Honestly, internet snarkiness and 2 minute rages aside, I wonder what this will mean for us in the future. I wonder how US crops, the Australia climate, and Chinese drinking water quality will be affected. Is this so bad that Japan has essentially damned the entire region? Or are we going to see a mass die-off of fish around the world? It's just a really scary situation, and totally not cool.
Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'
31–40 of 265 posts
Re: Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'
#32I think there are similarities between the nuclear power debate and the GMO debate. In both case, I think it's stupid to be fundamentally opposed to the technology/research itself. But in both case, the industry is so fucked up (lies, too close ties with control authority, ...) that I don't trust them at all. It seems to me this is partially a failure of our current economic system, where the incentives for the indus…
I also see a similarity: both GMOs and the nuclear industry pose poorly-managed threats to genetic integrity of all forms of life.
Re: Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'
#33I believe the figure going around is that 200 tonnes of radioactive water, per day, is leaking. This will cause a lot of problems for everyone.
200 tonnes of radioactive water
There is a (long) trillion of tons of radioactive water in all the world's oceans. C14, see? "Radioactive water" is a meaningless term.
Re: Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'
#34Why are nuclear facilities frequently built near oceans and rivers? Is it due to the easy-access to water for cooling purposes? I've seen it in many places, and it just seems short-sighted in light of the potential to spread contamination when something goes wrong.
It's a double-edged sword obviously. How much flow does a plant need ? and is it unrealistic to build an isolated water pond/stream to cool one ?
Re: Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'
#35I don't know why Japan can get away with this for so long. I remember when the Chernobyl disaster happened, Soviet Union was shamed to death by all western media for years. I had high respect for the Russians for their great efforts to contain the damage. A great many of red army soldiers died when building a concrete substrate underneath the ruined reactor, which prevented the underground water from being contaminat…
Japan is getting away with it because there is no radioactive rain impacting other countries.
I guess it helps that the winds blow from west to east (i.e. straight into the ocean where the next country is ~8000 miles away)
Re: Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'
#36I'm so fucking sick of this. This level of ass-clownery makes Japan look so bad, and so diminishes its national prestige in the world, that it's almost like when Bush the junior was president of the USA. Yes, TEPCO is a private company. But it reflects on Japan the same way it would if the US government just left BP and Halliburton to decide entirely for themselves how to clean up the New Horizon oil rig disaster, wi…
Yes, it's not about public/private. At a certain "screw-up" level, it doesn't matter anymore. This is a Japanese problem, but it's close to becoming a worldwide problem The containment has failed, as the leaks show, now what's the solution for that? Can we just pour tons and tons of sand on top so it melts and becomes a glass cocoon? (I don't know) Or it has breached the soil?
it is certainly not just a Japanese problem. Japanese uranium mines didn't fuel the reactors, and the radiological contamination does not recognise national borders. The mismanagement of this disaster is not solely the responsibility of the Japanese government, but has been enabled by the hopeful silence of other nations. Why didn't all our governments stand up and denounce the misinformation around declaration of a 20msv 'acceptable' public dose limit, up from 1msv? Hoping to continue on with business as usual, international authorities stayed silent while their Japanese counterparts misled their people about what was 'safe'.
Re: Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'
#37Have we gotten to the point where the Fukushima disaster has caused as many deaths as an equivalent megawattage of coal powerplants operating over Fukushima's lifetime would have?
Re: Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'
#38I think there are similarities between the nuclear power debate and the GMO debate. In both case, I think it's stupid to be fundamentally opposed to the technology/research itself. But in both case, the industry is so fucked up (lies, too close ties with control authority, ...) that I don't trust them at all. It seems to me this is partially a failure of our current economic system, where the incentives for the indus…
I'm not sure the government would lie any less in this situation so that only leaves one option, no nuclear.
Re: Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'
#39Have we gotten to the point where the Fukushima disaster has caused as many deaths as an equivalent megawattage of coal powerplants operating over Fukushima's lifetime would have?
Has it caused any?
Re: Fukushima leak is 'much worse than we were led to believe'
#40It would be nice to see some numbers.
"around 300 tonnes of highly radioactive water had leaked from a storage tank on the site."
Ok, 300 tonnes, but during which time period? Between 2011 and now? And how radioactive? What elements and how much does it contain?