Why is there no more news on Japan radiation?

reply to post by colin42


Oh, so he's crying for himself and not the rest of Japan/World? I get it now.

reply to post by theghosthunter


If some of the things being said here are true thats exactly who he is crying over.

Originally posted by icecold7
the radiaton level is up by one
and the final plan is to cement the thing yes
they are working on it
the last news i got today
oh and all the reporters are gone ,they all left japan because of fear for radiation
thats why the info has stopped
its anybodies geuss wats really going on from this point
but its defenitaly not good

Haha, where on earth did you get the information that all of the journalists have left? That is laughable and completely 100% untrue. The organization I work for has dozens of people on the ground in Japan right now on top of our normal operations there.

As for why there isn't much out there tonight about this, well we in the media can only report what is relayed to us on an issue like this. You cannot ask a journalist to break the law, and risk almost certain death to go up to the plant directly can you? TEPCO is putting up quite a snowjob right now, it is infuriating to journalists trying to get more information right now.

If you want to yell at someone about it, yell at TEPCO and the Japanese government, we have been for days now.

Keep shouting Jimmy because if we are ever going to get the truth it will be because of you and your colleagues.

While I do not think that all of the reporters have left, when I Goooogled for news, there were only a few updated blogs,no seemingly new reports from the area...time difference,maybe? It is really early in the morning there, if I am not mistaken....It did put my wind up for a minute though.NHK is broadcasting live.So, no blackouts.

reply to post by colin42


I am really quite worried this is going to be one of those events where we don't know the whole story for years, the kind of thing where it takes years of guilt and remorse for the people in charge to finally come forward and tell the full set of facts.

We're fighting to try to get that info out now, but when someone just sits across a room from you, looks you in the eye and refuses to say anything, the only thing we can do is call them out on that. We all believe they are hiding the pertinent facts on this, every one of us. This is why readers will start to notice a growing number of stories hinting at that, and telling our readers that they won't talk. It is also why we in the media have started digging up the misdeeds and lying that TEPCO has had in the past.

We don't trust these guys either, that is for damned sure.

I am sorry but we are looking at a very bad possible scenario here.
It is frustrating me to no end how people are downplaying the severity of such a large scale combined disaster.

If they can't get a lid on this ASAP they will have no other options but to evacuate 50+million people from central Honshu.

If that happens, we are talking the end of Japan as we know it.
Also there is no telling how bad the fallout will be here in North America or in Europe.
There's a chance this stuff can have drastic effects for like a hundred years.

Yes I'm talking worst case scenario here, and let's hope to God that I am totally wrong.
But I keep having that nagging feeling that we haven't seen nothing yet, and that this situations going to just escalate even more.


I am not actually fear mongering I am just giving an honest assessment of what we are actually looking at here from the vantage point I have and based on media reports and of pouring over countless documents on nuclear hazards.

I am also really worried about North America as well because we are going to get a nice dose of the fallout it's inevitable at this point...how much we get, is yet to be determined. If there is much fallout detected over the next few days it could easily spark mass-panic.

Oh Muzz you are fear mongering again. No I am just being honest.
I am acting EXACTLY how I should when no one can give me straight answers about specific questions on nuclear disasters, and the only guy willing to resolve some of these questions, Michio Kaku, is fear mongering me. Well when mr Kaku gets worried, you know damn well I am intimately and obsessively concerned in the most upfront and personal way possible.

There's really only one way to reassure me, and that's to control this thing. But it' apparently cannot actually be controlled by current human technology...So....I don't expect anyone to reassure me about anything at this point. I am expecting the worst because no one can get a handle on this.

We hope I'm wrong. We fear that I'm not.

reply to post by theghosthunter


This short video from today tells me more than I wanted or hoped to hear, even though it is not surprising news:

This is bad it really is, I was personally rating it at 5 last week, check my post back history a few days ago.

I would have to up this to a 6 or 7 now honestly. This is not something you can just dismiss. This isn't just potential Multiple reactor meltdowns, but we also have that cache of fuel rods as well.

Everyone is saying don't worry but that's all I can do.
This changes everything about life in the modern world as we have come to know it.

I realize this thing is off the hook, it's just most people haven't come to that ultimate realization yet I suppose.

reply to post by muzzleflash


Star Muzz as I cannot find a fault with your reasoning.

I believe it all rests now on individuals prepared to sacrifice for their family and friends and the information from those brave enough to stay and observe and report.

Silence can only mean one thing. That they are preparing for the worst and sacrifice is not enough.

If they were winning they would be shouting from the roofs

reply to post by theghosthunter

It's gone quite quiet - as far as I can tell, there haven't been any developments at all today? ...

They been reporting things most the day on CNN. Anderson Cooper is even doing a whole thing about it tonight live from Japan. Weather channel has even been reporting things off and on. I am finding all kinds of news on t.v. about Japan. Do you even have cable t.v.? Maybe the Japan newspaper is having a bit of trouble getting their website updated so quickly being there is quite a mess over there and I am sure everyone who works for that newspaper is quite busy with their own family's safety at the moment.

