Meanwhile, back in Fukushima by SignyM

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Meanwhile, back in Fukushima

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Monday, January 16, 2012 07:55
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Tuesday, January 10, 2012 6:28 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I haven't posted on this on a while because I've been busy, and quite frankly the news is disturbing and depressing. On Dec 16 2011, the Japanese government announced that they had achieved "cold shutdown".
www.nature.com/news/fukushima-reaches-cold-shutdown-1.9674

What does this mean? In short, it means that the temperature at the bottom of the reactor vessels (the very thick steel round-end cylinders which contain the actual 100 tons of uranium nuclear fuel) was below the boiling point of water.

The fact that the nuclear fuel... a hundred tons or more of it from each vessel... had long since melted through the bottoms of the reactor vessels, and that the reactor vessels were -in essence -empty, didn't seem to impinge on this glorious milestone.

In the meantime, experimental coring revealed that the bottoms of the reactor vessels and the concrete slab below them are being melted into swiss cheese (a worker's words, not mine) laced with uranium. The actual temperature of the mess of melted fuel and reactor parts is 400 degrees on extraction, obviously well above boiling.

Meanwhile, I have read more and more disturbing reports, both of Chernobyl and of northeast Japan.

Cesium is a radioactive metal which acts like potassium. It dissolves in all tissue but concentrates in active muscle tissue, especially the heart. It damages whatever organ it is dissolved in. Now, cesium has a biological half-life. Assuming no further exposure, cesium will ultimately be replaced by potassium. However, it will have damaged the heart, and heart muscle is the ONE muscle that doesn't repair itself. A one-time exposure can cause permanent damage.

In the developing heart... in the fetus or in growing children... their heart stem-cells are destroyed, and they wind up with small, weak hearts... in premature and permanent heart failure. Also, the children of Chernobyl have unusually high incidence of hydrocephalus... I suspect (but don;t know for sure) that cesium concentrates on the blood-brain barrier and destroys the central structures of the brain.

I suppose this would all be academic, but the people near Fukushima are experiencing watery diarrhea, and losing their hair and teeth.

http://fukushima-diary.com/2012/01/live-minamisoma-blogger-is-on-ustre
am/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FukushimaDiary+%28Fukushima+Diary%29

The "spent fuel pool" of reactor No 4, which contains both the spent fuel of the previous load AND the fresh fuel which would have been re-loaded into the reactor... is slowly leaning over and flaking apart. According to workers at Fukushima, the refill water pipe was broken in the New Year's earthquake, and the water in the pool is boiling again. The hoses for the decontamination system are still temporary rubber/ plastic, instead of stainless steel, and perhaps most worrisome, TEPCO is reducing staff to a skeleton (so to speak) crew. It looks like those responsible are getting ready to walk away.

And finally, if we think this is all long ago and far away, the Japan Current sweeps up the east side of Japan, eastward across the Aleutian Islands and down the west coast.

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Tuesday, January 10, 2012 9:48 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Thank you for the update Signe

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 4:19 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

"heart muscle is the ONE muscle that doesn't repair itself."

Hello,

Though it does nothing to mitigate concerns, I'm not sure this is entirely true.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 4:28 AM

BYTEMITE

It's kind of one of those things, Anthony. Certain heart cells divide and therefore can repair damage, but certain ones don't. Kinda like neurons, some do, some don't.

It's one of the many reasons why a heart attack or stroke can be so damaging for so long, apart from the obvious that it involves organs that are keystone for biological function. It's why some people recover from a heart attack, while other people are so weakened that the next one finishes them off.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 4:29 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Tony... If you rip a muscle, it repairs. If your heart is damaged by a heart attack (for example) and a portion of heart muscle dies, you feel that damage for the rest of your life. This is very similar to the brain, which seems to have strictly regulated growth (can't grow indefinitely or it would squeeze itself to death in the confines of the skull)

Yes, there is evidence of some replacement and repair in both the brain and the heart, but not enough to make a difference to the person with either heart or brain damage.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 4:38 AM

BYTEMITE

Quote:
hydrocephalus... I suspect (but don;t know for sure) that cesium concentrates on the blood-brain barrier and destroys the central structures of the brain.

Sounds to me like an issue of Cesium replacing Potassium in the nerve cell ion channels, which would cause failure to create coherent neural connections and organization. So maybe not so much destroyed, but never really formed and not able to.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 4:57 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

One interesting idea is that potassium iodide not only helps protect people from radioactive iodine, the potassium may also help displace cesium. Just a thought. But it was criminal, IMHO, when the Japanese government knew how desperate the situation was right after the first explosion, they did not immediately authorize and distribute potassium iodide. Criminal. Denial doesn't really work... the damage is still being done.

Also, the effects of Chernobyl seem to go on and on. The children of the area are not getting better and better, they are collectively getting worse and worse. Cesium is not disappearing according to its 30-year half-life... more and more cesium seems to be leaching upwards from the soil (perhaps transported upwards by plant roots). This is not a story with a quick and happy ending in Belarus, and I doubt there will be a quick and happy ending in Japan. The contamination in some areas is phenomenal, especially in a streak extending northwest from Fukushima, in the foothills and mountains where rain was wrung out of a storm during the time of the explosions. Cesium and other contaminants keep washing down from the mountains into the cities and villages.

