Tritium Measurement In Fukushima Bay Highest Ever As TEPCO Admits 40 Trillion Becquerels Have Spilled Into Pacific

45 Comments on "Tritium Measurement In Fukushima Bay Highest Ever As TEPCO Admits 40 Trillion Becquerels Have Spilled Into Pacific"

GregT on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 1:06 am 



Yup, blame the Japanese, for American technology, and American corporate ingenuity.

“Tritium, which slowly but surely is making its way to the United States.”

Karma, it’s a bitch.

James on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 1:55 am 



This is why mankind needs to know what he is doing before getting into stuff he doesn’t FULLY understand. If this situation isn’t fixed, I am afraid the radioactive material will eventually have an adverse affect on the whole planet. It is already thousands of miles from where it all started, and is being added to on a daily basis. We need to either power down our lifestyles, or figure out how to produce energy SAFELY and use it conservatively.

diemos on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 2:34 am 



Yup, once those 40 trillion becquerels have been diluted in the 1.4e21 liters of ocean there will be;

40e12 Bq / 1.4e21 l = 0.00000003 Bq/l

Not a good thing, but not quite doom.

SilentRunning on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 2:36 am 



OH MY GOD! 40 TRILLION BECQUERELS! That’s a HUUUGE number! Won’t it make the entire Pacific ocean glow in the dark? AND IT’S HEADING TOWARDS THE WEST COAST OF AMERICA!!! ARE WE ALL GOING TO DIE WRITHING IN RADIOACTIVE AGONY??

Well, no probably not.

1 gram of tritium releases 357 Trillion Becquerels of radiation. So, with our 40 trillion release, we are talking about a quantity of substance that is a little over a TENTH OF A GRAM.

Now dilute that with trillions of gallons of ocean water, and by the time it makes it to the west coast of the USA, it would take ultra sensitive instruments to just possibly be able to detect it. No, you won’t be able to read the paper by the light of the ocean.
40 x 10^12 Becquerels works out to be about

SilentRunning on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 2:45 am 



diemos wrote:
>40e12 Bq / 1.4e21 l = 0.00000003 Bq/l

>Not a good thing, but not quite doom.

The natural potassium in your typical banana or potato has about 15 Bq. Every time you see a truckload of bananas going down the road, you are looking at MILLIONS OF BECQUERELS OF RADIATION!!! Those evil Central Americans are trying to irradiate us to death with their radioactive death plants! Same with those Idaho potatoes!

arthur plow on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 3:12 am 



I don’t think you see it quite right. Those concentrations do not dilute evenly in the entire ocean. Oceans are made of currents and thermal layers which can very well concentrate the radiation and keep it that way. Beside these leaks can go on for years, decades. It’s cumulative. So the west coast will get it eventually.

SilentRunning on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 3:19 am 



Yep, arthur, the west coast will get it eventually. The radiation will spread out over the entire world. But as it does, the concentrations will become lower and lower.

My son bought a tritium key chain a few weeks ago. It has a small amount of Tritium in a glass vial, and it clearly glowed in the dark. I just looked up on google, and it turns out that that key chain – which WAS IN MY LIVING ROOM, had *** TWENTY BILLION BECQUERELS *** of radioactivity in it!!! IT WAS IN MY LIVING ROOM!!! I handled it with my bare hands!! I don’t know how I can still be alive!!!!

Gotta go, maybe I am about to change into the Amazing Hulk or something….

diemos on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 3:24 am 



“Those concentrations do not dilute evenly in the entire ocean.”

It may take a very long time but eventually it will be evenly diluted.

“Oceans are made of currents and thermal layers which can very well concentrate the radiation and keep it that way.”

Your statement has no basis in fact. There is no mechanism that would concentrate the tritiated water.

“Beside these leaks can go on for years, decades. It’s cumulative.”

Yup. And the tritium that’s already in the ocean is constantly decaying away. You lose 5% of what’s there every year given the 12.3 year half-life of tritium. So at a 40e12 Bq/year leak rate the equilibrium concentration in the ocean would top out at 800e12 Bq or 0.0000006 Bq/l.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for tritium doom to arrive.

GregT on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 3:31 am 



No problems at Fukushima, nothing to see here, move along.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. Consume more, think less.

GregT on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 4:08 am 



Silent,

Congratulations on your son’s new keychain, you must be very proud of it. However, you are a totally irresponsible parent for allowing your son to be exposed to a known carcinogen. Whether you like it or not, those warning labels are there for a reason. Cancer usually takes between 20 and 30 years to grow to the point where it becomes terminal, but it could be much less.

