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Fukushima: A 'nuclear sacrifice zone'

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ensho Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-09-11 09:50 AM
Original message
Fukushima: A 'nuclear sacrifice zone'
Edited on Sat Apr-09-11 09:59 AM by ensho
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/04/20114812554680215.html


Some experts believe Japan's nuclear disaster could become worse than Chernobyl.


-snip-


Olson, who is also an evolutionary biologist with a double major in Biology and History of Science, including studies of chemistry and biochemistry at Purdue University, expressed concern over the fact that in the aftermath of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in the United States, "All the contaminated material generated from that was released to our environment in a planned and 'regulated' way. It was dumped in rivers or boiled off into the atmosphere."

Olson sees the same thing already happening now with the Fukushima disaster, and thinks the situation could eventually be worse than even the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that left some 200,000 people dead, according to a study from the environmental group Greenpeace.

"All of those reactors have been in a catastrophic level of radioactive release that exceeds Chernobyl," she said,."Two of these have exploded, No. 2 is in meltdown, and we believe it has gone back into criticality and that there is a nuclear chain reaction coming and going."

She also pointed out that the fuel core in reactor No. 4 was offloaded for refueling at the time of the earthquake and tsunami, "So none of the fuel was in containment and was all in the pool and that's why it's gotten hotter faster and there has been very little attention to this. All of these are catastrophic in themselves. Having them in one place in one month is truly catastrophic."

-long snip-
---------------------------

TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND people had to leave their homes and now MORE need to leave.

None Of These People Can Ever Go Home Again.

also:

*****
"We are creating radioactive sacrifice zones on our planet," she said, "And these zones will persists for hundreds of thousands of years, and our genetics will be effected. Ionising radiation, especially when it is internalised in our bodies, randomizes DNA…so when cells are damaged, that is when cancer starts. And every single time radiation exposure occurs, there will be additional cancers."
*****
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meow mix Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-09-11 09:54 AM
Response to Original message
1. DU nukers? i thought you said this could never happen.
never could this be as bad as chernobyl, nor exceed its horrors. because you promised with your extreme intellect. :eyes:
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Marblehead Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-09-11 10:04 AM
Response to Original message
2. Hundreds of thousands...
Edited on Sat Apr-09-11 10:04 AM by Marblehead
of years. Dead. :nuke:
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-09-11 10:06 AM
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Urban Prairie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-09-11 10:38 AM
Response to Original message
4. "And that would be some kind of explosive force"
The tens of tons of spent fuel pellets (that have most likely lost their protective zirconium cladding) are now likely layered upon the floors and amongst the debris of the most damaged reactors #2 and #3 melting into a superhot radioactive mass that eventually burns through the floor then the thick cement base below. then down to the water table several feet below ground might be that "explosive force" necessary that propels it back up along with superheated radioactive steam and molten silicon, maybe not with the earth-shaking force of a volcanic eruption, but enough that the entire Fukushima plant and several kilometers of land area surrounding it would be covered, and whatever amount that escapes into the atmosphere and travels around the globe. Yesterday it rained fairly hard here for most of the morning, and for the first time in my adult life, I actually wondered if it contained any detectable amounts of radiation. ((shudder))

Reactors #1 and #4 are likely also in trouble, it must be much more difficult to cool them from outside, since their roofs are intact, which means that if their spent fuel pools are being cooled, they are located in the upper half of the interior walls, and must be sprayed with water through a hole or holes punched in the walls, and the water sprayed at an angle towards the ceilings of the interior, in order to have the water reach the top of the pools and inside them.
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