Taijou
After the huge earthquake loads of foreigners are leaving Japan. Encouraged into panic mode by their respective governments telling them to leave because of the dangers of radiation poisoning.
When you have the American Surgeon General Regina Benjamin stating that is appropriate and not an overreaction to get hold of iodide tablets (she has now backtracked on that statement), and the Chief Scientist in the UK saying his concerned about the safety of the nuclear reactors, and the French embassy telling their citizens that the dangers from nuclear radiation is so high that they must leave the country NOW, it’s not surprising that everyone is panicking. Especially when countries are arranging free flights home. Flights which the airlines are saying will be checked on landing “as a precaution” by detectors which are regularly set off by bananas.
All this is doing the opposite of calming people down. Many are thinking that they will now get cancer because of the problems at the nuclear reactors. When you have people over 8,000km away from Japan panicking about nuclear radiation then you have failed to inform and educate the population into the reality of the situation. The demand for 24/7 news doesn’t help either when the newscasters are commenting on any and every single point and blowing it out of all proportion. Even as a libertarian you get the emotional feeling that 24/7 news should be banned it is so excessive.
The reality is that there is no increase in risk of getting any disease from the problems in Japan. And that includes people in Tokyo too. Tokyo being over 300km away from the nuclear power stations near Sendai and not even in the path of the prevailing wind.
Yes the radiation levels have increased five times or even 20 times above normal levels in Tokyo but this doesn’t mean anything. Five times a minuscule amount is still a minuscule amount. The minuscule amounts being a maximum of 0.8micosievert/hour which even if spread over a year is around 4000microsieverts which compares with an average level of 2 to 5millisieverts from natural levels.
Now the surprising bit.
I’m all for anyone who can leave to do so. But not because they should leave for their own safety. But for the safety and security of the Japanese who don’t have the luxury of being able to escape. The more people leave the more is left for those left behind. With limited fuel, food, and cover what is left should be given to those who don’t have an option of leaving.
This is a country which has just been hit by one of the biggest earthquakes known and has survived. A minor nuclear reactor issue is nothing to the problems the country is having to cope with. For more reasoned commenting without any histrionics about the situation in Japan have a read of www.japanprobe.com.
* Taijou is Japanese for exit, leaving.
SBML
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March 18, 2011 at 07:10 -
Excellent post! And yes, the best thing anyone who can’t help could do right now is get out of the way of those who can…
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March 18, 2011 at 07:53 -
Hubris? The extremely nasty mix of radio-isotopes within spent fuel rods, the many refuelling sets (in what may turn out to be already dangerously-overloaded cooling ponds) are a health threat potentially much greater than the present radiation level near the plant. If there is a major fire/meltdown, tons of this lethal cocktail will be distributed globally. Perhaps it’ll result in a few phosphorescent sheep, perhaps millions will die – nobody can be certain yet. Take iodine now.
New definition of insanity: “Storing isotopically-complex, extremely radioactive spent fuel rods in an open pond, on top of a nuclear reactor in an active earthquake zone, on a coastline scoured by tsunamis,if the loss of cooling water would be catastrophic.”
The ponds required constant pumping to avoid thermal runaway. The water has not all boiled away, as has been said so far, but leaked away through cracks caused during the earthquake. Even if the pumps are reconnected, they may prove insufficient to restore the water level, just like filling a bath with the plug out.
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March 18, 2011 at 11:27 -
And of course the Japanese engineers, who are on site, who know exactly the amount and radioactivity of the spent fuel rods, not to mention the regimes of enrichment or neutraliation for them, need you to tell them that? So as you obviously know so much more about the geology and physics, both in scientific and engineering disciplines, than they do, I suggest you grt out there and tell them hoew to do it and dont forget the Iodine tablets and I would hope that you boycott Japanese goods as well. P.S. No one stores spent pool rods in a an open pond ON TOP of a reactor, it would make the constuction and operation of the reactor a lot more complicated.
