2 Japanese reactors blow up!: Should US be concerned?

[jedi]

Japan braces for potential radiation catastrophe - Yahoo! News

Tokoyo residents are being advised to stay home, to keep cloths they used outside in a plastic bag before entering the house, and radation pills are being handed out by the government. This does not sound good at all.

California is advising that they have begun to monitor the air/water in case of radaiation. US Navy ships in Japan have pulled out (150+ miles) out to get out of the radiation range.

So.... What does this mean for Indiana?
Should we be getting prepared? Will the fall out (if any) reach us?

 

[redneckmedic]

This will not end well for most of the world IMO. The radiological event is the "kick'em while they're down" after a horrific one-two punch. Had this been 100yrs ago (all events being the same) this wouldn't affect Global economics the way it does today. This would have only been a tragedy for Japan.

I believe the "shelter in place" advice is a quarantine in disguise. I think the experts already know that those folks with-in X number of miles are already screwed. We are all expendable, its all about containment at some point.

 

[Expat]

I wonder if any of this actually happened. What if the Japanese government was just faking all of this to get the populace to take the "radiation pills". Those pills could be anything... it sounds like an attempted mass vaccination to me. It will probably just make the people more obedient to the government or allow them to be tracked

In honor of a former member.

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

I think the problem is that you can't get the so called "experts" to agree on weather or not the radiation can or will hit the U.S. .

Some folks say that "we nuked them in WW2 and didn't get any fallout here" .

How do we know that ? Were we monitoring it back then ?

Does the difference in technologies used in a bomb versus a nuke plant make a difference ?

To me the most prudent thing to do is to have plenty of plastic and duct tape on hand just in case the "experts" find out they were wrong and some form of radiation will make it's way here .

If they find out they were wrong about it and your not ready for it , you'll be SOL cause everybody will be at the stores trying to buy it at the same time .

If I don't wind up needing it for this situation I can always use duct tape and plastic for other things anyway .

 

[CarmelHP]

I think the problem is that you can't get the so called "experts" to agree on weather or not the radiation can or will hit the U.S. .

Some folks say that "we nuked them in WW2 and didn't get any fallout here" .

How do we know that ? Were we monitoring it back then ?

Does the difference in technologies used in a bomb versus a nuke plant make a difference ?

To me the most prudent thing to do is to have plenty of plastic and duct tape on hand just in case the "experts" find out they were wrong and some form of radiation will make it's way here .

If they find out they were wrong about it and your not ready for it , you'll be SOL cause everybody will be at the stores trying to buy it at the same time .

If I don't wind up needing it for this situation I can always use duct tape and plastic for other things anyway .

Radiation release will be at ground level and no big explosion to send it into the stratosphere. We used to do above ground nuclear testing right here in the USA and we're still kicking.

 

[CountryBoy19]

EVERYBODY NEEDS TO GO HERE AND READ THIS FIRST BEFORE SPREADING WILD CLAIMS
MIT NSE Nuclear Information Hub (http://web.mit.edu/nse/) | Information about the incident at the Fukushima Nuclear Plants in Japan hosted by http://web.mit.edu/nse/ :: Maintained by the students of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering a


Now that you've done that you all understand that the reactor's themselves didn't blow up. The explosions were by-products of the natural steam venting procedure when the standard cooling methods aren't enough. It was simply super heated hydrogen gas released by partial decay of the zirconium casing of the fuel rods that ignited and exploded when it was vented and supplied with O2.

Was there radioactive material released? Yes, the steam that was released to help cool the reactors did contain "small" amounts of radioactive material.

Is everybody within X range screwed? NO, if they take the proper precautions they'll be fine.

Is the US screwed? NO, we're not screwed.


Once again, just to make it clear, the reactors did not blow up, the explosions were hydrogen gas that was vented from the reactors when steam relief valves opened up.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Radiation release will be at ground level and no big explosion to send it into the stratosphere. We used to do above ground nuclear testing right here in the USA and we're still kicking.

Although it does explain a lot of things I see in Wal-Mart...

 

[printcraft]

Although it does explain a lot of things I see in Wal-Mart...

Cat pee will glow under a black light. Coincidence?!?

 

[Leadeye]

Although it does explain a lot of things I see in Wal-Mart...

Seen some scary things in that place.

 

[Leadeye]

EVERYBODY NEEDS TO GO HERE AND READ THIS FIRST BEFORE SPREADING WILD CLAIMS
MIT NSE Nuclear Information Hub (http://web.mit.edu/nse/) | Information about the incident at the Fukushima Nuclear Plants in Japan hosted by http://web.mit.edu/nse/ :: Maintained by the students of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering a


Now that you've done that you all understand that the reactor's themselves didn't blow up. The explosions were by-products of the natural steam venting procedure when the standard cooling methods aren't enough. It was simply super heated hydrogen gas released by partial decay of the zirconium casing of the fuel rods that ignited and exploded when it was vented and supplied with O2.

