[AwesomePossum]

Over 500 milisieverts at #2 and between 650 and 750 degrees Fahrenheit at #1 and black smoke billowing out of #3.........workers had to leave the plant again........

[mewykwistmas]

Countdown to ‘radiation is actually good for you’ posters showing up.

You can be pro-nuclear power and be terrified of this

[Revel]

#3 is the one with the MOX fuel rods. They contain Plutonium and other nasty stuff.

But don’t worry. Haven’t you heard? Radiation is good for you.

[GonzoGOP]

The cleanup is going to be hard. The guys are going to have to be rotated out regularly to avoid radiation buildup. So imagine trying to build an office building where you had to fire and rehire your crew every week. Nothing impossible or end of the world, but it is going to be a long messy and extremely expensive cleanup. Piled of course on top of the massive damage done to the rest of Northern Japan.

[blackdog]

Some smart minds need to explain this to me. I'm a boiler maintenance mechanic. The number one rule of boiler safety is to never-ever add water to a hot boiler gone low or dry. The reason for this is that water expands 1,600 times by volume when converted to steam. One pound of water added to a dry boiler is like five sticks of dynamite.

So........How do you introduce cooling water back into a superheated nuclear mass without an expolosion? I would think you would have to first boil the water into superheated steam (400 to 600 degrees) and then gradually throttle back the steam temperature once the heat absorption from the nuclear material settles the steam climb at an upper limit line to begin cooling from.

Any smart folks out there who can idjucate me would be appreciated.

[Tolsti2]

No problem, anyone who says there is anything to be concerned about is a crazy panic-filled nut. Meltdown? Pleeeasesee...

[steve86]

Amazing how problems seem to occur simultaneously at the different reactors — like some kind of nuclear Jungian Synchronicity. Almost reminds me of spooky entangled photons /way out comment

[Cementjungle]

Is Shep Smith still hyperventilating and talking about all the “could happen... might lead to...” stuff?

[Selene]

More robots sent in to tackle crisis at Fukushima
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/03/more-robots-to-be-sent-in-to-t.html

[NRG1973]

This nuclear crisis is spiraling out of control. The Japnese need to start entombnimg that plantb in concrete similar to Chernobyl.

I’m very disapoointed that the Japanese have let this thing drag on so long without a change in strategy. I hope that the loss of life is minimized.

[HangnJudge]

Handy Radiation Chart from XKCD
for those who are "unit challenged"
Sorry about the size

http://xkcd.com/radiation/

[DBeers]

Restoration at nuke plant disrupted, radiation fears spread to Tokyo

The headline sums it up nicely. Radiation fears spread to Tokyo.

Further, "workers had to leave the plant again"... Why did thy leave? Radiation levels maybe? This means they monitor and as well take precautions e.g. time distance and shielding...

Where did these workers go -Tibet? No, they probably are on standby nearby awaiting an opportunity to reenter AGAIN...

Nuke workers probably know more about dangers involved in nuke than reporters do.

[Domestic Church]

10 hours at # 2 and your a dead duck, 5 hours and you start to shed the mucosa.

[Munz]

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80539.html

Neutron beam observed 13 times at crippled Fukushima nuke plant

I know nothing about Nuclear power .. but this can’t be good

[Razzz42]

A last resort for cooling is the nearby seawater. Why do you think they locate these type of reactors near a body of water?

Venting contaminated steam or discharging contaminated seawater, pick your poison.

Either you cool with seawater thereby contaminating, it in this case, and discharging it back into the open ocean (tons and tons of it) or you let the reactors meltdown then have to cool it down anyway and spew contamination (radioactive) into the open air and sea.

As of March 16th...Units 1 and 2: TEPCO has released estimates of the levels of core damage at these two reactors: 70% damage at Unit 1 and 33% at Unit 2...Noted at...http://mitnse.com/page/2/

Recently March 22nd...”Tokyo Electric Power Company released the results of a half-litre sample of water taken 100 metres south of the discharge channel from damaged units 1 to 4.
Testing for a range of radionuclides showed amounts below regulatory limits for cobalt-58, iodine-132 and cesium-136. Detections were far above limits, however, for cesium-137, cesium-134 and iodine-131...
...Iodine-131 has a half-life of eight days, so its potential danger reduces relatively quickly. Caesium-137 has a half life of 30 years, whereas the other isotope, caesium-134, has a half-life of two years. Additional monitoring at eight locations is to be carried out by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology in conjunction with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. Results from this are expected on 24 March.” Again this from the MIT site...http://mitnse.com/

It’s not clear to me how the spent fuel ponds are doing but anything using saltwater is toast (never to be used again). The MIT site also says units 5&6 are pumping saltwater through them to remove residual heat. I take that to mean via a heat exchange(r) but saltwater none the less but probably not contaminated.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Oh well. The pumpers will figure out away to get the DJIA up to 12,500 somehow today.

[dynoman]

“After radiation spike, tests show tap water safe for babies in Tokyo”

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/24/japan.nuclear.disaster/index.html?hpt=C1

[dynoman]

Check this out for current information; http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/

Real good information here; http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/files/en20110324-2-2.pdf