Aside from all the people. And I don't say that lightly, it's an entirely different type of horror. Aside from the people, it's just dreadful to watch all those beautiful ships and boats get destroyed in the videos of the tsunami coming ashore. And those beautiful ships and boats are peoples' livelihoods being smashed to bits.

Then there's the thought of all the animals; pets, livestock, and wild.

Now, decades, maybe centuries of radioactive contamination.

"My best guess [as to how this ends] is there is going to be a bigger breach than we've already seen -- and we suspect there's breaches in the number 2 and number 3 reactors -- there'll be a bigger breach, it'll force the evacuation, and we'll see, I think, at least two core meltdowns and possibly two, maybe more, pool fires, and it will end very very badly. That's what I actually think is going to happen. I hope I'm wrong. I hope they contain it.

This will take weeks or months, in the best case, to contain it, to keep that radioactivity in these concrete boxes. And in the end, two, three, four years from now we're going to have concrete and sand mounds, sarcophagi, on each of these reactors, dotting the Japanese shoreline -- that's going to be a monument that no one really wants to see."

-- Joe Cirincione of the Ploughshares Fund, and anti-nuke organization, on CNN's State of the Union yesterday. Cirincione was discussing the worst-case scenario for Fukushima, which saw a spike in radiation over the weeken

quote:

Originally posted by doggo:
Aside from all the people. And I don't say that lightly, it's an entirely different type of horror. Aside from the people, it's just dreadful to watch all those beautiful ships and boats get destroyed in the videos of the tsunami coming ashore. And those beautiful ships and boats are peoples' livelihoods being smashed to bits.

Well, the whales ought to be safer now.

Oh yeah, motherfuckers. I went there.

quote:

Well, the whales ought to be safer now.

Radioactive whales. Which will mean less demand for kujira.

Radioactive iodine of up to 4,800 times the legal limit has been recorded in the sea near the plant. Caesium was found at levels above safety limits in tiny "kounago" fish in waters off Ibaraki Prefecture, south of Fukushima, local media reported.

reuters

Radiation from the stricken plant has been detected in Washington and Idaho drinking water. They say it's not enough to have an effect, but I am of the opinion that any at all is too much.

You say this, and yet you continue to live in the same state as Hanford?

quote:

Originally posted by Mean Old Man:
You say this, and yet you continue to live in the same state as Hanford?

What do you mean by that?

Second head: I don't know. What do you think he means?

Third head: It must be some kind of Canadian humor.

Second head: Oh, perhaps so.

Don't hear you complaining about that seventh finger on your fretting hand, though, do we?

Yeah, what Split said...

quote:

Originally posted by Boogerhead:
Yeah, what Split said...

If only everyone could be so sensible.

Still Shaky in Japan

Another 7.4 magnitude aftershock hit Japan on Thursday night. No significant damage mentioned.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BIOH4Z4RD,

Fukushima crisis level raised to 7, on par with Chernobyl.

quote:

Originally posted by BIOH4Z4RD:
Fukushima crisis level raised to 7, on par with Chernobyl.

Except that it isn't 'on par'. In terms of radiotion released, they are factor 10 or so apart from each other.

Level 7 means that it is a major accident with impact on people and environment on an international scale.

I hate populistic news media.

You're correct, the classification scale isn't very precise at Level 7. "On par" rescinded --- that was me, not the media. I still think the upgrade in level is relevant. Around 1/10 of the radioactive release of Chernobyl is a significant amount, and there are still conflicting views as to whether they have achieved containment. Time will tell.

Well, the mainstream (fear mongering) media has reported it as "on par" all over the place too.

Good read from theRegister

The only thing I dislike less than the idea of more nuclear power plants ... false information.

quote:

Good read from theRegister

That writer is a major league asshole.
I think he's a 7 on the Charlie Sheen scale.

The total non-story of the Fukushima nuclear powerplant "disaster" – which has seen and will see no deaths or measurable health consequences for anyone anywhere

I will respect the guy if he goes to Fukushima and eats local food that has been in contact with irradiated water from the plant.
Otherwise, he should shut his fucking mouth.

I agree that there's intense fear-mongering going on. But his position is equally bad.

quote:

That writer is a major league asshole.

Without clicking the link, I bet the writer is Lewis Page.

We've got a winner!

Interesting, Krad et Ark und Newro. Am writing an essay on informational sources following the nuclear power debate post-Fukushima.