain a non-nuclear state while still giving it the option to acquire nuclear weapons quickly if the situation escalates. Wikipedia has some information for you: Japanese nuclear weapon program: De_facto_nuclear_state
WOW. What a sorry-ass Wikipedia page that is. It really pisses me off. Someone created a page that chronicles the budding nuclear weapons program of the Empire of Japan under Emperor Hirohito while the country was at war. After which there was no real continuity, government or military or otherwise.
To which someone has added a suggestively worded postscript (was that you, Donald Rumsfeld?) that implies that an internationally vetted atoms-for-peace fuel reprocessing program and some HEU for research purposes is practically a dastardly "screwdriver's turn away" from nuclear weapons. The irony of this WikiPropaganda burns, for the construction of at least one reprocessing facility is one of the broken promises my own government had made to the nuclear power industry. I'm glad we did not build one now, or we'd have a footnote like that too.
Let us waste no time here. We must invade Japan and confiscate the screwdrivers.
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Re:Wrong article title
The title "No Fuel In the Fukushima Reactor #1" is WRONG.
The fuel is still inside the reactor. It is just melted down at the bottom.That is correct. The title is misleading, but summary link text "not in its place" is on the mark. Muon scanning is still in progress. The paper Cosmic Ray Radiography of the Damaged Cores of the Fukushima Reactors [2012] describes the approach in more detail. Most thought the fuel would melt under these conditions but the real question is, has the there been a 'melt-through', where melted fuel escaped the reactor containment vessel, as Chernobyl's did? To make an so-called Elephant's Foot of solidified corium?
Leslie Corrice speculates (section 'c') that the fuel is still in the reactor and has not escaped containment. He uses a line of empirical reasoning based on radiation measurements with a few assumptions about water flow inside the building. We will see if his analysis is correct.
If the melted fuel remains in the Reactor Pressure Vessel and it has not been breached, then this safety measure worked, even if nothing else did.
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Re: Shrug, yawn. Have you read it?
Pressed for time this morning... but may I suggest a commentary and analysis of the failure modes of Fukushima reactors and fuel pool#4?
Fukushima âoeMelt Throughsâ: Fact or Fiction?
Fukushima Unit 4 Spent Fuel Pool
Fukushima Fear Uncertainty and DoubtThe torus is a known weak point in any boiling reactor design. Triple-redundancy is our best approach right now. High pressure operation, what can you do?
Truth is, I never set out to 'defend' light water reactors at all. I got into this to push for a renaissance of molten salt designs. But seeing the level of hysteria and outright disinformation out there, I find myself compelled to speak out on behalf of those who have made this dangerous practice of mixing uranium and water routine and as safe as it can possibly be.
Some inspection at Fukushima has been carried by endoscopy and is still incomplete, but conditions observed do not appear to support full meltdown and especially melt-through. And about pool #4 catching fire... and #3's 'prompt criticality'
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Re: Shrug, yawn. Have you read it?
Pressed for time this morning... but may I suggest a commentary and analysis of the failure modes of Fukushima reactors and fuel pool#4?
Fukushima âoeMelt Throughsâ: Fact or Fiction?
Fukushima Unit 4 Spent Fuel Pool
Fukushima Fear Uncertainty and DoubtThe torus is a known weak point in any boiling reactor design. Triple-redundancy is our best approach right now. High pressure operation, what can you do?
Truth is, I never set out to 'defend' light water reactors at all. I got into this to push for a renaissance of molten salt designs. But seeing the level of hysteria and outright disinformation out there, I find myself compelled to speak out on behalf of those who have made this dangerous practice of mixing uranium and water routine and as safe as it can possibly be.
Some inspection at Fukushima has been carried by endoscopy and is still incomplete, but conditions observed do not appear to support full meltdown and especially melt-through. And about pool #4 catching fire... and #3's 'prompt criticality'
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Re: Shrug, yawn. Have you read it?
Pressed for time this morning... but may I suggest a commentary and analysis of the failure modes of Fukushima reactors and fuel pool#4?
Fukushima âoeMelt Throughsâ: Fact or Fiction?
Fukushima Unit 4 Spent Fuel Pool
Fukushima Fear Uncertainty and DoubtThe torus is a known weak point in any boiling reactor design. Triple-redundancy is our best approach right now. High pressure operation, what can you do?
Truth is, I never set out to 'defend' light water reactors at all. I got into this to push for a renaissance of molten salt designs. But seeing the level of hysteria and outright disinformation out there, I find myself compelled to speak out on behalf of those who have made this dangerous practice of mixing uranium and water routine and as safe as it can possibly be.
