...at Fukushima? It's been 6 years 8 months and no end in sight. Have we all forgotten? ENENews.com – Energy News All the other fluff and stuff that gets people riled up seems inconsequential in the overall scope of things. Does anyone even care?
I've only noticed the bizarre lack of reporting on it Japanese media, just like gangrapes in Sweden and arms production in Norway, it's one of those things that sets of alarm bells when it suddenly disappears from mainstream news sources. Your site is a good compendium, do you have other recommendations on where to learn more? Are there any ongoing studies of the area going on by any prominent universities, or independent research contractors? You'd think radiation nerds would be in there in suits with magnifying glasses
@VikingToker there is so much info out there it's a challenge to filter it all. I suggest using creative combinations of keywords (fukushima pacific ocean, or fukushima radiation map, etc) and limiting results to .edu and .org domains. The naysayers say that cesium 137 is found everywhere due to past and present nuclear testing so "no big deal" and cesium 134, Fukushima's fingerprint has a half life of 2 years so "no big deal". But no one knows for sure what the aggregated impact this has on fisheries and the humans and animals that eat ocean products. My oh my. Thanks for being alert fellow human.
It's certainly a problem, I just got sick of the whole subject because there was a lot of alarmist misinformation being tossed around about it. Like people worrying that radiation would harm their health on the west coast of North America. If there was that much radiation pouring out of Fukushima, Japan and probably most of eastern Asia would see people dying like flies. Last I read they were having trouble cleaning it up because the radiation levels at the actual site were still too dangerous for people to approach. That's definitely an issue, but on the other hand I can't think of a less harmful place for large amounts of radiation to go than the Pacific Ocean.
my little brother is all about this shit. I get updates all the time about it and how its gonna fuck us all soon enough. Mother Earth, Mother nature...shes a strong bitch. No doubt about it. I think we will survive. Did you all read about the nuclear accident in russia that is causing a radioactive cloud over europe? Radioactive cloud that covered Europe might be from Russia. Don’t worry about it though. Mysterious Radiation Cloud Over Europe Isn't "Harmless" at Source
I did hear about the cloud @jmman42028 but i hadnt heard the source. I recall the sniffer planes picked it up.
yeah there isn't a lot of reporting on it, strangely. Any time I read about a radioactive cloud, it grabs my interest. The fact that the eu is saying not to worry about it should make everyone worry about it. And how about russia fucking something up and releasing it, but no news. Craziness
I mean, there are an awful lot of people who claim to be "pro environment" or whatever. Where are they? I would have to imagine that a man made cloud of radioactivity is more damaging to the environment and people than whether a car has a catalytic converter or not.
It sure makes one wonder. I think every nation state is probably developing plans on how to survive this. It cant be extinguished by known means and it's not going to be benign especially after spewing for the next 50+ years. I'll be long gone by then but it could turn out to be miserable demise for many. I feel it's irresponsible for a generation to be informed and not be trying to do something about it. That includes me of course. Bad stuff.
it's been a little longer than 3 years since i created this thread. so, about 10 years this has been going on and yet we never hear anything positively progressive with TEPCOs efforts. as i understand it, noone even knows how deep the heated cores are under the surface of the soil line. it's real similar to the movie The China Syndrome filmed in 1979. this thing is going to destroy all of us at some point if the world doesn't figure how to stop this. with all the other noise in the world noone is paying attention to this catastrophe. Water leaks indicate new damage at Fukushima nuclear plant
They should send all that water they are holding on site to California, I hear they are in a drought.
I care, I worry, and I feel powerless when it comes to nuclear power/ weapons. My husband keeps saying we are treating nuclear power completely different now, more efficient and safer. But, I'm still not convinced it's a smart resource because there is always going to be toxicity to it. If we can tap in to wind and sun, let's do it. And I'm still blown from the stories of the Japanese people and how they peacefully worked together to get everyone out safely on that tragic day. It really moved me.
yes it's a really bad situation and no official agency anywhere but TEPCO is actively monitoring it. most of the data collected by the US appears to be a couple years old and citizens and crowd sourcing seem to be the only US groups on the west coast actively monitoring the water and the fish. it's said the younger migratory species are more likely to have Cs 137 than older fish of the same species. it's said, iirc, one isotope of Cs 137 will mutate cell such as to create a high probability of hat cell becoming cancer. idk but i sure wouldn't be eating tuna or shellfish from the upper west coast but that's just me. it's also said that fukushima contamination on the west coast is much less than the contamination from all the early nuclear tests in Nevada. again, idk but i wholeheartedly agree that Fukushima is a problem for the world. it's no wonder so many countries are trying to get off planet for new colonization! it's a really dangerous world we live in and there still remains noteworthy day-to-day events that affect every human on the planet yet all "the news" ever "alerts us to" are politics and divisiveness. there's no extinguishing the cores at Fukushima and there's 137 million tons of contaminated sea water sitting on site they're thinking about dumping in the ocean because, believe it or not, they've no more room to store contaminated sea water!!! it's a mess. we have 96 operating nuclear power plants in the US and idk if this includes nuclear fuel at research labs and universities. the oldest US nuclear plant still operating went online in 1969. these vessels are designed for a 40 year life. rut roh!
i think it's mainly a heat issue. the uncontrollable burn of 800+ tons of nuclear material is hot enough to turn sand to glass. it seems most science guys dont have a lot of optimism the Japanese are really in control of the situation or that they're being completely honest. i see a headline once in awhile that makes me go look to see what's new with this. it's just one more problem humans have created for ourselves and for which there is no easily feasible near term solution. these reactors will be dumping radiation into our habitat for an estimated 30 or 40 years before it's cleaned up - whatever that may mean.
Idk they say of the cooling pumps stop the reactors will meltdown. They need to find a way to close loop the cooling to minimize water use.
TEPCO tried to build an ice dam at one point to keep the super heated water from cascading into the ocean but i think that failed rather miserably. that's when they went to the storage tank process which is where they are now and running out of room for storage. i find it hard to imagine that the ongoing release of radioactive water into the ocean for the past 10 years with no end in sight wont have some impact somewhere down the road. they've reduced it considerably but it's still going on.