Not much of any way to prepare for this one (if radiation levels increase--I'm not currently worried about it). I don't own a fallout shelter. Taking KI pills for as many months as the plant may be spewing doesn't sound like a viable solution either, assuming you could find some. I guess sometimes we've just got to suck it up and take what we're dealt.

I put a battery in my old Geiger counter just to see if I could get the needle to move -- it only moves when I select circuit check. That's fine with me

California Task Force 2 of LA County Fire's Urban Search and Rescue team has arrived home today.

"We've done some recovery, and at this point, the government of Japan has determined that they don't have any more missions,'' said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. John Lenhian in an interview with CNN.

I just ran across an interesting article that interviews one of the clean up workers (aka "liquidators") from the Chernobyl clean up operation. This woman was a 35 year old nuclear engineer from another nuclear plant who was ordered to Chernobyl for clean up duty. Unlike many of her colleagues, she is still alive.

Anyway, an interesting perspective on that incident, and possible clues to what might await Japanese workers and the Japanese population in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

Arney ... great post with that last article. I can't believe the woman wasn't told her own radiation does levels. The story of the workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant will probably be very similar - or maybe even worse. Who knows what will happen at residential neighborhoods around the plant. I wonder how Japan will find volunteers to do the cleanup?

Today the NRC came out with a preliminary statement saying that the San Onofre nuclear reactor in California is not susecptible to the same problems as Japan. For residents out here, that statement seems like it came out way too early. Where is the detailed indpendent study to evaluate risks from this plant??

Pete #2

Here's a really interesting link from a Ukrainian woman named "Elena". She likes to ride her sports bike (motorcycle) through the Chernobyl nuclear fallout zone. I kid you not. She carries a radiation meter with her, and she's pretty good at using it! You can read all about her travels, and along the way you'll learn a lot about what a safe level of radiation really is. She still uses the old units for radiation - roentgens. So I guess that makes her an "old fashioned kinda girl". Ha! Ha! :-)

You may also find, as I did, that there's a lot about Chernobyl that you didn't really know. She does a good, good job about talking about it's impact on human life.

BTW, I was surprised to learn that the Soviets only succeeded in containing the burned-out reactor at Chernobyl by tunneling under it and making a new containment structure. Apparently a lot of miners died in those efforts. But the problem is that the new containment structure was only given a life of 30 years. Chernobyl was 25 years ago. So what do they plan to do in 5 years time? I don't think they will be able to conscript any more volunteers for that kind of work.

OK, rev up your engine and here we go with Elena ...

http://www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/chapter1.html

cheers,
Pete #2

This item also posted on the thread about radiation measurements.

Yet another twist on the Fukushima story. Now there's a guy in Japan saying that one of the reactors may have serious construction flaws.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fukushi...n-time-bomb-exp

Pete #2

The situation is looking worse now ... with possible evidence pointing to a breach of reactor containment (or perhaps that the cladding of fuel rods has broken down - not clear if this is spent fuel rods, or rods in the working reactor).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake

I was wondering over the last day or two how it was possible for tap water from Tokyo, which is quite distant from Fukushima, to have enough radioactivity to be a concern for infants. That seems to imply that some quite serious radiation is getting into the atmosphere, and coming down in local rain. There was also a report that seawater located 16 km from the reactor had radioactive iodine levels that were more than 10 times above normal. That also implies a serious leak. Now we have a situation where plant workers actually have skin burns from radioactivity - which is really not good. This tends to confirm the suspicion that some of these workers may have received very serious radiation exposure.

UPDATE: Situation at Fukushima moved to Level-6. The implication is that radiation leaks - and their consequences - may be more serious than the Gov't of Japan in letting on.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/fukushi...s-3-mile-island

Pete #2

I've wondered the same thing, although I have no idea how much iodine-131 is necessary to raise the radiation level to that 200 Bq level we saw the other day. It may not take that much at all, but I have no idea.

The other worrying thing was the discovery of vegetables grown in Tokyo being found with cesium-137 above the legal limits. If the vegetables grown in your own city are becoming contaminated with unhealthy levels of radiation, I'm sure it's making the people wonder about the safety of their own bodies more and more.

Considering that sea based veggies such as seaweed have naturally very high levels of iodine and that the iodine may now be radioactive, this is seriously not good for the food supply.