You and your son may still be alive today, but you have greatly increased his odds of dying prematurely. People like you should not be allowed to have children.

I hope your wife reads this. Moron.

diemos on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 4:46 am 



The tritium is contained, along with it’s radiation. There’s no dose outside the container.

Moron.

Norm on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 4:56 am 



Would like to logically analyze whats really going on. if they pump in water to cool a melted reactor, and it spills out and goes into the ground, then the meltdown musta gone thru the bottom of the concrete building. Melted reactor is called ‘Corium’ and i guess it can blast thru a couple meters of concrete in a couple of hours. so i guess thats the situation. Gut feel is, dumping in the water is a waste of time, cause reactor already melted to China. Oh nuts what do you call a China Syndrome if the reactor is in China? i am so confused now.

GregT on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 5:32 am 



diemos,

Radiation is not contained by concrete, or lead, it is only reduced. It is the amount of exposure to radiation that increases the likelihood of cell mutation. It only takes one cell, exposed to a very small amount of radiation, to produce cancerous cell growth. It is all a matter of odds. Would you expose your child to an increased odds of radiation exposure, increasing cancer risks? I wouldn’t personally do that to my children. Apparently you would.

So who exactly is the moron?

diemos on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 5:44 am 



Crack a book and learn how this stuff works. Tritium emits beta particles that have an energy of 5.7 keV. 0.0003 inches of stuff will completely contain them.

Gamma emitters are the ones that are hard to shield.

BillT on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 5:50 am 



GregT, some are not smart enough to think beyond the sales pitch of whatever they see that is ‘neet/cool’ and give some feeling of ‘importance’. After all, tobacco was/is sold as a way to look important, mature, intelligent … according to the ads/brainwashing.

Those few rads may just be the straw that broke the cancer cells protection. But, they will not see the killer effects until AFTER all medical help has disappeared in the new world of radioactive everything as all of the 400+ nuclear sites slowly leak their hundreds of thousands of tons of spent radioactive fuel cells that are exposed to the air.

No? Who and what is going to keep them ‘safe’ for the next 1,000+ years when there is no money/energy to do so? Answer: No one.

After all, these six nukes were built on the Ring of Fire where category 5+ quakes happen almost every day and it is also the tsunami capital of the world. And there are several on the California coast that are also on the Ring of Fire. Imagine a Fukushima on the coast near LA. And all of the radiation in the air coming directly over the US. Could/can/will happen, eventually.

GregT on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 6:26 am 



diemos,

You can crack all of the books that you like, the fact of the matter is, no one knows for sure. My wife is a radiologist, and a biological technologist. She deals with cancer on a daily basis, both in living and dead tissues and living and dead people.

Exposure to radiation is known to cause cancer, period. There is no understanding as to exactly what exposure is casual, only that mutant cell growth differs from one patient to another. Many theories, but no concrete conclusions.

From the EPA, (only because I am guessing that you are an American, gee I wonder why )

As with all ionizing radiation, exposure to tritium increases the risk of developing cancer. However, because it emits very low energy radiation and leaves the body relatively quickly, for a given amount of activity ingested, tritium is one of the least dangerous radionuclides. Since tritium is almost always found as water, it goes directly into soft tissues and organs. The associated dose to these tissues are generally uniform and dependent on the tissues’ water content.

So continue to crack your books bud, and ignore science all you want, but the fact remains that tritium is a known carcinogen, which means that it is known to cause Cancer.

Moron.

diemos on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 6:40 am 



Yes, tritium is a known carcinogen … if you eat it. Moron.

It’s not if you carry it around in a vial in your pocket.

Get your radiologist wife to explain it to you. If she can’t, have her turn her license in.

GregT on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 7:09 am 



My wife does not need to turn her license in, she is highly esteemed. If you wish to screw around with substances that are not fully understood, knock yourself out. I personally would never expose children to anything that has the potential to be life altering, or threatening. I find that to be completely irresponsible.

You have already shown that you disagree. Good luck to you.

diemos on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 7:21 am 



“I personally would never expose children to anything that has the potential to be life altering, or threatening.”

So you never drive your children anywhere? Car accidents can be pretty life altering.

BillT on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 11:45 am 



diemos … give it up. Bad decisions by parents happen everyday … like not making them wear seat belts. Or letting them watch TV.