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March 18, 2011 at 11:32 -
Sorry for the many spelling mistakes, this comment irritated me to the extreme, what happened could not have been foreseen and as intelligent as the Japanese are, they do not have the ability of clairvoyance as some western commentators think they have.
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March 18, 2011 at 12:55 -
Cooling ponds are necessarily at the upper level, so the travelling crane may withdraw spent rods from the reactor and place them immediately in a pond. You are correct – I meant beside, not directly on top.
My criticism is that many reactor loads of spent rods have been left there over decades, not moved away to a safer long-term storage site. As I said before, commercial considerations may have overridden safety concerns.-
March 18, 2011 at 13:21 -
Ed P thank you for your precise reply. If this was to have happened in other countries I would not have been too surprised, Sellafield immediately comes to mind in relation to the pools and what has been dumped in them in the last 60 plus years, especially in regards to Pile I and 2 and the U.K. govts. complete disregard for safety issues in the race to have an atomic weapon immediately after the second world war. However I have always believed the Japanese would have had a much more cautious and pragmatic approach to the storing of nuclear waste, especially as they are constantly aware of the risks of Earthquakes.
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March 18, 2011 at 12:17 -
Ed, I think the Japanese know a lot more about radiation than you, their being on the receiving end of two atomic bombs – something no other country has felt.
It would also help if you read these articles from the Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/14/fukushiima_analysis/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/15/fukushima_update_tuesday/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/16/fukushima_wednesday/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/17/fukushima_thursday/
and stopped listening to the green agenda that wants us back in the dark ages.The things you should be concerned about is the death and destruction from the natural disaster and the pollution it has caused to the food growing areas.
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March 18, 2011 at 12:57 -
As a phyicist I have some little understanding of these issues. You, conflating nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors, may not.
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March 18, 2011 at 13:32 -
Please have a read of the latest update by Lewis Page over at The Register where he gives a non-hyped, non-green run down of the situation. As a physicist you should be able to understand it.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/18/fukushima_friday/page2.html
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March 18, 2011 at 14:09 -
Yes, thank you, it’s a reasonable and calm assessment.
There is a risk that the rods in the “cooling ponds” (not much cooling and no pond at the moment) will reach a critical temperature, as they are no longer separated adequately. Adding water again is risky, due to its neutron moderation effect, increasing nuclear reactions/heat output instead of cooling. Any zirconium fuel rod sheaths reaching 800 degrees will ignite/combine with water to release hydrogen. So there’s a lot for the incredibly brave site team to achieve before it can be ajudged safe.
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March 18, 2011 at 16:11 -
Nuclear weapons produce radiation as do nuclear reactors, the difference is that the weapons are designed to let it out and the reactors to keep it in and controlled.
My point is that the Japanese are the only people that have been forced to deal with massive radiation and so have some experience in that. The Tjernobyl was only bad because of its graphite core that burned, the Japanese reactors do not have that type of core.
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March 18, 2011 at 07:57 -
What a good idea! We could feign a “nuclear threat” and offer free flights to the useless and feckless and ship them back to their own countries. Most of them are more democratic than ours now anyway!
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March 18, 2011 at 08:29 -
I read this posting on my Japanes-branded laptop; watched the news on my Japanes-branded TV; went to work in my Japanes-branded car; then, had a sushi.
I’d better stock up on the iodine tablets.
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March 18, 2011 at 09:08 -
@annaraccoon2010 I am also declaring a non-violent verbal online war against anyone who supports intervening in Libya, with swear words too.
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March 18, 2011 at 09:48 -
Brits Raising Security Level From Miffed to Peeved.
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The British are feeling the pinch in relation to recent threats in the Middle East and have raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross”. Brits have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies all but ran out. The Middle East has been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to a “Bloody Nuisance”. The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was during the Suez crisisThe French government announced yesterday that it has raised its alert level from “Run” to “Hide”. The only two higher levels in France are “Collaborate” and “Surrender”. The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France’s white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country’s military capability.
