I've been listening to the news trying to explain this in simple terms. I want to understand more, but I have no one to ask my questions.
God, please help those poor people in Japan. I don't understand the havoc wreaked on this nation. I know there is so much I cannot understand and as one faithful Japanese man put it, "This is a test of my faith." Amen.
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Well, I'm no expert in nuclear energy, but I do have a basic understanding of the principles involved. In my opinion, the news media is blowing this way out of proportion, as they do with most things. The simple fact is, the word "meltdown" sells a lot of newspapers and keeps a lot of people glued to their televisions, which is what the news media wants. But in reality, a meltdown not a big deal in and of itself, as long as the nuclear material doesn't melt through the containment vessel. This isn't like Chernobyl - that was a badly designed plant which lacked almost ALL of the basic safety measures that every nuclear power plant should have. The power plants in Japan are well designed and well constructed, and the nuclear material is sealed inside multiple containment vessels. It would take a catastrophically uncontrolled nuclear reaction to create that type of a meltdown scenario, and that can't happen because the reactor core is already shut down. Any radiation being released into the atmosphere now is in the form of steam, which disperses quickly; plus, the radioactive isotopes involved have a very short half life, which means by the time the particles have dispersed, they aren't radioactive anymore after about 10 minutes.
Here's a link with a really good description of what's happening at the Fukushima plant. It gives a great simplified explanation of how a nuclear power plant works, and the safety measures that are in place to mitigate the danger of an uncontrolled meltdown:
Why I am not worried about Japan's Nuclear Reactors
Hope this helps.
Jeff: How could I have forgotten my favorite physics teacher? OK, I never took physics and not sure it existed when I was in school, but you're still my favorite.
I was hearing such conflicting reports. And I appreciate Japan being so open about the issues, their media doesn't seem to hide real issues.
But I was also hearing that it was nothing like Chernobyl and I believe that if any people on earth can make nuclear power safe, it would be the Japanese.
I'll check our your link.
Thx Buddy. And I'll be praying for you and your brother and your families. I will still worry though, is that okay?
I probably have no more understanding than you, Rita, but I'm with Jeff; the media is playing this to sell, not to inform.
Last I heard was the exposure to the crew of the Reagan wasn't much more than an x-ray and they simply washed it off.
That said; I'm praying constantly for the people of Japan. I cannot imagine what they are enduring right now... and I hope to God I never have to find out.
cjh
My old man and I seldom had heated arguments. He worked for Indianapolis Power and Light Co. and was a strong proponent of nuclear power until he and I had one of the worst arguments ever.
A wish and a promise.
The half-life of Uranium 235, the material the rods are made of, is something like 400+ MILLION YEARS.
We continue to hear how "cheap" nuclear power is compared to other energy sources, but NO ONE is taking into account there is NO WAY to safely dispose of that waste, which will be VERY toxic to mankind for YEARS and YEARS and YEARS and YEARS to come. Someone will have to store and guard that stuff all that time. And remember, we're making more and more waste as we go, so the magnitude of the problem is getting greater and greater.
Cheap?
We've been sold a bill of goods.
Shortly after our heated argument my father, having done some research on his own, became a strong opponent of further nuclear powerplant construction.
God help the Japanese, and help the rest of us learn the lessons we need from this disaster.
The energy situation will only get worse. In getting away from nuclear we will make the environment worse in actuality. It's a catch 22 situation...
The mess in Fukushima probably wouldn't have occurred if the retaining wall had been higher, but who could have predicted a tsunami would breech it.
This goes back to what I posted about Katrina. There are just so many limits to what man can do to recover from natural disasters.
All this brings me back to "there will be wars and rumors of wars". In the meantime, all this unrest and natural disasters are just plain scary.
Aside from the issue of the horrific suffering of the Japanese people, and aside from the "will it or won't it meltdown?" dilemma is the other issue you mention, Rita:
When George Bush said "nuculer", all we heard from the media & Hollywood types was that he was the biggest idiot on the planet and deserved to be hog-tied, belittled, sent back to kindergarten, etc. In the past week I have REPEATEDLY heard pundits, reporters, experts, and other know-it-all types saying "nuculer this" and "nuculer that" and no one is calling THEM big dummies. Now, I am a stickler for the correct pronunciation of words, but c'mon! If it was so wrong when Mr. Bush said it, isn't it STILL wrong?
If it looks like a double standard, and walks like a double standard, then - voila! - it must be a double standard!
Maybe because it's been misprounced for such a long time, but I thought the difference was nuclear medicine and nuclear energy. Not sure I ever knew which was which and as it turns out they were both the same.
A couple misprunciations that drive me crazy are "flustrated" and "ideal" whenn they mean "idea".
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