Charlie Bucket on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 12:24 pm 



@BillT – Best point yet is all the nukes that will need to be maintained and protected for the next 1,000 years! I would submit the next 100,000 years. Essentially there is no way to do it and the concept of even trying it is pretty heavy. The pyramids of Egypt only date back 5,000 years! I highly recommend watching the documentary “Into Eternity”. Google it and you can watch it online. Seriously, a great movie and perspective on what we are going to have to do to try and protect ourselves for nuclear waste!

Charlie Bucket on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 12:31 pm 



@diemos – Best moronic trolling I have seen in a while, name calling, points devoid of substance and/or meaning, and a complete lack of adding to the dialog; pure agitator for the sake of agitating. NICE! Although in the new world you probably will not make it very long before someone shoots you in the face. Just say’n.

arthur plow on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 1:14 pm 



“Those concentrations do not dilute evenly in the entire ocean.— It may take a very long time but eventually it will be evenly diluted”

Yes I agree “eventually”, you are talking about the entire Pacific. That may be in thousands of years.

“Oceans are made of currents and thermal layers which can very well concentrate the radiation and keep it that way. — Your statement has no basis in fact. There is no mechanism that would concentrate the tritiated water.”

You are right that was badly put. I meant that the contaminated water will not dilated as fast because of the ocean currents/layers. If you take measurements, it vary from place to place.

“Beside these leaks can go on for years, decades. It’s cumulative.— Yup. And the tritium that’s already in the ocean is constantly decaying away. You lose 5% of what’s there every year given the 12.3 year half-life of tritium. So at a 40e12 Bq/year leak rate the equilibrium concentration in the ocean would top out at 800e12 Bq or 0.0000006 Bq/l.

Yes it is slowing decaying but it is still there and every day there is more leaking. Large amount of it.

I don’t know why you are trying to minimize unprecedented, hundreds of tons or irradiated water flowing in the ocean daily without any effect to worry about. It’s a living ocean not a water bucket.

diemos on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 2:27 pm 



“I don’t know why you are trying to minimize unprecedented, hundreds of tons or irradiated water flowing in the ocean daily without any effect to worry about.”

Please feel free to worry about it.

Heaven forfend that I try to inject a little reality into your nuclear hysteria doom mongering.

To recap. Carrying a tritium key chain in your pocket will not have the slightest effect of giving you cancer. (Just don’t break it open and eat it.)

I’m not trying to minimize the risks. I’m trying to get you to accurately understand the risks so that you can make informed decisions.

You pick up 3.5 mSv/year of natural background.

In order for tritium to give you 0.0035 mSv /year (or 0.0000035 J/kg / year) it would need to deposit 1.1e-13 J/kg / second (or .686 MeV/s/kg)

Tritium deposits 0.0057 MeV/disintegration so divide through and you get 120 disintegrations/s/kg or 120 Bq/l.

So you could drink 120 Bq/l tritiated water from now until the end of time and it would have an utterly negligible effect on your cancer rate. You should worry more about the pesticides on your veggies.

Isn’t it wonderful to have the scientific knowledge to be able to do these calculations for yourself so that you can know whether something is worth panicking about or not? Cracking a book is very worthwhile. This topic may be esoteric but it’s not string theory. You can crack a book and learn the basics in an afternoon.

Now, if you want to have this discussion about cesium or strontium the badness factor will certainly go up.

curlyq3 on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 2:34 pm 



Hello Charlie Bucket … this fellow diemos is not the most ignorant I have encountered but give him credit for trying to be … I do not intend to be mean spirited diemos however your knowledge base is lacking … the most significant aspect of all this nuclear waste is what it does to the “Food Chain” … the term you need to understand is bioaccumulation … internal emitters are very serious to your health … curlyq3

Charlie Bucket on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 2:40 pm 



@diemos – “Isn’t it wonderful to have the scientific knowledge to be able to do these calculations for yourself so that you can know whether something is worth panicking about or not? Cracking a book is very worthwhile. This topic may be esoteric but it’s not string theory. You can crack a book and learn the basics in an afternoon.” Nice snark! Sure helps get your point across. I know I am won over. I was thinking of going over to Japan and helping them clean up now. Thanks for putting me at ease.

bobinget on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 2:53 pm 



By Yoko Kubota and Yuka Obayashi
TOKYO | Tue Aug 20, 2013 10:26am EDT
(Reuters) – Contaminated water with dangerously high levels of radiation is leaking from a storage tank at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the most serious setback to the cleanup of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

The storage tank breach of about 300 metric tons of water is separate from contaminated water leaks reported in recent weeks, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said on Tuesday.