Was there radioactive material released? Yes, the steam that was released to help cool the reactors did contain "small" amounts of radioactive material.

Is everybody within X range screwed? NO, if they take the proper precautions they'll be fine.

Is the US screwed? NO, we're not screwed.


Once again, just to make it clear, the reactors did not blow up, the explosions were hydrogen gas that was vented from the reactors when steam relief valves opened up.

Read that article and they are blurring the line between PWR and BWR, in the latter the hot loop with steam goes directly to the turbines, there is no heat exchanger.

 

[printcraft]

Here is something cool I stumbled across:

At a press conference in Tokyo, Masashi Goto, who worked for Toshiba as a reactor researcher and designer, said the mixed oxide (MOX) fuel used in unit 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant contains plutonium, which is much more toxic than the fuel used in the other reactors.
MOX fuel is a mixture of uranium and plutonium reprocessed from spent uranium, and is sometimes involved in the disposal of weapons-grade plutonium.
Goto added that the MOX also has a lower melting point than the other fuels. The Fukushima facility began using MOX fuel last September, becoming the third plant in Japan to do so.

​

So I guess that was a bad time to introduce the plutonium into the mix huh?

That crap has a half life of 24,000 years.....
​

 

[CarmelHP]

Here is something cool I stumbled across:




So I guess that was a bad time to introduce the plutonium into the mix huh?

That crap has a half life of 24,000 years.....
[/color][/left]

The problem with Plutonium is that it's extraordinarily poisonous.

 

[Leadeye]

Here is something cool I stumbled across:




So I guess that was a bad time to introduce the plutonium into the mix huh?

That crap has a half life of 24,000 years.....
[/color][/left]

Probably some in the reactor regardless of which fuel they were using, various isotopes of plutonium come from neutron bombardment of urainium 238, which makes up most of the uranium in the fuel. Reprocessing of spent fuel produces a little plutonium, something nuclear regulatory people want to keep watch of.

 

[redneckmedic]

I personally don't think a strong dose of Radio particles in the Left-Coast would such a bad thing... Just Say'n

 

[mrjarrell]

I personally don't think a strong dose of Radio particles in the Left-Coast would such a bad thing... Just Say'n

I do. I, and a vast number of people, (yourself included, most likely) eat produce from the left coast on a daily basis. I'd hate to have my diet relegated to eating nothing from California for the next decade or two.

 

[Expat]

I do. I, and a vast number of people, (yourself included, most likely) eat produce from the left coast on a daily basis. I'd hate to have my diet relegated to eating nothing from California for the next decade or two.

But not near as much as we used too... remember the libtards shut down much of the central valley irrigation due to some minnow... so we get more from foreign countries where the cleanliness... well, I think that's 'nuff said.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Read that article and they are blurring the line between PWR and BWR, in the latter the hot loop with steam goes directly to the turbines, there is no heat exchanger.

What are you trying to say here? That they are exceptionally dangerous?

 

[Ash]

I got this link off of another board that I frequent. It's very informative about the type of reactor at that plant, and what exactly has happened.

Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation BraveNewClimate

 

[Leadeye]

What are you trying to say here? That they are exceptionally dangerous?

Not really, the article stated that hot loop is totaly enclosed in the primary containment which is the case with a PWR but not the case in a BWR. With a BWR you need to keep the turbine side shielded as short half life stuff is passing through it with the steam. The reactors on the news in Japan are BWR.

PWR has a contained hot loop inside the primary containment. This closed loop suppplies heat to the exchanger which supplies the steam to the turbines. The water in the hot loop in a PWR is under a lot more pressure than the BWR as the idea is to keep it in a liquid state even at a very high temperature. This also makes neutron moderation more predictable as you don't have steam bubbles forming randomly to change it. Most reactors in the US and all of the navy's are PWR.

 

[E5RANGER375]

EVERYBODY NEEDS TO GO HERE AND READ THIS FIRST BEFORE SPREADING WILD CLAIMS
MIT NSE Nuclear Information Hub (http://web.mit.edu/nse/) | Information about the incident at the Fukushima Nuclear Plants in Japan hosted by http://web.mit.edu/nse/ :: Maintained by the students of the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering a


Now that you've done that you all understand that the reactor's themselves didn't blow up. The explosions were by-products of the natural steam venting procedure when the standard cooling methods aren't enough. It was simply super heated hydrogen gas released by partial decay of the zirconium casing of the fuel rods that ignited and exploded when it was vented and supplied with O2.

Was there radioactive material released? Yes, the steam that was released to help cool the reactors did contain "small" amounts of radioactive material.

Is everybody within X range screwed? NO, if they take the proper precautions they'll be fine.

Is the US screwed? NO, we're not screwed.


Once again, just to make it clear, the reactors did not blow up, the explosions were hydrogen gas that was vented from the reactors when steam relief valves opened up.

I never thought they (reactors) did blow up. some people are gonna be screwed though. you can bet on it. and it will depend on how fast they act as to how many people on the west coast get screwed. dont believe everything you read