In retrospect it's the workers at the plants who will ultimately die from the radiation in an attempt to save millions of people from dying who are the real heroes. It's a serious problem that many people are turning away from. I would keep an eye on it, because the third reactor which is made up of "plutonium" is said to be 100 times stronger than the reactor at Chernobyl which killed a million people. This building surrounding the third reactor just blew up. I think there is a possibility that this could be the worst nuclear disaster ever if the third reactor is not controlled. Full meltdown and it's not farfetched to think this could effect the whole world. Everyone needs to pray for these workers they could possibly be saving your own life.
Do we know the effects of the radiation (i.e., how harmful)? Saying "one months worth of radiation in an hour" doesn't mean much from what I've seen. IIRC, 3 Mile Island put out MUCH more radiation than would be "normal". But it also wasn't much more dangerous than getting a chest x-ray. I'm assuming in this case, everyone was exposed to basically a chest x-ray (or something similar). Random Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(radiation) Sounds like this is probably from the radioactive steam that has been vented out from the reactors. Which, while radioactive, were not deemed harmful enough to "worry" about, so they didn't have a problem exposing it to the world. Correct me if I'm wrong. What does it mean to be 100 times stronger? I'm not sure how plutonium changes things, but I know the other reactors are apparently designed differently from Chernobyl, and that an explosion of the core (i.e., not a hydrogen explosion, as has been happening) would be more or less impossible. Chernobyl used a graphite moderator, and during the meltdown, molten metals fell into a pool of water (IIRC), and that created a big explosion. All without a containment structure. It seems in the event of a (full) meltdown, an explosion would be unlikely (the fuel would probably just melt and stay on the ground of the containment structure...maybe melt through in a worst case?), and even if there was one, perhaps it would be contained without the containment structure. Sounds like problems at reactor #2 now. Fuel rods have been exposed apparently (likely meltdown). I wonder how much longer it will take for temperatures to stabilize (or at least be <3000 degrees Celsius, or whatever it takes to melt the nuclear fuel). Saw some estimates of a couple of days needed after shutdown, which we seem to be approaching. Although there have been some not-so-ideal circumstances too (e.g., poor cooling).
The report I heard on the radio this morning was that the crew were helicopter crews that had been running rescue operations and not the crew on the USS Reagan itself that was exposed to radiation.
My understanding is that both happened. From Defense News: WASHINGTON - The crew of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, on a humanitarian mission to Japan, received a month's worth of radiation in about an hour, the New York Times reported. Citing unnamed government officials, the newspaper said the ship passed through a radioactive cloud from damaged nuclear reactors in Japan when it approached the country on its humanitarian mission. Japan has been battling to control two overheating reactors at the ageing Fukushima plant after the cooling systems were knocked out by Friday's 8.9-magnitude quake and the resulting tsunami that swallowed up whole towns. A new explosion at the plant hit the country March 14 as experts raced to avert a catastrophic meltdown in the wake of the quake and tsunami. U.S. helicopters flying missions about 60 miles north of the damaged reactors became coated with radioactive dust that had to be washed off, the report said. There was no indication that any of the military personnel had experienced ill effects from the exposure, the paper said. But the episodes showed that the prevailing winds were picking up radioactive material from crippled reactors in northeastern Japan, The Times noted. http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=5956130&c=ASI&s=SEA
Agreed...those are the true heroes... It's such a sad state of affairs, like end of days over there...truly sad...
2k more bodies... http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/...-toll-110314/20110314?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
What is amazing and disturbing is how black the water is. I don't know if the water in that part of Japan is normally that color or if that is due to the disturbance in the water caused by the tsunami. One thing I heard from the an eyewitness to the 2004 tsunami in Thailand was that the water became strangely dark just before the tsunami hit.
I'm no expert, but I think its just mud carried by the leading edge of the tsunami. The water behind it looks quite blue.
Worst picture I've seen yet of the tragedy (the text on the side explains it). It's not NSFW, but I'm spoilering it anyway. If you don't like to cry, don't show it. Spoiler
That's pretty tragic. Sadly I've seen a lot of people were still in their cars when the Tsunami came roaring in.
Some of the video I've seen, the stuff basso and I posted, shows the water coming over the waterfront of a city, the camera pans to follow it, and there are cars driving back and forth on a street perpendicular to the wall of water. The drivers can't even see the water coming because of the buildings in the way. The video cuts off a moment before the water would have taken them out. Simply stunning, horrific stuff.
This already been posted and the old Fukushima Nuclear Plant might not have the "core catcher" so that's why it probably exploded. So far all the one that are having problems are the one that's around over 30yrs old plant.
