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[Duke 2.0]

 Whoops, read Phmcw wrong. But I was right about the news report though, whose source I hypocritically cannot get.

 Considering the state of roads and infrastructure, air dumping of water doesn't sound too bad. There could be issues with getting more firetrucks there to put out fires.

[Tellemurius]

Whoops, read Phmcw wrong. But I was right about the news report though, whose source I hypocritically cannot get.

 Considering the state of roads and infrastructure, air dumping of water doesn't sound too bad. There could be issues with getting more firetrucks there to put out fires.

From what i heard on Reuters, they are carving a path fast to the reactors for firetrucks to get there.

[Phmcw]

The spent fuel pool is outside of the reactor but inside of the reactor building. It's highly radioactive and, without water, will take fire, emitting radioactive fumes all over the region. And, well, it already happened once, they are trying to avoid a rematch. The spent fuel pool at the reactor 5 and 6 are problematic too.

[PTTG??]

Well, Reddit is down, so there goes my source on Japan-related information.

[Vector]

Spoiler: Off-topic cultural discussion (click to show/hide)

When I was learning the language, I was taught to never express an opinion as true and preface everything with "it seems," especially as a woman.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Couldn't that just be a language difference?  I mean, if you think about it literally, saying "This thread is good" or whatever implies that you have some kind of objective proof that it is so.  Prefacing it with "I think" or "It seems" could be seen as making more sense.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Nah, I was told specifically that it was to avoid appearance of aggression.

Besides, if it were a language difference, it wouldn't make sense for women to have less objective knowledge than men, really.

[Solifuge]

Everything I hear about the scenario makes it sound worse. I've heard experts go from stating "There's no conceivable risk" to "Well damn..." in under a week. I'm really hoping they can avoid a disaster, and barring that get everyone out of Fukushima Prefecture before things get too ugly.

Either way, I'm hoping that this provides a welcome incentive to research power sources other than nuclear energy. Solar Plants don't leak deadly matter and energy when they have problems, and we've explored the technology only to a fraction of the degree we have Nuclear Plants. I can't help but think that the power industry's endless iterations of using hot things to make steam to turn turbines is horribly inefficient and generally bad for the environment, when we should be skipping the middleman and creating electricity directly from chemical reactions utilizing a source of energy that is free, clean, and nigh-endless in supply.

[Nadaka]

...

response over in the alternate energy thread: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=79642.90

[Kogut]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12769741

[Fayrik]

Either way, I'm hoping that this provides a welcome incentive to research power sources other than nuclear energy.

Either way, I'm hoping that this provides a welcome incentive to research other nuclear power sources.
'course, Fusion would be the headliner, but there are other kinds of Fission too. Anything's worth researching at this point, I think. Especially if it has less tendency to slowly burn rads into the atmosphere.

[Thief^]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12769741

O M G

[Nikov]

That report was thankfully wrong. Some journo mixed up micro and milli, and the report spread like wildfire. The radiation near the power plant is measured to fluctuate between 0.5-10 milliSievert/hour the last 24 hours or so.

Goddamn media, hire some mathematicians if you have problems with units.

Yet another argument for obtuse fraction-based measurement systems. News people confuse a milligram and a microgram. They never confuse a ton and an ounce. _{Unless they're used to metric...}

Also I won't be clicking that link because frankly, I prefer to not sear my psyche with images of catastrophic tragedy. Closed casket and all. It doesn't seem respectful to watch the last moments of somebody's life like its the latest YouTube stunt.

[Solifuge]

Either way, I'm hoping that this provides a welcome incentive to research power sources other than nuclear energy.

Either way, I'm hoping that this provides a welcome incentive to research other nuclear power sources.
'course, Fusion would be the headliner, but there are other kinds of Fission too. Anything's worth researching at this point, I think. Especially if it has less tendency to slowly burn rads into the atmosphere.

Unless it doesn't produce deadly byproducts that we will never be rid of, in a timescale that is relevant to human life or civilization, we ought to get beyond Nuclear Fission. Fusion is a nice nuclear alternative, and I'm really excited for it... but changing the radioactive material du jour does not a safe, sensible, and sustainable form of Nuclear Fission make.

[Tellemurius]

as i know, Cesium 137 and Strontium 90 will be the big issues. Iodine 131? Well that will eventually dissipate.

[PTTG??]

I think the only future for nuclear power is to focus on modernizing and rebuilding existing plants. Rather than "Let's put another dozen nuke plants around the country!", let's say "The reason for this failure was that these plants were beyond the intended lifespan and badly in need of an upgrade. The US should make its plants more secure and where possible, upgrade them to entirely new types of reactors that can't suffer the same kinds of failures."

It seems now that the greatest issue we're seeing in these plants is the waste storage. there are better reactor designs that won't produce such dangerous waste. As long as we keep these old designs, we face the same disaster, or similar ones.

[Leafsnail]

Yet another argument for obtuse fraction-based measurement systems. News people confuse a milligram and a microgram. They never confuse a ton and an ounce. _{Unless they're used to metric...}

So uh... if you wanted to say 0.5 millisieverts in imperial measures, how would you go about it?