#559788 - 06/15/1107:09 AMRe: Possible meltdown in Japan
[Re: lanovami]
lanovami This space for rent
Registered: 05/02/05
Posts: 7405
Loc: 東京都
Most of this news you could easily get yourself. I have stopped reading the Japanese news as I once was as the news is not as fluid as it once was. But sharing still keeps me sane. I am still the most informed person in any room about developments and I smile wanly when someone tries to tell me something "new". A born worrier and his computer are not soon parted.
_________________________ We are what we repeatedly do - Aristotle
#559789 - 06/15/1107:13 AMRe: Possible meltdown in Japan
[Re: lanovami]
lanovami This space for rent
Registered: 05/02/05
Posts: 7405
Loc: 東京都
Oh right, recently confirmed that the area I go to work in northeastern Tokyo is 3 times higher levels than the rest of Tokyo. Still supposed to be safe but... My coworkers joke how lucky I am to travel so far to work when they have to breath the air 24 hours a day. Maybe. Anyway, glad the wife and son are further away. The level around my work is still, let's see, only 1/8 of the levels being measured in the biggest city near the plant -which has the very apt name of Fukushima city. A lot of kids have been moved out of there, but there are still a few thousands still living there, along with other, older human beings.
_________________________ We are what we repeatedly do - Aristotle
#559790 - 06/15/1107:18 AMRe: Possible meltdown in Japan
[Re: lanovami]
lanovami This space for rent
Registered: 05/02/05
Posts: 7405
Loc: 東京都
Did you hear how the gov't tried to set the safety level for children at 20 milliseiverts exposure per year for children? The previous safety level was 1 millisievert. 20 millisieverts is the limit for n-plant workers themselves in many countries! Anyway there was an outcry from parents and I believe the number was set again at 1 millisievert, an exposure number that can't be far off for many people up that way.
What's that sig of mine again? You are what you repeatedly do? I guess I am one who spews nuclear facts and fears.
_________________________ We are what we repeatedly do - Aristotle
#560256 - 06/22/1109:24 PMRe: Possible meltdown in Japan
[Re: John Rougeux]
lanovami This space for rent
Registered: 05/02/05
Posts: 7405
Loc: 東京都
Click to reveal..
Warning, might ruin it for you if yo haven't been watching the news. Wish I could tell you how the whole shebang turns out, but nobody knows that. The water filtering system that is supposed to decontiminate and clean the water building up under the reactors is built out of four different "plants" made by 3 different countries and four different companies, all of which clean out different substances. A hodge podge quickly thrown together machine like this is bound t have problems and they haven't managed to keep it running for more than a few hours since they first turned it on. The estimated date the water was supposed to start overflowing was June 20th. This date has passed and there is still leeway, which is good. Now they are saying it will spill over by the end of the month if things don't improve. Faster if the rains pick up (rainy season officially started Tuesday). The newest idea - one they should've thought of earlier - is now that the molten cores at the bottom of the reactors have cooled considerably, they are trying slowly reducing the amount of water they are pumping into them to see if the reactor cores still stay at a stable enough temperature. One reactor, number 3 started to rise almost immediately. The other two appeared to stay stable even with reduced water injection. They are going to continue trying to slowly reduce the water input to see how well they hold up and hopefully stave off overflows longer. Overflows would mean significantly more radiation getting into groundwater and the sea. Meanwhile a recent official reading of radiation (most of which is now settled on the ground, and is no longer in the air to any real degree) very near our apartment gave an acceptably low reading. I like this. It is still higher where I work, but I am glad to know my son is not getting much exposure at all. The nagging worry is still the food, but we are doing what we can.
That's all from here for now. If I get a new watch or anything, I will be sure to let you know.
_________________________ We are what we repeatedly do - Aristotle
#560289 - 06/23/1112:11 AMRe: Possible meltdown in Japan
[Re: MacBozo]
lanovami This space for rent
Registered: 05/02/05
Posts: 7405
Loc: 東京都
Man, Bozo, you were the spoiler on this one! I had the day off today, and was hanging out in a coffee shop with a plan to go shopping later in the day. I checked here on a whim with my Kindle and I did not like the look of your link. The magnitude was not big enough for me to feel on the 2nd floor coffee shop in Tokyo but it still worried me a little. I decided to come home again before going out again, just in case, because my kindle couldn't access your link or similar links.
It appears to be okay at the plant, and also luckily no tsunami either in already ravaged Iwate to the north. You still have to wonder if this hasn't weakened further the structural integrity of specifically reactor 4's spent fuel rod container - which is the biggest concern. Maybe this is what you were thinking too, which means some people are actually reading and absorbing my voluminous posts.
I couldn't totally trust the news or gov't so just in case, I also checked rad levels in Tokyo, which in previous "big" incidents, such as hydrogen explosions registered as a spike. They appear unchanged. It is raining in most of northern Japan though right now, which could slow down (but also concentrate) any fallout - but I think it's probably all right for the time being.
Thanks for the headsup anyway. ( :
It was still a lil' reminder how precarious this situation really is.
_________________________ We are what we repeatedly do - Aristotle
Warning, might ruin it for you if yo haven't been watching the news. Wish I could tell you how the whole shebang turns out, but nobody knows that. The water filtering system that is supposed to decontiminate and clean the water building up under the reactors is built out of four different "plants" made by 3 different countries and four different companies, all of which clean out different substances. A hodge podge quickly thrown together machine like this is bound t have problems and they haven't managed to keep it running for more than a few hours since they first turned it on. The estimated date the water was supposed to start overflowing was June 20th. This date has passed and there is still leeway, which is good. Now they are saying it will spill over by the end of the month if things don't improve. Faster if the rains pick up (rainy season officially started Tuesday). The newest idea - one they should've thought of earlier - is now that the molten cores at the bottom of the reactors have cooled considerably, they are trying slowly reducing the amount of water they are pumping into them to see if the reactor cores still stay at a stable enough temperature. One reactor, number 3 started to rise almost immediately. The other two appeared to stay stable even with reduced water injection. They are going to continue trying to slowly reduce the water input to see how well they hold up and hopefully stave off overflows longer. Overflows would mean significantly more radiation getting into groundwater and the sea. Meanwhile a recent official reading of radiation (most of which is now settled on the ground, and is no longer in the air to any real degree) very near our apartment gave an acceptably low reading. I like this. It is still higher where I work, but I am glad to know my son is not getting much exposure at all. The nagging worry is still the food, but we are doing what we can.
That's all from here for now. If I get a new watch or anything, I will be sure to let you know.
LOL, guess we still need to explain this spoiler thing a bit to you but at least you found the button.