Bzzzzzzz

reply to post by theghosthunter


I see your point, however even if there is new information can we believe it. They have not been the most honest over there during all this.

reply to post by muzzleflash


The ultimate realization as I see it is probably much like yours, the nuclear disaster alone is enough to change Japan forever, add to it the results of the earthquake and tsunami that caused it, well this is a defining even of our age, there is no question about that.

I also agree that a level-5 is low for what is going on at Fukushima Daiichi. We keep hearing it compared to Three Mile Island in press conferences, but that is like comparing a firecracker to a stick of dynamite.

3MI was only one reactor, it didn't destroy a large portion of the US or even the state. The radiation release only exposed residents to about the same level as a chest x-ray. We've heard that x-ray analogy a lot, but in Fukushima there have been times when people outside the plant would have gotten that amount of radiation every single second. Inside the buildings there have been reports that radiation was up to 3sv a minute, that is enough to kill 50% of all people exposed even with the best possible medical treatment.

Even with the little we do know right now, this is far worse than 3MI, and could be approaching a Chernobyl level, which was a 7.

Truly this is terrifying business.

reply to post by ProjectJimmy


Add to that Chernobyl was an isloated reactor whereas this is four reactors in a densely populated island and I think this may well make Chernobyl look like small change.

Where do Japans population go to escape what may be coming?

From another resident in Japan-

Just wanted to let everyone here know that as of Saturday morning here in northern Japan, I cannot find even one regular (non-cable) tv channel that is discussing the current dire nuclear power plant situation in Fukushima, nor radiation levels around Japan. Absolutely nothing. Even Kyodo news website has no new live-feed updates this morning. It's like this whole critical situation is being completely blacked-out by the media and government. If there were any good news, I am positive they would be reporting it right now. This is very, very worrying in my opinion. The only updates they have given on tv here recently have been vague, confusing, and contradictory. I fear things are much worse than first thought.

MG

What is "Corium"?

Corium, also called fuel containing material (FCM) or lava-like fuel containing material (LFCM), is a lava-like molten mixture of portions of nuclear reactor core,

We are talking about ultra-radioactive lava-like substance here in the event of melt-down. That's the official terminology- lava.

Within Corium are various types of potential things.

It consists of nuclear fuel, control rods, structural materials from the affected parts of the reactor, products of their chemical reaction with air, water and steam, and, in case the reactor vessel is breached, molten concrete from the floor of the reactor room.

It can even melt the concrete floor potentially. (Maybe we should have used stone blocks, even though they may melt as well; eg: Pyramids etc). We are talking temperatures of like 3500-6000 degrees F (1000-3000 C) rough estimates.

I guess we should look at the bright side. There is an ultimate worst case scenario that doesn't look possible with this particular event (at least not yet). It could be way way worse actually.

We could have all 4 reactors blazing with a huge inferno. And that could potentially last for a very long time. (Years or longer possibly who knows?)
They typically compare the power of the Tsar Bomba (50million tons of TNT) with that of Krakatoa 1883 (roughly 200million tons of TNT) (according to these estimates).

Look at that wiki link on Krakatoa (check out the drawing), now envision it as 4 Krakatoas lined up together. Now picture it being radioactive, and burning for a very very long time. It could potentially release 100s of times more fallout than the Tsar Bomba.

Just thank God this isn't a quadruple nuclear volcanic event... now of course that's all speculative/theoretical, but it does seem at least half-way possible given what types of materials and the amount of those materials we are dealing with here. I don't know if it can really get out of hand that badly, but I assume it could be possible.

We just don't have much knowledge about these types of accidents, or barely any past experiences to really have good methods of dealing with them.

In my hyped-volcano scenario ( Level 10 or 11 meltdown), such an insanity could kill off the whole planet potentially within a few years...
Our Fukushima meltdown (level 6-7) will probably only render vast portions of Honshu totally uninhabitable for 100years, as a comparison to the severity of both depicted disasters.

I don't mean a volcano spitting out anything though. I just mean a pile of lava that's on fire forever releasing a constant stream of pollution for very long periods. To clarify my terminology employed.

Sorry to say things like this, maybe I should write fiction Cyber-Punk novels, I don't know. My mind runs wild sometimes when huge disasters happen and no one seems to have any real solutions to closing Pandora's Box, just band-aids that hardly cover the wound at all...

reply to post by colin42


you are spot on there. thank you for noticing the obvious. wish more people would or could.

reply to post by theghosthunter


ha-ha-ha. i love that quote.

if fallout does come to the states will i be able to smoke in bars again? i mean i dont think my cig. smoke will be the worst thing you will from breathing in then.

reply to post by muzzleflash


I wouldn't say most people don't think things are off the hook.

All you can do is be prepared...worrying about something that might happen that you have no power over to the point of giving yourself aneurism is going to do jack squat to help most people. Concern is justified being worried, sure... but hysterical panic is not in my opinion...it will only get you so far and does more harm than good.

There is still a window for this to change and now that the CEO has admitted things are very much worse than they've been letting on, hopefully they will very quickly quit trying to cool the stupid things and just bury them while they can.