Fukushima Technical Discussion

[Pup]

Perspective isn't what manchild is interested in.

[autogyro]

The truth is also not what some on this thread are interested in either.

[manchild]

The Irish Times - Thursday, March 24, 2011

Japan reactor leaks at faster rate than Chernobyl

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/wor ... 56578.html

update: Nuclear expert: Hubris led to disaster http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201103250201.html

[WhiteBlue]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho-8e-lU0XA[/youtube]

video from a military helicopter overflight at Fukushima



In a screen shot at 2:56 of th video you can see that the containment is broken in over the reactor vessel. This one is a broken and probably melted reactor because it is directly above the reactor core.

Shots into various buildings show that the fuel pools have disintegrated.

[forty-two]

And yet, this story is barely making the headlines on the evening news here in the UK.

I understand that the news media need to be careful to avoid panic, but this is the biggest nuclear incident since Chernobyl (in fact it's arguably bigger as this involves up to six reactors although the REPORTED fallout from this event is so far apparently lower than Chernobyl).

[manchild]

And yet, this story is barely making the headlines on the evening news here in the UK.

I understand that the news media need to be careful to avoid panic, but this is the biggest nuclear incident since Chernobyl (in fact it's arguably bigger as this involves up to six reactors although the REPORTED fallout from this event is so far apparently lower than Chernobyl).

Agreed. I'm reading news on global level, following them on newsnow news link portal, and it is more than obvious that UK media have an agenda, a supreme order to misinform UK public because of UK's big nuclear plans. They are much worse than certain USA pro-nuclear media. Utter propaganda. When you compare daily news about Fukushima from UK media with reports from other European media, worldwide media too, you get impression that UK is located on a different planet.

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Hot+Topics/J ... ear+Crisis

[autogyro]

No matter how bad this disaster is, I do agree that the news media should restrict the coverage under government suggestion, so as to avoid a panic.
This is one of the responsibilites of government.
There is a time however when the truth should be given to the public, either if the disaster requires action by everyone or when the danger is past.

[manchild]

Coventry rings a bell?

It wasn't about preventing panic, but for the sake of government's goal. Not Churchill's home town, not the capital, not that important because the nobility lived in the countryside or moved north. Working class and middle-class victims, well they aren't blue-blooded, they often complain and go on strike, so it wouldn't be much of a loss.

Identical principle, identical way of thinking.

Currently for the sake of preservation of plans for UK nuclear program. That is protection of big capital interests. Not pro-people, but pro-establishment, politicians, corporations etc.

It is so easy for some people to make "sacrifices" for the bigger goal, by hiding their own asses and exposing heads of others. When s hits the fan, they jump in planes and find another location. No one mentioned it, but I'm certain that Japanese richest people have moved their families and themselves from Japan on day one.

Fortunately, there are other influential countries like Germany, without nuclear agenda above all, with much more independent politicians, unlike UK's puppets on US string.


Finished with rant.

Ready to face giant poop from Pup (and quite possibly someone else).

[forty-two]

Iodine 131 detected in "miniscule" amounts in Glasgow in Scotland:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-g ... t-12892383

Sky news reports that the same radionuclide has also been detected in "small quantities" in "Oxfordshire", presumably Harwell, but BBC news is yet to post anything about this on it's news website.

[forty-two]

No matter how bad this disaster is, I do agree that the news media should restrict the coverage under government suggestion, [/quote]

Really? Sounds a LOT like censorship to me.

Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly expect the "authorities" would keep a looming global disaster such as a moon sized meteorite heading for earth, or a funamental failure of gravity as we know it, or our sun going supernova a secret, on the basis that there's nothing anyone can do about it, but that in itself doesn't make it right. I for one do not like the supposedly free press being controlled in such a way.

Taking it to extremes, if for example, life as we know it only had seventeen minutes to go, there's quite a few things I've never tried which I might in those final moments!

What is telling though is that the BBC news website homepage does not mention Japan at all (humanitarian disaster or otherwise) in any of it's headline stories, but the "Most Read" section (which you have to scroll down to see and then click "Read" before you can see it) has "Fukushima Radiation Found in UK" as the No.1 most read story.

