Fukushima radiation… what you need to know and why

wishes
Have no idea what domestic corporation refers to (as in who's on its list of names/companies). That you 'suppose' it's the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund means you're not sure?

I'm pretty sure that's who it is, though I don't fully understand all the details of the two types of preferred stock and the provisions and ratio for conversion to common stock. But both types only have one owner, which sources say is the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund. What I don't really understand is why Tepco common stock has any value at all, since it seems to me like their liabilities exceed their assets and future earning prospects are pretty bleak. They were already not doing well financially even before the Fukushima disaster.

The Japan government raising "safe" radiation levels to 2000% of what they previously were has done wonders to lower TEPCO's liability and evacuate fewer people, but by some estimates cancer rates in the higher radiation areas may increase from something like 0.75% to 1.25%. It's hardly the apocalypse but I wouldn't really want to live in one of the areas that was previously classified as too radioactive to inhabit, which Japan is now saying is OK to inhabit, apparently to save money by not evacuating larger areas, and because something like 13% of mainland Japan has been affected, which is quite a bit.

Its not recommended for anyone to eat a couple of ounces of cesium though you could and live.

wiki MSDS more info

Caesium compounds are rarely encountered by most people, but most are mildly toxic because of chemical similarity of caesium to potassium. Exposure to large amounts of caesium compounds can cause hyperirritability and spasms, but as such amounts would not ordinarily be encountered in natural sources, caesium is not a major chemical environmental pollutant.[103] The median lethal dose (LD50) value for caesium chloride in mice is 2.3 g per kilogram, which is comparable to the LD50 values of potassium chloride and sodium chloride.[104] NFPA 704 NFPA 704.svg 3 4 3 W The fire diamond hazard sign for caesium metal Caesium metal is one of the most reactive elements and is highly explosive when it comes in contact with water. The hydrogen gas produced by the reaction is heated by the thermal energy released at the same time, causing ignition and a violent explosion. This can occur with other alkali metals, but caesium is so potent that this explosive reaction can even be triggered by cold water.[8] The autoignition temperature of caesium is also −116 °C, so it is highly pyrophoric, and ignites explosively in air to form caesium hydroxide and various oxides. Caesium hydroxide is a very strong base, and will rapidly corrode glass.[13] The isotopes 134 and 137 are present in the biosphere in small amounts from human activities and represent a radioactivity burden which varies depending on location. Radiocaesium does not accumulate in the body as effectively as many other fission products (such as radioiodine and radiostrontium). About 10% of absorbed radiocaesium washes out of the body relatively quickly in sweat and urine. The remaining 90% has a biological half-life between 50 and 150 days.[105] Radiocaesium follows potassium and tends to accumulate in plant tissues, including fruits and vegetables.[106][107][108] Plants absorb caesium differently, some do not absorb it much, and some take it large amounts, sometimes displaying great resistance to it. It is also well-documented that mushrooms from contaminated forests accumulate radiocaesium (caesium-137) in their fungal sporocarps.[109] Accumulation of caesium-137 in lakes has been a high concern after the Chernobyl disaster.[110][111] Experiments with dogs showed that a single dose of 3.8 millicuries (140 MBq, 4.1 μg of caesium-137) per kilogram is lethal within three weeks;[112] smaller amounts may cause infertility and cancer.[113] The International Atomic Energy Agency and other sources have

reply to post by dragonridr


Please, can we clear up the idea Caesium is edible or safe even if it is the Cs-55 non-radioactive.

I don't suggest you would do a you tube where you put a tablespoon in your mouth.


For those that read post on this thread or watch videos suggested, you might remember hearing about a Russian scientist studying Chernobyl wrote a report on the effects of Caesium 137 on the heart and was put in prison for it. Cs-137 is seen as calcium or potasium by the body; the heart is run by electrical impulses; Cs137 interferes instead of conducting these pulses.
Isn't heart disease the number one killer as a result of Chernobyl ?

Effects Of Cesium-137 On Human Health However: ”Research done by Dr. Yuri Bandazhevsky, and his colleagues and students, in Belarus during the period 1991 through 1999, correlated whole body radiation levels of 10 to 30 Becquerels per kilogram of whole body weight with abnormal heart rhythms and levels of 50 Becquerels per kilogram of body weight with irreversible damage to the tissues of the heart and other vital organs. One of the key discoveries made by Bandazhevsky was that Cesium-137 bioconcentrates in the endocrine and heart tissues, as well as the pancreas, kidneys and intestines. This goes completely against one of the primary assumptions used by the ICRP to calculate “effective dose” as measured by milliseiverts: that Cesium-137 is uniformly distributed in human tissues. Let me restate that. The current ICRP methodology is to assume that the absorbed dose is uniformly distributed in human tissues. This is, in fact, not the case…It was never previously translated in large part because shortly after Dr. Bandazhevsky presented it to the Parliament and the President of Belarus, he was summarily arrested and imprisoned.”

whatisradiation.com...