The latest leak is so contaminated that a person standing half a meter (1 ft 8 inches) away would, within an hour, receive a radiation dose five times the average annual global limit for nuclear workers.

After 10 hours, a worker in that proximity to the leak would develop radiation sickness with symptoms including nausea and a drop in white blood cells.

“That is a huge amount of radiation. The situation is getting worse,” said Michiaki Furukawa, who is professor emeritus at Nagoya University and a nuclear chemist.

The embattled utility Tokyo Electric has struggled to keep the Fukushima site under control since an earthquake and tsunami caused three reactor meltdowns in March 2011.

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority has classified the latest leak as a level 1 incident, the second lowest on an international scale for radiological releases, a spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday.

It is the first time Japan has issued a so-called INES rating for Fukushima since the meltdowns. Following the quake and tsunami, Fukushima was assigned the highest rating of 7, when it was hit by explosions after a loss of power and cooling.

A Tokyo Electric official said workers who were monitoring storage tanks appeared to have failed to detect the leak of water, which pooled up around the tank.

“We failed to discover the leak at an early stage and we need to review not only the tanks but also our monitoring system,” he said.

Tokyo Electric, also known as Tepco, said it did not believe water from the latest leak had reached the Pacific Ocean, about 500 meters (550 yards) away. Nonetheless, continued leaks have alarmed Japan’s neighbors South Korea and China.

CRITICISM

Tepco has been criticized for its failure to prepare for the disaster and been accused of covering up the extent of the problems at the plant.

In recent months, the plant has been beset with power outages and other problems that have led outside experts to question whether Tepco is qualified to handle the clean up, which is unprecedented due to the amount of radioactive material on the site and its coastal location.

The government said this month it will step up its involvement in the cleanup, following Tepco’s admission, after months of denial, that leaked contaminated water had previously reached the ocean.

Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato told an emergency meeting of prefectural officials on Tuesday it was a “national emergency”, and that the local government would monitor the situation more strictly and seek additional steps as needed.

Massive amounts of radioactive fluids are accumulating at the plant as Tepco floods reactor cores via an improvised system to keep melted uranium fuel rods cool and stable.

The water in the cooling system then flows into basements and trenches that have been leaking since the disaster.

Highly contaminated excess water is pumped out and stored in steel tanks on elevated ground away from the reactors. About 400 metric tons of radioactive water a day has been stored at Fukushima.

In order to keep up with the pace of the flow, Tepco has mostly relied on tanks bolted together with plastic sealing around the joints. Those tanks are less robust – but quicker to assemble – than the welded tanks it has started installing.

The latest leak came from the more fragile tank, which Tepco plans to carry on using, although it is looking at ways to improve their strength, said Tepco official Masayuki Ono.

A puddle that formed near the leaking tank is emitting a radiation dose of 100 millisieverts an hour about 50 cm above the water surface, Ono told reporters at a news briefing

Tepco has also struggled with worker safety. This month, 12 workers decommissioning the plant were found to have been contaminated by radiation. The utility has not yet identified what caused those incidents, which only came to its notice when alarms sounded as the workers prepared to leave the job site.

A South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Seoul had asked Japanese officials to explain what they were doing to stop contaminated water reaching the ocean and fishing grounds.

“They also need to make the information available to the public, all over the world, given this is the first case in history where contaminated water from a nuclear plant is flowing into the ocean at this magnitude,” he said.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi, Yoko Kubota; Additional reporting by Linda Sieg, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Writing by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Alison William

Charlie Bucket on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 4:40 pm 



“They also need to make the information available to the public, all over the world, given this is the first case in history where contaminated water from a nuclear plant is flowing into the ocean at this magnitude,” he said.

But diemons said there isn’t anything wrong! Now I am so confused! diemos, can you please tell bobinget there isn’t anything to worry about here. Thanks.

bobinget on Tue, 20th Aug 2013 5:31 pm 



Warning: The following information may not be suitable for all readers.
(it’s blatant PV Solar plugging)

First Solar, Inc. : First Solar, Roseville Sign Contract for Lost Hills PPA

08/20/2013 | 08:36am
TEMPE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) and the City of Roseville, California, today announced they have signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for 32MWAC of solar electricity to be generated at the Lost Hills photovoltaic power plant that First Solar is developing and will construct in Kern County, California.

