[kenberg]

This thread has been a source of serious informed assessment and I, like others, appreciate it greatly. What I get out of this is that a bunch of very good people are doing their very best. I hope it carries them home.

[BunnyGo]

Thank you for all the updates and details. From what I'm reading in the news (NYTimes) it seems that things are getting worse, but I can't fully understand it. When you get a chance, an update would be really helpful.

Thanks again for the information.

[Hanoi5]

This is a good topic for information about the terrible situation of the nuclear facility in Fukushima and I'm actually worried about Gerben not having posted lately. I just read some passengers from Japan got abnormal radiation levels arriving in Taiwan and apparently Murphy is having his way with the situation.

[hotShot]

Hanoi5, on 2011-March-17, 07:45, said:

This is a good topic for information about the terrible situation of the nuclear facility in Fukushima and I'm actually worried about Gerben not having posted lately. I just read some passengers from Japan got abnormal radiation levels arriving in Taiwan and apparently Murphy is having his way with the situation.

I think that Gerben, just like all of us, has no new informations to make a comment.

[Aberlour10]

There are a lot of information in the medias, the problem is these news contradict so often each other. Who is to blame for it, the international media or Japanese authorities?

[blackshoe]

The media, IMO, since the concept of actually verifying your sources seems not to be part of what passes for "journalism" these days.

[Gerben42]

Not much new information, sorry. Apparently the radiation has gone down, and they are trying to cool the spent fuel pool with helicopters and high pressure water cannons. So far apparently with mixed success. I need not repeat that failure here would be catastrophic. This will probably go on for quite some time so we have to be patient.

Some good news is that they are going to try getting electricity back to the plant. That would make things much, much more simple. Meanwhile, I am awaiting what the German government is going to do with the announced "stress test" for its plants.

[hotShot]

I find it unrealistic to expect that someone actually knows exactly what is going on.

The ones that could in theory know best, are the people actually in the plant, but they have to work without light and have to avoid to go to places where the radiation level would kill them at once.
Since they can't really take a look what is going on, they have to rely on estimations and assumptions. I doubt that it is important for them to know e.g. how low the water is, as they have to get it up again. Without electric current, damaged by the tsunami and perhaps destroyed by the radiation any surveillance instrument they might have had, is either not working or unreliable.
And I guess that they have more important things to do, than keeping the media up to date.

[Winstonm]

blackshoe, on 2011-March-17, 10:06, said:

The media, IMO, since the concept of actually verifying your sources seems not to be part of what passes for "journalism" these days.

Wait a second - I thought I was the only one around here who held those views of the media.

[cherdano]

Winstonm, on 2011-March-17, 18:15, said:

Wait a second - I thought I was the only one around here who held those views of the media.

For the first time in ages, I watched CNN yesterday while on the plane.

Now I know that the catastrophe is already as bad a Chernobyl. It's true because a nuclear expert on CNN said it, in the first 5 minutes that I watched. (And of course the following 15 minutes consisted of CNN hosts talking to each other about the news that a nuclear expert on CNN had finally said how bad it really is.)

Fortunately, halftime was over and I could switch back to ESPN.

[phil_20686]

cherdano, on 2011-March-18, 07:33, said:

For the first time in ages, I watched CNN yesterday while on the plane.

Now I know that the catastrophe is already as bad a Chernobyl. It's true because a nuclear expert on CNN said it, in the first 5 minutes that I watched. (And of course the following 15 minutes consisted of CNN hosts talking to each other about the news that a nuclear expert on CNN had finally said how bad it really is.)

Fortunately, halftime was over and I could switch back to ESPN.

CNN - that was your mistake. Everyone knows that real americans only trust Fox news. lol

[kenberg]

If I were in Japan and the Japanese government and the American government were arguing over whether I should stay 19 miles away or 50 miles away I would compromise and stay 100 miles away. And if their is room on one of those charters, I could be packed in twenty minutes.

I think that the basic fact is clear, namely that no one knows how this is going to go. I suppose experts on CNN, FOX, or elsewhere aren't paid big bucks to say that.

[dcrc2]

cherdano, on 2011-March-18, 07:33, said:

For the first time in ages, I watched CNN yesterday while on the plane.

Now I know that the catastrophe is already as bad a Chernobyl. It's true because a nuclear expert on CNN said it, in the first 5 minutes that I watched. (And of course the following 15 minutes consisted of CNN hosts talking to each other about the news that a nuclear expert on CNN had finally said how bad it really is.)

Fortunately, halftime was over and I could switch back to ESPN.

I was watching the BBC breakfast programme when, during an interview with an expert on nuclear power, the footage of the first explosion came through. Stunned, the presenter came up with a remarkably insightful question: "Presumably, an explosion like this is something you want to avoid?"

[matmat]

cherdano, on 2011-March-18, 07:33, said:

For the first time in ages, I watched CNN yesterday while on the plane.

Now I know that the catastrophe is already as bad a Chernobyl. It's true because a nuclear expert on CNN said it, in the first 5 minutes that I watched. (And of course the following 15 minutes consisted of CNN hosts talking to each other about the news that a nuclear expert on CNN had finally said how bad it really is.)

Fortunately, halftime was over and I could switch back to ESPN.

Uninformed fear-mongering at its finest.

Did you catch the science segment on fox news the other day?

[blackshoe]

phil_20686, on 2011-March-18, 09:07, said:

CNN - that was your mistake. Everyone knows that real americans only trust Fox news. lol

"Trust no one." -- The Marlboro Man, to Fox Mulder.

[blackshoe]

dcrc2, on 2011-March-18, 13:55, said:

I was watching the BBC breakfast programme when, during an interview with an expert on nuclear power, the footage of the first explosion came through. Stunned, the presenter came up with a remarkably insightful question: "Presumably, an explosion like this is something you want to avoid?"

ROFL!!

[Winstonm]

I never knew there was a Japan Syndrome.

[y66]

Good discussion on Science Friday. To listen, see controls in upper left corner.

Edit: Technical glitch in the podcast. Sorry.

[cloa513]

The earthquake itself didn't cause them any big problems- some workers got hurt- the assumption that you can predict the maximum size of a tsunami is what did them caused the nuclear the big damage and the luck that one nuclear was a big higher than higher than the other was the reason that they have only one major nuclear incident.

[matmat]

http://xkcd.com/radiation/
I found this chart more informative than any/all of the graphics in standard media (that I have seen so far).