It’s not only the French who are on a heightened level of alert. Italy has increased the alert level from “Shout loudly and excitedly” to “Elaborate Military Posturing”. Two more levels remain: “Ineffective Combat Operations” and “Change Sides”.
The Germans also increased their alert state from “Disdainful Arrogance” to “Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs.” They also have two higher levels: “Invade a Neighbour” and “Lose”.
Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual, and the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.
The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.
Americans meanwhile are carrying out pre-emptive strikes on all of their allies, just in case.
Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from “No worries” to “She’ll be right, mate”. Three more escalation levels remain: “Crikey!”, “I think we’ll need to cancel the Barbie this weekend” and “The Barbie is cancelled”. There has not been a situation yet that has warranted the used of the final escalation level.
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March 18, 2011 at 10:19 -
The above courtesy of John Cleese….
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March 18, 2011 at 09:43 -
Doesn’t anyone else think that a huge nuclear scare is a very convenient gift to the anti-nuclear/green lobby? Sounds to me that the scare is mostly made up and grossly overhyped when compared with what real scientists are saying.
Asit happens a close relative of mine has just gone to Japan, and no he’s not mad, but his girlfriend was out there on a work contract with no family or close friends. What would you do?-
March 18, 2011 at 10:07 -
Oh, yes! They are riding this horse for all it’s worth. In fact, they are probably the only ones actually looking forward to a nuclear catastrophe…
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March 18, 2011 at 11:01 -
The relevant word is “scare”.
Until any nuclear accident kills at least 10,000 people immediately, it should be considered in context.
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March 18, 2011 at 09:47 -
Rational and well-argued.
One thing.
Might be worth not mixing the units; for the hard-of-thinking, 4000microsieverts = 4 millisieverts “which compares with an average level of 2 to 5millisieverts”.
Reminds me of the Hornby stand at the Ideal Home exhibition in the ’60s “DANGER!!! 12000 millivolts!!!!!” -
March 18, 2011 at 09:53 -
Watching BBC News24 something struck me. No matter what the disaster or where it is there is a BBC reporter and camera operator.We are told supplies are not getting through, no transport available, nowhere to live, no water etc. How do the BBC get there and in such numbers to be on every street corner? Assuming they all weigh 70kgs that is an awful lot of rice and water that could taken to the needy or people taken to safety.Times this by multiples of the worlds media. Or do they take their own supplies?
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March 18, 2011 at 10:08 -
I can foresee a potential new scare story: ‘BBC reporters cause disaster and death!’
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March 18, 2011 at 11:05
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March 18, 2011 at 11:06 -
I want to know what happened in Tonga, did anything fall over?
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March 18, 2011 at 20:17 -
Thank you Sadbutmadlad and John Leon for bringing some much-needed sanity to the issue.
It is a damning indictment of our age that educated and sensible people such as EdP can spout nonsense about relocating spent fuels rods to safer locations when we have all witnessed the NIMBY syndrome in effect time-and-time again particularly with respect to nuclear material. One only has to reference the farce that is Yucca Mountain in what is supposedly the most advanced democracy in the world to realise that sensible alternatives are frequently defeated by the hysterical proponents of “green technology” to the detriment of the majority of the population.
As it happens I live on the west coast of North America, I am much more likely to die from the effects of the water plumes (rain) or the air plumes (wind) from the frequent winter storms blowing in off the Pacific than I am from the much hyped nuclear plumes. Which reminds me of an apt commentary about another over-hyped “disaster”-”More people were killed by Ted Kennedy’s car than by Three Mile Island”
The major lesson from this incident is surely to ignore the 24/7 news cycle and seek factual information from the net. The MSM and TV channel news gathering organizations are thoroughly infested with know-nothing, hysterical drones addicted to international travel and expense accounts, they are thoroughly discreditted and should be ignored.
I am off now for a walk with the dogs to increase my daily dosage of radiation exposure.
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