The 10-year PPA is First Solar’s first such agreement with a municipal utility, and is effective in 2015. The PPA was approved by the Roseville City Council on July 17, 2013.

The Lost Hills project construction could start in early 2014, and is expected to create up to 200 jobs at its peak.

“We are proud to add this project to Roseville Electric’s portfolio,” said Brian Kunz, First Solar’s Vice President of Project Development. “It will help the city reach its state renewable energy goals, while giving residents the benefit of clean, affordable electricity.”

Roseville Electric purchased 325,000 MWH of renewable energy for $24 million for 10 years. The contract cost $6.5 million less than similar renewable energy purchase offers in 2012.

“We are pleased to acquire renewable electricity to help us reach the state’s requirement for 33 percent by 2020,” said Roseville Electric Utility Director Michelle Bertolino. “As a community-owned utility, contracts such as this help minimize the cost impact on our customers while maintaining highly reliable service.”

Under the agreement, Roseville will receive 100 percent of the Lost Hills power plant’s output for the first four years of the agreement; it will then decline to a smaller percentage of the output. First Solar has an additional PPA for Lost Hills’ output with Pacific Gas and Electric, which goes into effect in 2019.

In its first year, Lost Hills will produce enough clean, renewable energy to power more than 11,000 homes, offsetting more than 20,000 metric tons of CO2 annually, which is the equivalent of taking about 4,000 cars off the road each year, and displacing over 18,000 metric tons of water consumption annually.

SilentRunning on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 3:52 am 



GregT wrote:

“Congratulations on your son’s new keychain, you must be very proud of it. However, you are a totally irresponsible parent for allowing your son to be exposed to a known carcinogen.”

Greg, my son is 25 years old, and purchased the keychain himself. When he showed it to me, I looked into it myself, and confirmed that the Tritium’s radiation is very well contained by the glass envelope. I suggested that he refrain breaking the glass open and immediately snorting the contents – but my son is actually a very intelligent scientist on his own (he has a Master’s degree) and he already knew this – we had a good laugh.

“Whether you like it or not, those warning labels are there for a reason. Cancer usually takes between 20 and 30 years to grow to the point where it becomes terminal, but it could be much less.”

You’re preaching to the choir here. I am very familiar with cancer, and don’t believe in tempting fate.

“You and your son may still be alive today, but you have greatly increased his odds of dying prematurely.”

I didn’t buy the pendant – he did. And everything we know about radioactivity says that the radiation is very safely contained by the glass envelope. I trust my son not to do anything stupid with that pendant.

” People like you should not be allowed to have children. I hope your wife reads this. Moron. ”

Please, let’s refrain from calling each other names. Suffice it to say, my son is a very responsible young man, and I trust his judgement.

Oh, and BTW: He showed the pendant to his mother. She’s a physicist so she appreciated it on both esthetic and technical levels.

SilentRunning on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 4:08 am 



So to summarize: The 40 billion Bq release by Fukushima could, if all concentrated, be contained by a glass pendant ten times larger than the one my son had. Granted, it would be a fairly big pendant, but it could easily be held by one hand. It would contain approximately 1/9th of a gram of Tritium. Not a lot. It would put out a fair amount of light – I would estimate the equivalent of a fairly bright night light.

No, I am much more concerned with the Cesium-137, Strontium-90 and possible Plutonium/Uranium releases from Fukushima. Those elements have a far more damaging biological impacts.

SilentRunning on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 4:16 am 



bobinget, thanks for the info on First Solar. One of the things my son told me to do 6 months ago was to buy stock in Solar City and Tesla Motors. I am sad to say that I didn’t: Had I followed his advice in spades I could be retired today… 🙁

GregT on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 4:48 am 



Silent,

I guess I am just a bit tired of hearing how Fukushima is being downplayed. My apologies, for the personal attack.

SilentRunning on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 5:22 am 



Greg:

Just to be clear – we both agree that Fukushima is an epic disaster that should never have happened, and is a result of people playing fast and loose with the laws of physics and engineering – when caution and care were instead called for.

And while I was trying to make a point that not all radiation is the same, and that lay people can be confused by all the different units and numbers that get bandied around ** THIS DOES NOT MEAN ** that I think that Fukushima is not extremely serious. I would not, for example, go for a stroll unprotected on the grounds of the (wrecked) TEPCO facility – nor would I willingly eat any of the fish that came from the area.

curlyq3 on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 7:19 am 



Attention moderators … is there a problem with my post ? … please send me a reply to my e-mail if there is … I can not imagine my post to be innapropriate … thank you and waiting … curlyq3

diemos on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 1:57 pm 



“the term you need to understand is bioaccumulation”

I understand it well, thanks.