For those that trust government we have the EPA (nothing about the heart here),

Health Effects of Cesium-137 How can cesium-137 affect people's health? Like all radionuclides, exposure to radiation from cesium-137 results in increased risk of cancer. Everyone is exposed to very small amounts of cesium-137 in soil and water as a result of atmospheric fallout. Exposure to waste materials, from contaminated sites, or from nuclear accidents can result in cancer risks much higher than typical environmental exposures. If exposures are very high, serious burns, and even death, can result. Instances of such exposure are very rare. One example of a high-exposure situation would be the mishandling a strong industrial cesium-137 source. The magnitude of the health risk depends on exposure conditions. These include such factors as strength of the source, length of exposure, distance from the source, and whether there was shielding between you and the source (such as metal plating).

epa

reply to post by Arbitrageur


You should not forget that Japan provide the strictest Law regarding Radiation
in and around Japan, our Goal (by Law) is 1mSv/Year,
our Food is the safest in the World and while the USA and Canada still allowed
1.200Bq./ Kg we have only 100 Bq./Kg.

Instead of criticising Japan you need to look for your Homeland first
because we are in a nuclear Emergency and you are not!

While Japan is storing every Litre of contaminated Water
France and the UK still use the English Channel and the Irish- or Northern Sea
for their Waste Products!

reply to post by Human0815


What do you mean it appears the whole World is in on Japans, screw up disaster.

And so much radiated water, has washed or leak back into the ocean, from this Japan screw up, it's a joke

Why don't yous throw Fuford out of the country, he's so full of bull crap.

OOOOOO
reply to post by Human0815

 

Why do'nt yous throw Fuford out of the country, he's so full of bull crap.

edit on 20-1-2014 by OOOOOO because: (no reason given)

He belong to the same Group, Arnie Gundershill, H-ysterical Caldicott,
Snake-Oil Busby, Project Scamalot all the same Unko but in different Names!

But this do not change that we here in Japan have the strictest Law
regarding Radiation, even more strict than the Germans
and it is up to the concerned Americans, Canadians, Martians and what so ever
to change your own stupid Laws!

reply to post by Human0815

Instead of criticising Japan you need to look for your Homeland first because we are in a nuclear Emergency and you are not!

Think a lot of people may think we should all be declared in the state of emergency, and a lot think any mention of Fukushima should be banned.

reply to post by Human0815


Yea, the US has hard quit a few Nuclear mishaps, people died in the process also. The think is, if they are so strict in Japan, why would they allow them to build in a earthquake zone in the first place. Also to not build to the standards of the other plant down the road, which took the hit quite well and their sea walls held. This was not strict requirements, same as US they build in earthquake zones also and will most likely pay for it at some time.

They should not of built any of these things to start with when they did Fermi One in Michigan, half the people or more lied about degrees they had and no one checked till after the fact. When they lost control of the thing no one knew what to do, that's how we gots 50,000 gallons of radioactive water dumped into good ole Lake Erie.

I was down at Three Mile Island also, that's where I got my dog, "Og", his mama was a Nuclear Power Plant Guard dog. He's long gone now, it was nice to have him around on dark moonless night's, cause of how brightly he glowed. It was hard to look at him with the only one eye ball in the middle of his head. I still loved him though.

reply to post by OOOOOO


Do you know that ca. 15-18 nuclear Reactor got hit by the big One at 03/11
and Fukushima Nr.1 gone in to Melt-Down because of the Tsunami and not because
of the Quake?

reply to post by Human0815


Yea, but the whole area there Japan is subject to these, so why not make the precaution if they are so serious about safety, why wasn't the sea wall built properly.

This a common problem something is designed to the proper specifications and some one changes them down the line because of cost restrictions, but in the long run the cost of the damage done by changing the proper specifications, far out weighs what it would of cost, if it had been done correctly to start with. As specified by the designers.

This must be common in the entire world, in the US it's all about money who is getting paid off, or blackmailed or what ever.
I've seen payoff first hand, if it's a cop or building inspectors, politicians you can buy most of them. The bad ones out weigh the good ones.

Human0815
reply to post by Arbitrageur

 

You should not forget that Japan provide the strictest Law regarding Radiation
in and around Japan, our Goal (by Law) is 1mSv/Year,
our Food is the safest in the World and while the USA and Canada still allowed
1.200Bq./ Kg we have only 100 Bq./Kg.

Instead of criticising Japan you need to look for your Homeland first
because we are in a nuclear Emergency and you are not!

