WONDER ABOUT SHTF ? LOOK AT JAPAN

[Grunwald]

Just heard on the radio this morning that Germany is shutting down 25% of its nuclear power plants. Basically anything build before 1980 is getting shut down.
Source was Bloomberg radio during financial news, so I think it is legit.
I think the Germans are overreacting. They aren't exactly positioned in a quake zone nor a tsunami zone. I will admit that I know nothing about the nuclear power industry and even though my logical mind thinks that are safe, when I lived in Massachusetts and drove within visual range of the Plymouth power plant it gave me the creeps and I did not want to be anywhere near it. It was just a subconscious reaction,pretty much like most people have of snakes or women have of spiders (why is it that it's always women that I know that freak out about spiders?)

 

[Blitzkrieg]

It's okay to have an opinion about nuclear power, but its defensive rewards benefit you whether you approve or disapprove of its inception or location. Regardless, your opinion is irrelevant.

My opinion I assure you is going to be the prevailing one. Nuclear as a source of power is finished. I only hope we can finish it before it finishes a lot of us

Everyone: Here's a good balanced article on the realities of the Gulf Stream and possibilities for spread of radiation

http://www.prisonplanet.com/are-we-...exposure-from-the-japanese-nuclear-leaks.html

And a PHDs blog on iodine and fallout:

http://drdavidbrownstein.blogspot.com/

 

[trainsktg]

Prisonplanet? Balanced? As much as I enjoy reading Alex Jones and Infowars, Prisonplanet is as far from being balanced as Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.

Your opinion of nuclear power is prevalent because like most you are uneducated about the subject. But in matters like these, as in politics, emotion trumps facts. I don't mean this as a personal attack. Your concerns are valid, but in light of the current situation, you are unnecessarily working yourself up over what is really a very local event.

Keith

 

[One-Eyed Ross]

well, most people just want to hit the switch and have the lights come on, they aren't concerned about where it comes from until there is an issue. Even with the issues at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and now Japan, I'd suspect that fewer people have had bad outcomes from nuke plants than all the issues we've had with coal fired plants over the years...

 

[WhyteCheddar]

well, most people just want to hit the switch and have the lights come on, they aren't concerned about where it comes from until there is an issue. Even with the issues at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and now Japan, I'd suspect that fewer people have had bad outcomes from nuke plants than all the issues we've had with coal fired plants over the years...

Or even wind turbine in their short life.

 

[WhyteCheddar]

I think its important to keep in mind here that these reactors are 40 years old and as I understand were quickly approaching their shut down stage. In addition, they were built to withstand less than the 9.0 that hit them. It is a testament to the design that they did not fail instantly during the quake. I would like to know more about the design/location of the back up generators though. It is my understanding that the simple lack of power to controls are what allowed the reactors to overheat.
This does not lessen the hazard they currently represent, but I think based on the technology currently available make nuclear energy a viable source into the future.

Also keep in mind the numbers of portable nuclear reactors our navy has spread out all over the world. Many of these have been in constant use for many years with zero incidents.

 

[CEF1959]

Trlsmn is right.

 

[MA Duce]

Can you share your source of information of the type of radiation released that has a T 1/2 = 8hrs?

I heard a "talking head expert" throw that number out. After looking around at other sources I'm beginning to wonder. I've seen numbers that range from 7 seconds for a nitrogen isotope to about 9.5 days for other elements that could be released into the atmosphere.

 

[19 Adam]

Don't worry. Your neighbors here in the US will kill you long before you will die of radiation poisoning.

If you think people in this country, at least in the coastal left states, will obey the laws in a 9. quake you are very naive.

 

[akula]

Don't worry. Your neighbors here in the US will kill you long before you will die of radiation poisoning.

If you think people in this country, at least in the coastal left states, will obey the laws in a 9. quake you are very naive.

Considering the codes and standards for buildings in the US vs Japan any US city hit by 9 would resemble present day Haiti in both appearance and behavior of the population.