So, now we are officially at Chernobyl levels

[Value Buy]

Japan announced they were increasing the threat level of their nuclear disaster to the same level as Chernobyl, although everyone says the radiation levels are not as "high" as Chernobyl was.
Now, where are those darn iodine pills I bought last month?

Almost wish there was a "China Syndrome", where this mess would melt and go deep into the Earth.
They will not clean this mess up in our lifetime.
Between constant renewed tremors, and two exposed cores, this is going to get worse.
There is too much radiation being emitted to cover the cores in concrete and steel. The whole thing has to be cooled down before that happens.
Dumped more radiated poison water yesterday.......but not to worry, it will dilute in the Pacificand not harm anything.........
Do you still believe that?

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I read this, too. I chalk it up to fear-mongering.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake

Japanese officials said the leaks from the Fukushima plant so far amount to a tenth of the radiation emitted from Chernobyl, but about 10 times the amount needed to reach the level 7 threshold. They acknowledged the emissions could eventually exceed Chernobyl's, but said the chance that will happen is very small. However, regulators have also acknowledged that a more severe nuclear accident is a distinct possibility until regular cooling systems are restored — a process likely to take months.

"Although the Fukushima accident is now at the equal level as Chernobyl, we should not consider the two incidents as the same," said Hiroshi Horiike, professor of nuclear engineering at Osaka University. "Fukushima is not a Chernobyl."

In Chernobyl, in what is now the Ukraine, a reactor exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing a cloud of radiation over much of the Northern Hemisphere. A zone about 19 miles (30 kilometers) around the plant was declared uninhabitable.

Thirty-one men died mostly from being exposed to very high levels of radiation trying to contain the accident. But there is no agreement on how many people are likely to die of cancers caused by its radiation.

No radiation exposure deaths have been blamed on the leaks at Fukushima Dai-ichi. Two plant workers were treated for burns after walking in heavily contaminated water in a building there.

[busymom]

Can't even imagine what the people there are going through. And the numbers who will get cancer in the future?!?

Did you catch the news story recently when they went back to Chernobyl to see what it was like there today? Even now, no evergreen trees will grow within 30 miles of the reactor. The land there is still THAT toxic. They were using a radiation detector miles away from the accident, and the numbers it was showing way exceeded anything considered safe for humans.

[workpublic]

This message has been deleted.

[floridayankee]

Apr 12, 2011 14:22:50 GMT -5 workpublic said:

so quiet (no birds, bugs, life) they pipe music into the site for workers or guards

Not everything is dead in Chernobyl

“I live very well in Chernobyl,” the orange-headscarved septuagenarian said. “The air here is good, the river is nearby, everything is as it should be. The grass smells good and in summer everything is in bloom.”

Her comments come as a surprise to visitors who have to sign promises on entering the restricted area — which fans out in a 30km radius around the plant — not to touch greenery or facilities or smoke or eat in the open air.

With a month to go before the 25th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, attention has been thrown back on Chernobyl amid the risks from the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant.

Ganna is one of just 270 elderly Ukrainians who live within the exclusion zone in defiance of an official ban on living in the contaminated area — a ban the authorities have long stopped bothering to enforce.

She and her fellow doughty folk may live on the fringes of atomic catastrophe, but pride themselves on their relatively normal lives, and the concerns over a nuclear fallout in quake-hit Japan will not change her mind.

When reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded on April 26, 1986, strewing lethal radiation over a wide area, the Soviet authorities evacuated Ganna and all 130,000 people living within the 30km radius.

However, this did not stop her coming back to her little green wooden house within just a month and never leaving since.

www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2011/03/30/2003499486

[Value Buy]

chaulk it up to fear mongering........
PMP, This mess is not going away. The electric utility and Japanese Government have been pooh poohing this from day one, and caught on multiple times of under representing the actual problems.
Since the prevailing winds and water currents come our way, I do believe we are seeing a growing problem develop here in the states.
We do not need any extra " "x-rays of our bodies", they keep saying that it is just a partial amount of an x-ray) that are not given to us at our request.
When we no longer will be eating the veggies from our summer gardens, or milk from the California or Wisconsin cows, because of higher than expected isotopes, I expect an apology.

[floridayankee]

Apr 12, 2011 14:54:43 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

When we no longer will be eating the veggies from our summer gardens, or milk from the California or Wisconsin cows, because of higher than expected isotopes, I expect an apology.

lmao...never going to happen VB. I almost bought it on the interstate by a <bleep> talking on her cell phone while DW and I were riding back from Leesburg Bikefest saturday. I am fully expecting to become a full fledged crash test dummy by some dumbazzed, inattentive four wheeler long before any of that happens.

I need a louder horn on the scooter or a bigger middle finger.

[Value Buy]

Floridayankee, yeh, you are probably correct.
Had to laugh last week. I was asked if I preferred paper or plastic bags at the store, and thought,

DOES IT REALLY MATTER?

Do I go the paper route, to further the recycling efforts and save the world, or go plastic and screw the environment?

Then I thought, hey the JAPANESE ARE SPEWING THE WORLD WITH NUCLEAR FALLOUT, DOES IT REALLY, REALLY, MATTER?

Choices. We all have to do our part...........and yes, I know the plastic bags can be recycled (or so they claim) so I went with paper, and killed another tree.

[floridayankee]

Apr 12, 2011 15:19:57 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Choices. We all have to do our part...........and yes, I know the plastic bags can be recycled (or so they claim) so I went with paper, and killed another tree.

Renewable resources are a good thing.

[Value Buy]

I keep thinking back to the fifties, with the Japanese classic movies, Rodan, Mothra, etc, and the effects of radiation on the world and Japan in particular.
These movies were the culmination of their dislike of nuclear catastrophes, up to and including our attack on their country to end the war and the physiological problems they had to overcome the issue.
Wonder if the Japanese are thinking back to those days......

[floridayankee]

Apr 12, 2011 15:23:54 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I keep thinking back to the fifties, with the Japanese classic movies, Rodan, Mothra, etc, and the effects of radiation on the world and Japan in particular.
These movies were the culmination of their dislike of nuclear catastrophes, up to and including our attack on their country to end the war and the physiological problems they had to overcome the issue.
Wonder if the Japanese are thinking back to those days......

If they do, I hope they hire pixar for the remakes. Those old flicks were horrible!

[Value Buy]

Apr 12, 2011 15:26:34 GMT -5 floridayankee said:

Apr 12, 2011 15:23:54 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I keep thinking back to the fifties, with the Japanese classic movies, Rodan, Mothra, etc, and the effects of radiation on the world and Japan in particular.
These movies were the culmination of their dislike of nuclear catastrophes, up to and including our attack on their country to end the war and the physiological problems they had to overcome the issue.
Wonder if the Japanese are thinking back to those days......

If they do, I hope they hire pixar for the remakes. Those old flicks were horrible!

Yes, the flicks were terrible, but they were so bad, they were great.
Remember the actor who became Perry Mason who portrayed a reporter in one of them? A classic!
Pixair.....it would be a good one.

Maybe they need James Cameron (Avatar) to do it.