While Japan is storing every Litre of contaminated Water
France and the UK still use the English Channel and the Irish- or Northern Sea
for their Waste Products!

Yes, but these threads are about Fukushima/Japan and "not" the rest of the world, lol.

reply to post by donlashway


No actually the heart diseas is caused by genetic defects to the y chromosome. What has happened is we have a third generation showing a higher percentage of heart disease was about 2 percent if i remember correctly. that has nothing to do with cesium they had a full meltdown sending gamma particles everywhere. Its this exposure thats showing long term effects because even though they evacuated residents took a massive dosage of radiation.

reply to post by Arbitrageur



First thing im noticing is people really dont understand what happened at the japanese plant. They didnt go into meltdown though it got close. The reactors were shut down they are safe. What happened was the water pump to the fuel rods stopped overheating the water and allowed it to boil off. Fuel rods are full of unstable atoms like iodine 131. Which was the initial release of iodine 131 this is dangerous because your body will accept iodine no questions asked so to speak. However now there keeping the rods cool and the iodine has already broken down remember i said its unstable. Iodine 131 breaks down into xenon 131 in about a week or 2 ,This is the same stuff you see used in the blue headlights that everyone thinks is so cool on there cars. The other thing it releases is cesium 137. As i said for cesium to be life threatening you really do have to ingest it because the beta particles dont really penetrate the skin more the a couple of millimeters.This means most of your internal organs are safe as long as you dont eat it or allow it to sit on your skin. This is why first symptoms of exposure will be radiation burns followed by hair loss. None of these symptoms were reported in japan this lets you know exposure was low.The concern now is long term effects. Science is still learning what effect radiation has on multiple generations. We know in the case of chernobyl that it has led to birth defects. This is a direct result of damage done to the genome of the people exposed.


Now back to Japan since this is what this thread is about the fuel rods are now being kept cool there is no further releases occurring as of this point what Tepco is doing is monitoring looking for radiation spikes. This is there indicator that something is wrong and the rods are overheating again there only goal right now is to keep those rods cool. Allowing the water to handle the breakdown of those unstable elements. Now correct me if im wrong but i do believe in fukushima at this point they are recycling the water and not dumping it into the environment. This was the last i heard if this is the case then the only threat is radiation that has already been released and that threat is minimal as long as you make sure people stay away from the plant.My only concern with this is if Japan is willing to change their exposure plans do to this accident and declare areas safe that should be cleaned up first.

reply to post by RickinVa


I'm with you on harmless, the small animals are fine, chickens, rabbits and squirrels are doing biz as usual. Have you seen Galen Winsors Youtube about uranium? He made it, took a bath in it, drank it and says it's just a lie. When he asked why they were hiring and monitoring levels and charging for monitoring with tax dollars he was told to mind his own business.
Thanks for your post.
Sincerely
Iwannaknow2

Radioactive water leaking at Fukushima Daiichi

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says water leaking in the number 3 reactor building is most likely to have come from the containment vessel. Tokyo Electric Power Company discovered the water flow on the first floor of the reactor building on Saturday. The stream is about 30 centimeters wide and continuously pours into a drain. An investigation showed the water contains nearly as high a level of radioactive materials as the contaminated water accumulating in the building's basement.

www3.nhk.or.jp...


Interesting


but this is the part that gets me....

TEPCO officials suspect the water for cooling melted fuel in the containment vessel is leaking for some unknown reason. They say they will continue their investigation to understand the condition of the melted fuel, as well as that of the containment vessel in their effort to find out how and where the water is leaking.

One would think that if the leak was in the system they are using to pump water in and out, that there would be a drop in water pressure with a continuous leak.

If the water is actually leaking from the containment vessel itself, then that's not good.

And the radioactive waste water from Fukushima doesn't magically blend into the ocean, evenly distributing itself over a few weeks, or months, or years.

Try drinking a liter of water every day with 40 Bq of radioactive Strontium every day for the next 28 years, or until you croak, and see what that does to you.

How many liters of water go through a Tuna's gils every day?

reply to post by wishes


Yea, tell that to the dude who's Harley just washed up in Canada, not long ago.

Is it radio active.

Plus the only fish I eat, is Haddock out of the North Atlantic, from what they say it's there now, the people in Korea are taking detectors to the fish market, that's comes from Japan also.

Human0815

OOOOOO
reply to post by Human0815

 

Why do'nt yous throw Fuford out of the country, he's so full of bull crap.

edit on 20-1-2014 by OOOOOO because: (no reason given)

He belong to the same Group, Arnie Gundershill, H-ysterical Caldicott,
Snake-Oil Busby, Project Scamalot all the same Unko but in different Names!

