RE: the Fear Mongering and Panic about the Nuclear Plant Situation in Japan
A voice of reason, this note is from a friend of a friend who works at a nuclear power
plant here in California, His background is Nuclear Engineering/Bio Medical Sciences.
I am not going to mention his name because I did not ask his permission to print this as I don’t directly know him. I am just really -I don’t know quite what word to use? Annoyed? Aggravated? Disgusted? Shocked? Appalled at the news coverage that is just engendering fear and this includes the natural health world. I hope that this scientists opinion and the websites her recommends calms everybody down.
I would not want to think that the run on iodine and other substances is due to human greed. People trying to make a buck by creating fear.
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Nuclear plants in Fukushima, Japan
There are six units at Fukushima Daiichi. I say that because
there are four more units at nearby Fukushima Daini.
Most folks haven’t heard anything about them because they
shutdown and have been maintained in a successful, uneventful
shutdown since the earthquake.
All the operating Daiichi units shutdown when the earthquake
occurred, along with several other nuclear plants in Japan.
The problems began when the plants lost offsite power due
to the earthquake – power lines were downed so electrical
power for equipment was not available from outside sources
(like other power plants). Of course this was true for much
of the surrounding area including hospitals, businesses,
homes, etc. Nuclear plants have backup diesel generators
to provide emergency power in the event of the loss of offsite
power. The diesels did start up immediately to provide
power but were then tripped off themselves. The reason for
this is unclear to me – I’ve heard two stories: one that the
tsunami wiped out the diesel fuel tanks or two: that the
tsunami wiped out the cooling system for the diesels so they
couldn’t operate (like the required cooling for your car’s engine).
In either case, the diesels were no longer operable so the
entire plant was under what is called a Station Blackout.
Nuclear reactor fuel must be cooled even after the reactor
is “off” or shutdown. Think of an electric range. When you
turn the dial on an electric range to zero, the heating elements
stay quite hot and take time to cool. Similarly the nuclear
reactor requires significant cooling for some time period even
when the reactor is shutdown. Without the cooling, pressure
can build up and the water in the system can reach boiling.
The worst thing that can happen is that you have insufficient
water and you “uncover” the fuel so that there is little heat
removal. The fuel can then reach high temperatures and
“melt.” Even though it doesn’t really melt, the fuel is then
damaged to the point that very high amounts of radioactivity
can be released.
Systems should have been available to provide cooling water
to the fuel. However, with limited power supplies, plant
operators have had to reduce pressure by venting the
systems so that the pressure was low enough so water
from firefighting equipment could be forced in. They’ve
resorted to seawater because the plant fresh water supplies
have been exhausted, perhaps mostly boiling off to steam.
Once they vented the system, hydrogen gas that was
generated in the primary system traveled outside the
primary containment structure into the reactor building.
This type of reactor does not have big concrete domes like
most plants in the US but instead has a much smaller
containment structure surrounded by robust concrete
structures and a building with a fairly ordinary roof.
The hydrogen gas accumulated in the reactor building
and ignited at Unit 1 and the next day at Unit 3. Those
were the spectacular explosions seen on TV. Along with
the explosions, some radioactivity was released to the
environment. Radiation doses outside the plant boundaries
were not high and were what is commonly described as “puff”
releases since the gases are puffs that dissipate quickly.
Not a lingering exposure.
Then this morning (Tuesday) Unit 2 suffered a similar
hydrogen explosion that some believe may have damaged
the primary containment, something that had not occurred
at Units 1 and 3. Lastly, Unit 4 that was in a shutdown condition
before all this began, appears to have had a fire associated with
lubricating oil for some pumps, not a fire associated with fuel
as some media have speculated. That fire reignited today
but was put out after about 30 minutes.
Consequences
As long as the fuel stays cold and covered with water as is
currently being done with seawater, there should be little
or no more significant releases of radioactivity. Hence the
Japanese authorities request that nearby residents
(out to about 20 miles) stay indoors instead of evacuating.
People who lived close to the plant (~12 miles) were previously
evacuated. The few reports of actual measurements indicate
that radiation exposure rates at the plant boundaries have not
reached any levels that present concern for health hazards and
have been reduced significantly. The onsite doses have been
high and that’s why “non-essential” personnel from the plants
were also evacuated. The only thing I’ve read so far about
workers is that one worker received about 10 rem, twice the
US regulatory limit, and a couple of dozen have been contaminated –
and cleaned up with soap and water. Contamination like this is
not a significant hazard. Reports also talk about some local
residents being monitored and a couple dozen of them also being
decontaminated. Remember, instruments can detect levels of
radioactivity so low that we often mistake natural radioactivity
on clothing for plant-related contamination.
For the future, people on the radio speculate about losing the
ability to use the surroundings for many years to come. That
is unlikely because it takes catastrophic releases of radioactivity
like at Chernobyl to cause that kind of contamination and
at this point, Fukushima is nothing like Chernobyl.
For the US, there is no health hazard at all. Japan is simply
too far away. Any releases would be so greatly dissipated
by the winds that it is likely we won’t even be able to detect anything.
I say that because after Chernobyl and Chinese atmospheric
weapons tests, we could detect radioactivity on the west
coast. Nothing harmful, simply detectable. Again, remember
we can detect radioactivity at levels literally billions of times
lower than are used in common diagnostic nuclear medicine scans.
So the “run” on potassium iodide (KI) out west is silly,
unnecessary, and contributes to fear mongering.
In the grand scheme of things, Japan has suffered from a
terrible catastrophe. The thousands of deaths, billions of dollars
of damage, and heartache are huge impacts, even to a
well-prepared, tough society. In comparison the damage and
consequences from Fukushima are really not that important.
The losses are so great across the land, that it is pretty easy
for the media to focus on Fukushima as an example of the
results of the earthquake and tsunami. TV can only show
so much video of the hundreds of homes and cars and boats
being washed inland before the public becomes immune and
uninterested. But the continuing unfolding story at the
nuclear plant that most folks fear anyway, makes for continued
bad news and bad news sells. The flip side of Fukushima is that,
unless things go south in a hurry over the next few days,
the situation shows that the plant, although it’s essentially an
antique, still safely shutdown in the face of one of the largest
earthquakes in recent history but failed to meet the challenge
presented by the tsunami. And even so, has not hurt anyone
yet and is unlikely to cause any long lasting health problems.
Compare that to refinery explosions, train wrecks, buildings
that collapse during earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, crazy
guys with guns . . . the list goes on.
If you want factual information without opinions,
I’d suggest <nei.org> Yes, it’s an industry website but they
cannot afford to present biased information in this environment.
The only thing lacking (and I haven’t seen much anywhere)
are the integrated radiation doses at various locations due to
the releases and information on the radionuclides released.
But that’s some nerdiness that most folks don’t care about.
Or try the International Atomic Energy Agency at <iaea.org>
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RE: the Fear Mongering and Panic about the Nuclear Plant Situation in Japan
A voice of reason, this note is from a friend of a friend who works at a nuclear power
plant here in California, His background is Nuclear Engineering/Bio Medical Sciences.
I am not going to mention his name because I did not ask his permission to print this as I don’t directly know him. I am just really -I don’t know quite what word to use? Annoyed? Aggravated? Disgusted? Shocked? Appalled at the news coverage that is just engendering fear and this includes the natural health world. I hope that this scientists opinion and the websites her recommends calms everybody down.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Nuclear plants in Fukushima, Japan
Consequences