it would be nice to have a collection of good links, since they're spread throughout the earthquake thread atm...

here's the links i still check on a daily basis now:
http://eq.wide.ad.jp/index_en.html
All the MEXT readings in one place, in many languages.

http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/index.html
updates daily with the newest government press conferences. It's in Japanese only, but there are Japanese subtitles for the statements (not the questions though).
(this site is great for a lot of other stuff too, really worthwhile using to learn practical things about life in Japan, science, environment, disaster prevention, etc.)

This is a blog by an Engineering professor in applied science and engineering at Chubu University:
http://takedanet.com/

He's been writing on nothing but the nuclear situation since it began, and he and I share a general skepticism of the media situation. He is quite cautious in his perspective.

Edit:
It's entirely written in Japanese

Edit again:
I wanted to add that the definition of Becquerelis very interesting (had to look it up yesterday).
1 Bq = 1 decay event / s

One thing you all need to remember when they talk about Bq on the news is that it is frequently given in "per kg" or "per L" units (per a unit of mass/volume). However, because the density of water is ~1kg/L, 1 Bq/kg ~= 1 Bq/L (when talking about water contamination). So, if someone knows that ACTUAL limits for infants and adults for Bq/L, that would be useful. However, as it is shown above (300 and 100 Bq), it's meaningless.

Last edited by dat5h (2011 March 25, 7:51 am)

One concern I heard voiced recently, but I had not considered previously was the amount of salt left in the reactor. Converting sea water to steam leaves the salt, and this will coat everything. Even if they begin putting new fresh water in there now, it may take a very long time to actually purify the reactor. Also, it would be important to know if the solidified salt could cause problems with cool down of the rods.

Does anyone have any references that discuss the possible implications of sea water in the reactor? of salt on the core? preferably reputable sources of course

Yeah, the reactors that had sea water pumped into them are already treated as a complete loss.

i'm not sure, but i think it may have been tested before. Looking at the pictures, it seems like the seawater was drawn not straight from the sea, but from some kind of enclosed sea pit type things. I think that's why sometimes they couldn't cool it because they had ran dry. If so, it seems like those sea pit things would have been created for that exact purpose. I'm not entirely sure though...

ghinzdra wrote:

2011/04/12
Although it reads as Chernobyl-like disaster  the authority has pointed out that the radioactive matter released is only about a tenth of what chernobyl released .
They published their statement on the NISA website about 10 minutes ago

I just opened my Yahoo page and there was the headline Nuclear incident as bad as Chernobyl.  I clicked the link and midway down the page it was acknowledged that the situation is completely different.  Unfortunately, most people will just see the headline and panic without actually reading the article.

ghinzdra wrote:

I m fully aware of this unfortunate phenomenon... Any educated reader knows too well how the media give it all on the headline and although they pretend to inform the public fuel the panic .
More interesting is an alleged statement by TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto  according to which the overall radiaoactive matter released by Fukishma might exceed Chernobyl's . I m not even sure if the news agence is kyodo news or reuteurs  but I can't find the statment on the TEPCO website or any statement in japanese for that matter .

Here it is: http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/news/1 … 027-n1.htm
"In case if 100% of contained radioactivity leaks from the plant, there is a possibility that this will surpass Chernobyl." - he said. The exact status of reactors 1-3 is not clear at the moment (the degree of fuel meltdown, whether pressure vessel also melted or not, whether there are cracks in the concrete containment structures and so on).

Last edited by LazyNomad (2011 April 12, 1:33 am)

Now the Japanese government has moved to crack down on independent reportage and criticism of the government’s policies in the wake of the disaster by deciding what citizens may or may not talk about in public.(...)The government charges that the damage caused by earthquakes and by the nuclear accident are being magnified by irresponsible rumors, and the government must take action for the sake of the public good.

Sounds convenient...

http://japanfocus.org/-Makiko-Segawa/3516

I like this as a summary of the current situation:
http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/

So far every 2 days there are significant drops in radiation reported at the plant, so the situation seems stable and given more time they'll be able to clean it up even further.

That video from the "dead zone" shows that around 15-20km radius is habitable (around 3μSv/h) at the time of filming and now (2 weeks later) will be even more so. It does suck if you had a nice house around 3km from the plant since now its generally lost and you can't even sell it since its worth next to zero.

I'm all for nuclear energy, just not in the present (outdated in almost every country) form and as long as its done in "reasonable" remote areas. Poland is set to build its first reactors by 2020 and I really hope this incident won't stop that from happening, as long as its something 3rd generation+ there is no need to worry.

Heatstroke deaths quadruple as nation shuns air conditioners
In my opinion, nuclear energy protesters will be the #1 reason for the expected shattering of the record for heat related deaths this summer. They may as well have broke into elderly people's homes and put a bullet through their heads.

bodhisamaya wrote:

Heatstroke deaths quadruple as nation shuns air conditioners
In my opinion, nuclear energy protesters will be the #1 reason for the expected shattering of the record for heat related deaths this summer. They may as well have broke into elderly people's homes and put a bullet through their heads.

Are you actually going to blame anti nuclear protestors for the rise in heat deaths? Ill neglect for now the obvious truth that the elderly population hardly care what young anti nuclear protestors think. Instead let's examine that article you gave us. In the first paragraph it says:

"air conditioners were switched off in line with government appeals to curb electricity usage to avoid power blackouts."

This says, in your own given article that the government (and from tepco, too as I have seen in Tokyo) has been asking all of us to stop using AC. Further, I am a grad student at a major university and we began using ac in my lab a few weeks ago, in secret, against the request of the university administration.

Please be careful of throwing the blame on people who don't have anything to do with this tragedy. The blame lies squarely on the negligence that led to I'll prepared nuclear facilities. You can't blame people who protest against the consequences of nuclear power, when this is clearly one of those consequences. Come on, you should know better

dat5h wrote:

This says, in your own given article that the government (and from tepco, too as I have seen in Tokyo) has been asking all of us to stop using AC.

The leaflet TEPCO put in my letterbox asked that air conditioners be set to a higher level than usual (28º C) and warned against overdoing it due to the danger of heatstroke.