The discussion was about tritium. Tritium doesn’t bioaccumulate.

diemos on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 2:23 pm 



“But diemons said there isn’t anything wrong!”

Nice straw man.

Nice use of the fallacy of the excluded middle. Apparently, according to Charlie Bucket there are only two possibilities. Either “every thing is perfectly fine” or “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!”. And since diemos doesn’t toe the anti-nuke orthodoxy that fukushima means we’re all gonna die he must be an idiot who thinks that everything is perfectly fine.

But the reality is that there is an entire spectrum of possible consequences between “everything is fine” and “global doom”. And you need to know how all this stuff works before you can make an informed estimate of what the consequences of fukushima are actually going to be.

Dumping 40T Bq of tritium in the ocean is not going to kill all life on earth. It’s not going to kill the pacific ocean. It’s not even going to have a noticeable effect on aquatic mortality. It’s just not enough to make a difference.

I’m sorry if that contradicts your “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!” narrative but those are the facts.

curlyq3 on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 10:32 pm 



Hello again diemos … well I guess the problem with all these nasty products of nuclear fission is how they interact with everything … so little is understood about all this stuff, including tritium, that underestimating or minimizing any potential dangers of all radioactive isotopes is not prudent … Organically-Bound Tritium stays in the food chain longer and may be a greater risk than if it is not organically bound … humanity should never have split the atom … curlyq3

curlyq3 on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 11:04 pm 



Speaking of interactions … I suppose no one had the opportunity to pour salt water on a melting reactor core until Fukushima came along … isotopes that ordinarilly would be less mobile due to their heavier mass now can hitch a ride on a “Nuclear Buckyball” … curlyq3

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/01/13/1119758109.abstract

curlyq3 on Wed, 21st Aug 2013 11:50 pm 



Here is a pretty good explanation of how very nasty the “Nuclear Buckyball” is … we should keep all nuclear fuel away from sea water … Oh Wait ! how many NPP’s are next to the ocean ? … and did someone say that sea levels are rising ? … curlyq3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0CEF65E235CD3314&v=454uu96gFzU&feature=player_detailpage

diemos on Thu, 22nd Aug 2013 3:28 am 



“humanity should never have split the atom”

Sounds good.

I’ll help close and decommission the reactors myself.

Just as soon as we stop burning fossil carbon for energy.

diemos on Thu, 22nd Aug 2013 3:28 am 



“and did someone say that sea levels are rising ?”

Well look on the bright side, at least cooling won’t be a problem.

curlyq3 on Thu, 22nd Aug 2013 7:23 am 



Hi again diemos … to close and decommission the reactors means to leave it where it is forever and be highly radioactive and lethal or move it all to to someone else’s backyard and leave it there forever to be highly radioactive and lethal … I bet it is all left where it is … and yes there is this rumor going around about all the ice on the planet melting again … and lastly, your sarc statement “Well look on the bright side, at least cooling won’t be a problem.” … might make folks think your just another nuclear shill, (A shill, also called a plant or a stooge, is a person who publicly helps a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with the person or organization.) … curlyq3

diemos on Thu, 22nd Aug 2013 2:43 pm 



In my experience there is nothing that will stop the accusation of “shill” from being tossed about. That’s no reason not to have a sense of humor about our predicament.

I’ll be more than happy to bet you that climate change, crop failure and famine will kill orders of magnitude more people than cancer from radioactive contamination ever will.

In the end the only real solution to our predicament is birth control. Get the human population down to about 300M worldwide and then existing hydro with some solar and biofuels would allow us to have a sustainable, technologically advanced civilization. That, of course, will never happen.

What will happen is that we will breed until we are drowning in our own filth. We will burn everything that can be burned until the planet fries. We will fission everything that can be fissioned until we’re swimming in a soup of radiation. Our descendants will curse our names.

Aren’t I a ray of sunshine.

curlyq3 on Thu, 22nd Aug 2013 3:36 pm 



Hello again diemos … we share the same oppinion … I have found it very difficult to understand how the vast majority of humanity has responded to the condition we are in and the inevitable future we face … I found this essay by Jamey Hecht and it helped me understand the human response to all this mess … thank you for bearing with me and tolerating my challenges … curlyq3

http://guymcpherson.com/2013/07/collapse-awareness-and-the-tragic-consciousness/