I found the following entry quite interesting. I don't know anything of the background of the author so it might well be bunkum, but it all sounds fairly logical to me:
http://dashes.com/anil/2011/03/tmi-fear ... il+Dash%29

[Richard]

Possibly because the UK media has other things more directly related to its readers at the moment?

Japan dominated the headlines for 10 days or so, it only dropped from number 1 when UK forces intervened in Libya.

A story can only capture people's attention for a certain length of time and there are other important stories that also need airtime.

It's not exactly news to report the same thing every day is it?

edit to add:

It is still mentioned on the front of the websites for BBC News, Sky News, Times, Guardian. Similar prominence on CNN, NY Times, Le Figaro

More prominent on Le Monde, Spiegel & South China Morning Post (HK)

A we're-all-doomed headline dominates Fox News

The Age (Australia) only front page feature on Japan is the headline "Japan's BMW 1-Series rival: driven"

[autogyro]

A good report but again it misses the point and is misleading.
No amount of figures can negate the fact that nuclear disasters damage life and our environment.
The biggest potential loss is the polluted land area that cannot be used for many years.
Let us all hope that Japan does not loose a huge area, it has little to waste.
IMO it will also result in many Japanese companies moving into China to avoid the inevitable increases in business over heads in Japan caused by this disaster.
I would guess they will then be forced into using poor fossil energy instead of dangerous nuclear, to reclaim there position in the world greed markets.
Something wrong in this world system IMO.

[forty-two]

A good report but again it misses the point and is misleading.

Sorry, I am not trying to nitpick, but in what way(s) does it miss the point and mislead? I'm not defending it per-se, but I don't see where it does either?

Plenty of reports I have seen have included statements along the lines of "the reading was 250 millisieverts per hour, but that's ok because the annual allowable dosage is 250 millisieverts". Without pointing out that if you get a dose spread out over the course of 12 months, it really is very different to getting it all in the space of an hour. Same thing is true with paracetamol, take one tablet every day for a year and you'll probably be ok. Take 365.25 tablets in the course of an hour and you will be pretty sick!

The news media, especially the BBC news are I believe deliberately using the general public's lack of knowledge in order to spread the word that "Nuclear power is very safe, don't worry about it", and frankly I don't think that sort of behaviour is appropriate for the BBC, or indeed any honest news organisation. Give me the facts, and let me make up my own mind.

[forty-two]

Possibly because the UK media has other things more directly related to its readers at the moment?

Japan dominated the headlines for 10 days or so, it only dropped from number 1 when UK forces intervened in Libya.

A story can only capture people's attention for a certain length of time and there are other important stories that also need airtime.

It's not exactly news to report the same thing every day is it?

Where were the DEC appeals for donations? We were flooded with them following the boxing day Tsunami. Granted, Japan is a FAR wealthier nation and people, but nonetheless, they need help, and had they asked, I would have donated.

I agree, if nothing had changed or NEW had happened, it should indeed have been kept low key, but SIGNIFICANT new events had occurred, especially from the UK's point of view (i.e. detection of radionuclides from Fukushima on British soil in at least two places).

Granted, the amount detected was reported to be very low AT THE MOMENT, but the fact that one type of junk from Fukushima can make it all the way here demonstrates that OTHER types of more radioactive material could also make it here, and indeed probably anywhere in the world given the right (or wrong) wind conditions.

As a BBC reader/viewer/listener, there is literally nothing else going on in the world which I consider to be more important than the events unfolding in Fukushima, or at least nothing that I know about yet! It's certainly more important than "UK to expel five libyan diplomats" which is the lead story on the BBC news website at this moment in time.

[autogyro]

The figures given omit to tell you that radio active particles lodge in human organs when ingested or inhaled. Some including Iodine build up in certain organs and most can cause the onset of cancers.
Whether you end up with particles in your body is simply a lottery.
A lottery with the odds calculated of course but still a lottery.
I do not want governments or greedy nuclear promoters playing gambling games with my body or that of my grandchildren.