Some inspection at Fukushima has been carried by endoscopy and is still incomplete, but conditions observed do not appear to support full meltdown and especially melt-through. And about pool #4 catching fire... and #3's 'prompt criticality'
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Re:Typical Western journalism
To the Japanese, having something productive to do - kameseru - is as important as breathing.
THANK YOU for adding some interesting vox punctus contra punctum to the steady throb of exploitation exposé. Appreciation of pure kameseru does exist in Western cultures as well, though we try to balance it with a certain measure of laziness that varies with the individual.
Disaster cleanup is noble work what ever the hazards, compensation or conditions.
Here's hoping that with the intense scrutiny that this operation is under, the loosened purse-strings towards refugees (see the October 30 entry) and a sense of parity will ensure that those who participate will find suitable recompense.
And no, this is not what I had in mind.
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Fukushima NO-HYPE information sources
I am held AGHAST by the biblical-level hysteria that is circulating about Fukushima these days. It is being served up and replicated with the relish of the street-corner preacher with an end-of-world sign. Every die-off of fish is related (ignore the Atlantic), the melting starfish (never mind it's happening worldwide), from mammals to narwhals there is some serious confirmation bias being stirred.
The computer model plume of currents has DEATH arriving at the United States West coast; mere detection of miniscule amounts of Cesium -- which science is capable of to an extraordinary level of precision -- is being fronted as a radioactive death sentence.
There seems to be no deference to expert or even medical opinion on true risk factors; and in the tired vein of disaster porn, any appeals to consider such generates a (predictable) backlash of conspiracy coverup allegations. At times it is literally a no-think zone.
Radioactivity is the new whipping boy of disaster porn.
NO-HYPE Fukushima information:
Fukushima Accident Updates. Leslie Corrice has done an excellent job chronicling the accident from 2011. Following the latest posting thread backwards in time (some 60 pages so far) is a detailed account you will find nowhere else.
Fukushima Accident Commentary Leslie Corrice again, exhibiting a level of journalistic integrity that is fast-fading on today's news and Internet sources, has maintained a separate thread of personal opinion and commentary. It is as fascinating a read as the last, here you will find topics of politics, culture and status and observation of the Fukushima victims' compensation fund and resettlement.
Nuclear Industry source: Nuclear Street tag: Fukushima
Rod Adams' Atomic Power Review has scaled down its Fukushima coverage as of late, but in the archives you will find some detailed articles with week-by-week coverage.
Do add more!
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Fukushima NO-HYPE information sources
I am held AGHAST by the biblical-level hysteria that is circulating about Fukushima these days. It is being served up and replicated with the relish of the street-corner preacher with an end-of-world sign. Every die-off of fish is related (ignore the Atlantic), the melting starfish (never mind it's happening worldwide), from mammals to narwhals there is some serious confirmation bias being stirred.
The computer model plume of currents has DEATH arriving at the United States West coast; mere detection of miniscule amounts of Cesium -- which science is capable of to an extraordinary level of precision -- is being fronted as a radioactive death sentence.
There seems to be no deference to expert or even medical opinion on true risk factors; and in the tired vein of disaster porn, any appeals to consider such generates a (predictable) backlash of conspiracy coverup allegations. At times it is literally a no-think zone.
Radioactivity is the new whipping boy of disaster porn.
NO-HYPE Fukushima information:
Fukushima Accident Updates. Leslie Corrice has done an excellent job chronicling the accident from 2011. Following the latest posting thread backwards in time (some 60 pages so far) is a detailed account you will find nowhere else.
Fukushima Accident Commentary Leslie Corrice again, exhibiting a level of journalistic integrity that is fast-fading on today's news and Internet sources, has maintained a separate thread of personal opinion and commentary. It is as fascinating a read as the last, here you will find topics of politics, culture and status and observation of the Fukushima victims' compensation fund and resettlement.
Nuclear Industry source: Nuclear Street tag: Fukushima
Rod Adams' Atomic Power Review has scaled down its Fukushima coverage as of late, but in the archives you will find some detailed articles with week-by-week coverage.
Do add more!
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Re:OPT OUT
Thanks for the info. I find that I need to look into it more. For a long time I have thought it was about cummulative dosage.
Here is an interesting link which seems to have some merit, but I am no expert. I also am not an anti-nuclear person per se.
http://www.hiroshimasyndrome.com/radiation-the-no-safe-level-myth.html
Of course there are still a couple situation which could be problematic. Folks with faulty DNA repair coupled with malfunctioning or mis-calibrated machines. There have been cases of bad consequences in the past with defective machines causing severe damage and even death.
I suppose I don't understand the need for ionizing radiation scanners when 1mm scanners do not damage DNA. Why are we deploying them?