muso wrote on Apr 8^th, 2011 at 9:34pm:


thats it?

thats your executive summary?

Nothing about the ACTUAL and continuing death toll?

Silent about the cover up?

Silent about the medical researcher who published an article in 1996 in relation to his findings and was found guilty of corruption and jailed for 5 years. He sitll under house arrest

No graphite control rods in Fukushima - everything is OK

LOL

muso wrote on Apr 8^th, 2011 at 10:11pm:


The top soviet nuclear physicist testified in a closed hearing of the IAEA (Hans Brix) that he expects 40,000+ deaths related to radiation in the following years.

They concluded that there may be 4000 by dividing by 10 - lol

The NY Academy of Science report published in 2009 estimates that 985,000 people have died as a result of the Chernobyl disaster.

SO FAR

muso, how long before real estate can be considered on the Chernobyl plant site?

How much Plutonium is buried there? Will the sarcophagus hold? 

Foolosophy wrote on Apr 8^th, 2011 at 10:18pm:


fools - 1 million died from chernobyl are the worst unsubstantiated figures you can come up with ??

1 mill. Would not even notice it, worlds so overpopulated.
100* that amount would be insignificant.

Roman]Fukushima Meltdown Confirmed - by Stephen Lendman

On April 6, Reuters reported that "the core at Japan's Fukushima nuclear reactor has melted through the reactor pressure vessel," Rep. Edward Markey told a House hearing on the disaster, saying:

"I have been informed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that the core has gotten so hot that part of it has probably melted through the reactor pressure vessel."

Recklessly promoting nuclear proliferation, America's NRC is notorious for coverup and denial of its harmful effects. As a result, their rare admission virtually confirms a full core meltdown in one or more reactors, meaning vast amounts of radiation are being uncontrollably released into the atmosphere, water and soil, spreading over a vast area. It's the ultimate nightmare scenario now unfolding, but don't expect major media reports or government officials to explain.

(Reuters) - One month on, and the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is still creating lasting scars.

Scariest is what cannot be seen in the images of vast destruction from March 11 natural disasters that led to the nuclear crisis -- namely radiation.

It could take months or years to learn how damaging the release of dangerous isotopes has been to human health, food supplies, marine life and the surrounding countryside.

The inability of Japanese authorities to regain full control of the plant will make villages nearby uninhabitable for a long time, drive people further away and risk damaging relations with neighboring countries.

For the global nuclear industry, the accident following the massive earthquake and tsunami will leave lasting sores. Some projects will be abandoned; some existing plants will close; costs will climb.

Nuclear experts say Fukushima will go down in history as the second-worst nuclear accident ever. Not as bad as Chernobyl in the Ukraine but definitely much worse than Three Mile Island in the United States.

"Fukushima is not the worst nuclear accident ever but it is the most complicated and the most dramatic," said James Acton, Associate of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"This was a crisis that played out in real time on TV. Chernobyl did not. This crisis just goes on and on."

It was not immediately clear how powerless operators were in those first days. But when the details are finally documented, the situation may well be more terrifying than anyone yet realizes.

PARTIAL MELTDOWNS & EXPLOSIONS
Clearly there were partial meltdowns in the reactors, there were explosions that blew apart major parts of the plant, and it is still not clear whether any of the reactor cores have melted through their protective steel containment vessels.

At the same time, at least one pool used to cool spent fuel rods was damaged, water that protects the rods leaked out, and a further huge radioactive danger created.

Throughout the past month, every time the authorities took measures to control one part of the plant it seemed to create problems elsewhere.

Only time will allow the industry to uncover the many as-yet unanswered questions: How did the structure initially survive the earthquake? How did workers try to address the escalating disaster? And what, if any, upgrades were done at the 1970s era plant in Japan compared to similar U.S. plants?

As the small workforce of less than 400 at the giant six-reactor site battle multiple crises, experts say it could take months to bring plant located about 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Tokyo under control and years to clean up the toxic mess.

"It will take months to address the immediate public health risks posed by the reactors and leaks of radioactive materials and years to clean up materials that have leaked and debris from the facilities," Eric Moore, an expert on nuclear safety at FocalPoint Consulting Group in Washington, DC, said.

GLOBAL CONSEQUENCES
But the consequences go far beyond Japan.

China and South Korea have become increasingly alarmed over the risk of radiation from the crippled reactors .

The disaster is also raising concerns over safety around the world, particularly in the United States, which has more reactors than any other country, and in Europe where Germany temporarily shut its seven oldest reactors.

And the nuclear industry, which before Fukushima was seen as a soldier in the fight again global warming, now has a lot of work to do to regain the public trust.

In China, 27 reactors remain under construction and the government still expects to add dozens more over the next couple of decades.

The nuclear industry still expects to grow in North America and around the world as a large, carbon free source of energy.

High-profile disasters in a U.S. coal mine and in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico have underscored the risks facing all forms of energy; at the same time concerns over global warming leave the world few options.

But nuclear power is expensive and construction of new reactors in some capitalist nations like the United States had slowed even before Fukushima.

"People will look back when they see that there were not many plants built this decade and will blame Fukushima, but the truth is the economics had already changed the situation," said Joseph Romm, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress who oversees the Climate Progress blog.

"There is simply no other power source that can go from being a multibillion dollar asset to a multibillion liability in a matter of hours."

Link -
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/08/us-nuclear-japan-month-idUSTRE7377I120...
======================
A few observations -
1) Clearly the Fukushima situation is definitely much worse than Three Mile Island, which makes it at least a 6 on the INES rating system or arguably a 7.
2) This was, to an extent, the Nuclear industries Vietnam War, in so far as it was the first disaster of its type, played out before the world's media.

That is it was played out, in Public, from a distance!

However, like Chernobyl & three Mile Island before it, much of the really relevant information will remain hidden behind a wall of government misinformation, both in Japan & Globally!

....the meltdown is not under control yet - still a risk of thermal explosion

We just have to keep an eye on the situation over the next few months in particular

Remember the Chernobyl meltdown almost reached the thermal explosion point - they were able to send in some suicide scubba divers to get underneath the reactor base and open a valve to drain the water.

Imagine the radioactive release if a thermal explosion had taken place at Chernobyl and the adjacent reactors were destroyed as well???

3 mile island took several years before a camera was able to be sent in to view the fuel rod damage/melt

Fukushima is by no means under control yet

Foolosophy, I daresay I understand the situation better than you do with your ravings about Plutonium.

Foolosophy wrote on Apr 9^th, 2011 at 1:56pm:


20 minutes in the sun can give you cancer.

A walk in the city can kill you.

A domestic pet can savage you to death.

(See, I can use phrases like that too)