Ray, I don't know how many people have died from the effects of radiation, but I do know that many thousands died directly from the tsunami.
Yet, umpteen times as much is written about the nuclear plant damage as is written about the 20,000 or so who died and the hundreds of thousands who lost their homes and everything they possessed. This superstitious Japanese are trying to end their dependence on nuclear power. They will no doubt replace it with coal or oil both of which kill a lot of people. Solar and wind power can't possibly replace our present production of power and, in any case, is too expensive. Trying to use them simply reduces the standard of living for most people. New reactor designs are incomparably better than the 50-60-year-old designs we use now. They are cheaper to build, safe, and can deliver the continuous power that we need. But first we have to get past superstition and ideological advocacies. Harry \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 6:28 AM, Ray Harrell <[email protected]> wrote: > Where's Harry when you need him?**** > > ** ** > > REH**** > > ** ** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *D & N > *Sent:* Sunday, April 01, 2012 3:52 PM > *To:* RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION > *Subject:* [Futurework] Radiation levels at Fukushima Plant 10X lethal > dose**** > > ** ** > > http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/03/28-1**** > > Published on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 by Common > Dreams<http://www.commondreams.org> > **** > Experts: Radiation at Fukushima Plant Far Worse Than Thought**** > Water at surprisingly low levels; damage "worse than expected"**** > > - Common Dreams staff **** > > Radiation levels inside Fukushima's reactor 2 have reached fatally high > levels, and levels of water are far lower than previously thought, experts > say today.**** > > A radiation monitor indicates 131.00 microsieverts per hour near the No.4 > and No.3 buildings at the tsunami-crippled Tokyo Electric Power Co. > (TEPCO)'s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture > February 28, 2012. (REUTERS/Kimimasa Mayama/Pool) The current radiation > levels are so high that even robots cannot enter. Tokyo Electric Power Co. > (TEPCO) says that new robots and equipment will need to be developed to > deal with the lethal levels of radiation.**** > > TEPCO spokesperson Junichi Matsumoto told the Associated Press, "We have > to develop equipment that can tolerate high radiation" when locating and > removing melted fuel during the decommissioning.**** > > At ten times the lethal dose, the radiation levels are at their highest > point yet.**** > > At the current level of 73 sieverts, the data gathering robots can only > stand two to three hours of exposure. But, Tsuyoshi Misawa, a reactor > physics and engineering professor at Kyoto University's Research Reactor > Institute, told The Japan Times, "Two or three hours would be too short. At > least five or six hours would be necessary." He added that "the shallowness > of the water level is a surprise, and the radiation level is awfully high." > **** > > * * ***** > > *The Japan Times: Reactor 2 radiation too high for > access<http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120328x1.html> > ** > 73 sieverts laid to low water; dose too high even for robots***** > > Radiation inside the reactor 2 containment vessel at the Fukushima No. 1 > nuclear plant has reached a lethal 73 sieverts per hour and any attempt to > send robots in will require them to have greater resistance than currently > available, experts said Wednesday.**** > > Exposure to 73 sieverts for a minute would cause nausea and seven minutes > would cause death within a month , Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.**** > > The experts said the high radiation level is due to the shallow level of > coolant water — 60 cm — in the containment vessel, which Tepco said in > January was believed to be 4 meters deep. Tepco has only peeked inside the > reactor 2 containment vessel. It has few clues as to the status of reactors > 1 and 3, which also suffered meltdowns, because there is no access to their > insides.**** > > The utility said the radiation level in the reactor 2 containment vessel > is too high for robots, endoscopes and other devices to function properly. > **** > > * * ***** > > *BBC News: Probe finds high radiation in damaged Fukushima > reactor<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17533398> > ***** > > The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has said damage > to one of the reactors is much worse than previously thought. [...]**** > > On Tuesday workers managed to insert a probe into reactor number two for > only the second time and found damage worse than expected.**** > > Radiation was up to 10 times the fatal dose, the highest yet recorded at > the plant. The level of water cooling the melted-down nuclear fuel was also > far lower than expected.**** > > The other two melted-down reactors, which are yet to be examined closely, > could be in an even worse state, our correspondent adds.**** > > ** ** > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > >
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