I watched a show where a professor and assistant/ journalist did a survey of NE Japan right after the explosions. They cam to a small group of people who had evacuated from the Fukushima area to a community room in Itate. The Geiger readings of the soil in Itate were scary... enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. These people, they had no idea. They thought they were safer where they were. And the Japanese government, TEPCO, the IAEA, the NRC, and all the major nuclear players stayed very, very quiet. Unless they were issuing lies.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 7:40 AM

FREMDFIRMA

I worry too, I haven't heard from Yuriko in quite a while, and the last time we had any communication it was mentioned that the contamination level was rising and they might eventually have to call it a wash and bail out - but we got cut off before we could discuss whatever plans for that might have been laid.

Me, I'd hire some goons to grab and hogtie all the fuckers shilling that bullshit and dump em in the hot zone, it's no more than they deserve.

-F

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 8:13 AM

CAVETROLL

Signym; I take it you were talking about the Geiger counter's audible sensing feature, since you didn't mention measurements.

Geiger counters have sensitivity settings that operate sort of like squelch does on a radio. Hearing a Geiger counter click isn't real data unless you know what the settings are. I've seen one click like crazy when set to the most sensitive setting and placed near a stack of landscaping rocks. (Almost all rocks are minimally radioactive.)

While the Fukushima cleanup will measure in decades at least, there's no real way to know what the Itate contamination really was. It's good drama, not good reporting.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 9:29 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Thank you, Sig. It's of course slipped virtually completely from view in the news, and I don't go hunting for news specifically because I know you'll keep us updated...and because it's too scary and depressing to focus on. Which in no way changes the fact that I sincerely appreciate you updating us, more that I'm too chicken to find out for myself!

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 2:59 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Frem, you haven't been able to get ahold of her? I hope she's okay, she had a big task ahead of her there.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 3:34 PM

JONGSSTRAW

Might be something to this radiation stuff. Unconfirmed reports of a very large and irrationally angry reptile rampaging around the island continue to pour in.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 5:21 PM

BYTEMITE

Ouch. It's not really Too Soon, but ouch.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 7:17 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Yeah Jonggstraw, I heard that people are getting stupid and irrational too!

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 7:19 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

TROLL: It's way too easy to google up Itate + radiation for you to have serious doubts about the radiation levels. Look it up yourself.

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Wednesday, January 11, 2012 7:23 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

I don't doubt what Signe is saying about this situation. She's the one who is keeping us up to date and I believe what she says

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Thursday, January 12, 2012 2:38 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

BTW- I've used Geiger counters. OOC, I borrowed our lab's Geiger counter to check the soil underneath our downspouts, and also my car cabin filter, car air cleaner (intake filter), and home air purifiers. FWIW I didn't find any unusual radiation under our downspouts or most of our filters but found what were prolly two hot particles on my car cabin air filter. (Chirped repeatedly over particular points)

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Friday, January 13, 2012 5:23 AM

CAVETROLL

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
TROLL: It's way too easy to google up Itate + radiation for you to have serious doubts about the radiation levels. Look it up yourself.

I have no doubt that Itate and the entire region around Fukushima is contaminated at this point. I was only commenting on your anecdote being more dramatic than informational.

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Monday, January 16, 2012 7:55 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

It wasn't dramatic for me, it was informational and the information it was giving scary. In addition to the audio click, they also showed the readings. It SHOULD be scary; everyone should be frightened.

There was a strong earthquake January 1. Workers have said that the cooling water pipes to the No 4 spent fuel pool were broken, and that without fresh water the pool is boiling again. Increased radiation was detected in Japan and on the west coat of N America. There are indications that there was a hydrogen explosion in the "spent" fuel pool (please remember that this pool has a load of FRESH fuel, ready to refuel the reactor)

Fukushima Radiation Spike after Jan 1 Earthquake
www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/fukushima-radiation-spike-after-jan-1
-earthquake

Over EPA limit: Cesium levels in San Francisco area milk now higher than 6 months ago
http://enenews.com/over-epa-limit-cesium-levels-in-san-francisco-area-
milk-now-higher-than-6-months-ago

People SHOULD be scared. Fukushima will continue to threaten the lives and health of everyone around the world, not just in Japan.
And every reactor in the USA and around the world threatens everyone in similar ways. It doesn't matter whether the reactors are graphite block or boiling water or pressurized water... every fuckup, every hiccup, every natural event has the capability of creating exactly the same kind of disaster that we see in Chernobyl and Fukushima. Given that nuclear power is the MOST expensive power to generate, that the nuclear operators wouldn't even be making a profit if it weren't for government subsidies, shouldn't we just STOP already??

More about Itate specifically

Quote:
The team ... found high concentrations of all five radionuclides in the Iitate hill district to the northwest of Fukushima Daiichi and the Naka-Dori valley to its west.

Rain played a major role in flushing the radionuclides out of the atmosphere, say the researchers. ... the soil contamination... was caused largely by downpours on 15 March in Fukushima and on 21 March in the other four prefectures.

www.nature.com/news/fukushima-maps-identify-radiation-hot-spots-1.9355

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