Level of iodine-131 in seawater off chartContamination 1,250 times above maximum limit

Here is exactly why people in Japan should be worried. TEPCO CANNOT BE TRUSTED
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/power-company-failed-to-maintain-safety-checks-20110320-1c2fr.html

The revelation raises more questions about the scandal-tainted past of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) and the government’s perceived soft regulation of the industry.

The operator of the Fukushima No. 1 plant submitted a report to the country’s nuclear watchdog 10 days before the quake hit on March 11, admitting it had failed to inspect 33 pieces of equipment in its six reactors.

A power board distributing electricity to a reactor’s temperature control valves was not examined for 11 years, and inspectors faked records, pretending to make thorough inspections when in fact they were only cursory, Tepco said.

It also said that inspections, which are voluntary, did not cover other devices related to cooling systems, including water pump motors and diesel generators.

...plutonium in the soil days ago, ....

Bzzzzt! Wrong answer. Those readings were "down in the noise" of the "natural" background left over from weapons testing in the atmosphere. Even if they get some plutonium release, it isn't getting very far. Plutonium in fuel form is not very mobile in the biosphere. You only get it moving around when it is vaporized, like in weapons testing.

BTW, everyone here, reading this now, has a body burden of plutonium in hem, again left over from weapons testing in the atmosphere. Tiny, microscopic particles of plutonium are inside you right now. Oh, my God! we're all gonna die! Ahhhhhhhh!

How's that for a bogeyman...?

You are wrong. Since you claim to be an expert in the field you should know by now that some of those readings indicate that all of it is not background noise from weapons testing.

Those readings were taken days ago and just now released.

look at those numbers again and then come back and tell me it is all from weapons testing

If you say it is, then I know you are no expert.

You are wrong. The announcement made on March 28th on the IAEA news feed says that there were a total of five samples measured. Two of the five showed traces of plutonium that did not exceed the background levels that have been tracked by national officials for over three decades. It was mentioned that the isotopic content of the plutonium suggests that they could have come from the reactors. Plutonium in the environment comes from a lot of different sources, some have very similar isotopic profiles to power reactor plutonium. The plutonium production from facilities like the dual-purpose RBMK reactors (i.e., Chornobil), for example, mimics very closely plutonium from fission of LEU reactor fuel. In any case, two samples out of five that show trace amounts of plutonium that does not exceed the natural background is not a robust data set. I would rather hold out for more complete sampling results before we jumpt to any conclusions on the basis of two samples that were down in the background noise. And for the record, what I said was that even if there is some trace release of plutonium, it isn't going very far for lack of mobility in the environment. So just stop with all this bogeyman crap about MOX and plutonium. You don't scare me.

You know, I have had it with you people and your insulting insinuations, comments about "armchair physicists" and the like. I have four years of college and six years of graduate education, three graduate degrees, 31+ years of experience in the field, including working in industry, government, private consulting, and academia. I have been in the TMI-2 containment and seen the results of that event close-up (ultrasonic surveys of core damage). I have done plutonium surveys in the field where kilograms quantities of plutonium were released. I challenge anyone here to match those credentials and experience. So take that with a big dose of STFU when it comes to "armchair" comments. I'm done. If people want to ask me serious questions by e-mail, I will be glad to share what I know. But any insults or profanity or mocking will go right to the abuse report.

Just wanted to say I have greatly appreciated your informed and helpful commentary, despite the need of some to manufacture panic. The psychological profile of your typical “doomer” is tough to get through to. Like other forms of paranoia, offers of fact-based reassurance are transformed into ill-motivated attempts to deceive, justifying, in their own minds, the vitriolic effort to discredit the messenger of any truth not fitting the “doomer’s” template of reality. You must be aligned with the forces of evil if you are not as panicked as they are.

This is why a dirty bomb would be such an effective tool for terrorists. They could blow up a placebo bomb, with no rad potential at all, and still create massive turmoil, even death, just for the willingness of some to always believe the worst. Which is why effective emergency management must account for the influence and effect of the “doomer” on any given crisis. The problem is they will likely focus so intensely on false risks they will overlook real risks, and actually make the situation worse.

It reminds me a little of what happened in 1938, when they did that radio presentation of the War of the Worlds. It was Halloween, and they ran it as if it were a real news story. The panic that it generated was astounding. My dad told me some even committed suicide. And for what? For a made-up story.

We have such a pervasive cultural mythology about radiation, fostered by the left, that overcoming it with sober factual analysis based on years of real-world experience is much more difficult than it should be. People want to live the mythology. It gives them some sort of pathetic satisfaction, a sense of significance, if they are the ones to carry the message that the world really is ending. They need to have their mythology vindicated, and you will not get through to them with dispassionate, data-driven analysis.

Nevertheless, your responses have been very beneficial to people like me, and doubtless also to the many lurkers who are watching this debate unfold, or who will find it later, and will quietly choose between the shifting sands of panic on the one side and the stable, physics-based rationality on the other side. You are doing a good work, and I wanted to thank you for it.

Did you look at the actual numbers from TEPCO that indicate that it is from the reactor or are you just relying on the synopsis from IAEA.

“However, the isotopic composition of the plutonium found at Fukushima Daiichi suggests the material came from the reactor site, according to TEPCO officials”

So are you discounting the isotopic composition??? DID YOU LOOK AT THE NUMBERS??

If you have 31 years experience then why don’t you tell the truth about that picture that shows a substance that looks like corium. Of course, it might not be. But I sure did notice you totally ignored that it does look like corium and made some stupid comment.

Plutonium can be moved like any particle. It IS harmful if you inhale or swallow it.

You can discount everything all you want..I don’t care how many years in the field you have if you fail to be honest about how serious this situation is - and make stupid comments when it comes to a photo that sure does look like corium.

You couldn’t even admit that it resembles corium, could you?

Speaking of corium..which you refused to admit was a possibility in that photo...it appears someone is taking the readings seriously,,,

Of course, you are going to discount this man, too, eh??

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/29/japan-lost-race-save-nuclear-reactor

Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima,

You know, I have had it with you people and your insulting insinuations, comments about "armchair physicists" and the like.

I have looked forward to lurking and reading your informative posts. Many of us in the oil industry went through the same crap with the oil spill. " The Gulf of Mexico is now dead for years to come!" I would take my boat miles out to sea and observe the Gulf teeming with life, come back here and report my findings only to be ridiculed.

Man O' man...

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