But this do not change that we here in Japan have the strictest Law
regarding Radiation, even more strict than the Germans
and it is up to the concerned Americans, Canadians, Martians and what so ever
to change your own stupid Laws!

Same rhetoric, same lack of substance. Where's the proof?

reply to post by OOOOOO


Got a link for the 50k spill at Fermi I don't seem to find anything.

This whole thread has been around the block and back… a couple of times…. Let us at least attempt to agree on some common ground at Fukushima and the radiation coming from it.

During an accident at a nuclear power facility, containment becomes an issue. Once you lose containment, then you lose the ability to regulate how much radiation is released into the environment.

Negative factors:

Reactors 1,2 and 3 suffered core meltdowns.

Cores must be kept cool, or they will heat up. Tepco has to keep pumping water on the cores to prevent them from reaching the temperature that would generate steam. Due to the 3 buildings being too radioactive for humans to safely enter, Tepco doesn’t know exactly where the cores are. This is a problem because these buildings are going to remain deadly to humans for many years.

Recycling the water used to cool the cores.......This is going to become a logistical nightmare at some point, if it isn't already. The storage tanks are leaking and emitting large amounts of gamma rays.

We know that ground water is coming into contact with the coriums, Tepco is willing to admit this. The coriums are going to continue to leach off radionuclides into the ground water until either the ground water is stopped, or the coriums are removed from where ever they happen to be. This is a problem.

In late December 2013, steam from an undetermined location was seen coming from the 5th floor area of what remains of reactor #3. This is a problem because it is an uncontrolled release of radioactivity into the environment. Tepco has placed covers over reactors 1 and 2, to attempt to limit any atmospheric releases of radiation, but 3 remains uncovered.

Fuel rods…. The fuel rods are a huge problem for Tepco. It is estimated that the fuel rod pool in reactor 4 has the capability to release the amount of radiation equivalent of approximately 11,000 Hiroshima bombs. The reactor 4 building was severely damaged structurally. This is a problem.

Geology….. The area that they chose to build this plant is seismically unstable… the whole Island of Japan is seismically unstable for that matter. The longer the decommissioning takes, the greater the odds of an earthquake near the plant increases.

Time…. See above…….. the decommissioning is greater than 25 years and this is a long time in an earthquake prone area.

Positive factors:

Due to the vast amount of water in the Pacific Ocean, any radionuclides from Fukushima that go into the ocean will dissipate to extremely low levels. The farther you get away from the plant, the lower the levels of detectable radiation will be. There should be a negligible effect on anybody living on the other side of it. The same argument can be used for atmospheric releases as well.

People keep talking about massive sea life die offs off the coast of California and try to associate that with Fukushima…. It’s just simply not true. The radioactivity from Fukushima is of way to low a level to cause this. I have heard the diminishing amounts of sardines blamed on Fukushima, but I am pretty sure that started before Fukushima, but that’s not something that would support a doomsday scenario so they will often leave that part out.

Summation:

Yes you should be concerned about the Fukushima accident and the radiation coming from it, I know I am. Right now, it’s only affecting the people of Japan but it’s a very bad situation that has the potential to become worse with little or no notice.

There is one undeniable statement that can be made about Fukushima and the radiation leaking from it.

Only time will reveal what the full effects will be.

RickinVa
Radioactive water leaking at Fukushima Daiichi

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says water leaking in the number 3 reactor building is most likely to have come from the containment vessel. Tokyo Electric Power Company discovered the water flow on the first floor of the reactor building on Saturday. The stream is about 30 centimeters wide and continuously pours into a drain. An investigation showed the water contains nearly as high a level of radioactive materials as the contaminated water accumulating in the building's basement.

www3.nhk.or.jp...


Interesting


but this is the part that gets me....

TEPCO officials suspect the water for cooling melted fuel in the containment vessel is leaking for some unknown reason. They say they will continue their investigation to understand the condition of the melted fuel, as well as that of the containment vessel in their effort to find out how and where the water is leaking.

One would think that if the leak was in the system they are using to pump water in and out, that there would be a drop in water pressure with a continuous leak.

If the water is actually leaking from the containment vessel itself, then that's not good.

edit on 20-1-2014 by RickinVa because: (no reason given)

I agree thats not good because the crack could get worse allowing the water to completely drain out and uncovering the rods. However it doesnt sound like they were that concerned im guessing partly because of the water sitting at the bottom of the reactor because my first suggestion would be pump that back into the container doesnt do any good at the bottom of the reactor vessel. Im assuming they're already doing this but who knows. See the bad thing is everythings under control and you have to trust the company that designed the place to keep it that way. I know there estimates for the tsunami was wrong so im not holding alot of faith in the engineers themselves.