The latest update on the crisis in Fukushima. The hot spots are everywhere. Be careful where you step!
But first, we'd like to introduce the handy-dandy Fukushima Post and Ana's Feed search engine. This search engine will return results from this series of posts we've done. This is a good...
Japan Nuclear Disaster Update # 37: Glow in the dark fish, and the meaning of "Power"
As a result of our last posting on Fukushima, we had a discussion initiated by commenter Daedelus2u about radioactive istopes of Cesium becoming concentrated in fish. I thought I'd take this opportunity to...
I'm looking for a book, I can't remeber it's name, I probably read it from 5 to 6 years ago.
I remember it's about a kid who's dad is some scientist, and they move to a secret base, where the kid doesn't know they're making atomic bombs. The kid gets some glasses and sees an atomic bomb in...
For the purposes of discussion in the Japan Disaster threads, I've made a graphic that very roughly approximates the zone of likely future very high rates of cancer if the Fukushima nuclear power plant were located where our (somewhat similar but smaller) plant is located, upwind during the...
Is this theory right?,,,,,,,20 years ago after reading several of Einstiens books, i had a new theory on the structure of atoms, and problems caused by particle creation, which now looks correct, and predicts that all atoms of the world, all atomic matter is at risk of de-stabalization, due to a...
It has been Just over six months since a magnitude 9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. In the hours following that incident, nuclear power protagonists filled the blogosphere, the news outlets, and other media with assurances that little could go...
Today all we have for you is Ana's feed, and only the first half. We have both been very busy with distracting things like work and other writing projects and so on. There are interesting things going on at Fukushima and in the Nuclear Power industry in general, as you'll see soon. In the mean...
The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology will host its 16th Annual Scientific Session, September 8 - 11, 2011 in Denver. Nearly 1,000 imaging specialists from around the world will gather at ASNC2011 to attend sessions reflecting the meeting's theme "Patient-Centered Imaging." Highlights...
Things at Fukushima are about as interesting as they've ever been. We want to talk about specific problems at the reactor site, with radioactive material, cooling systems, etc. but first a few words about things happening more broadly, beginning with the largest and work towards the smallest...
Japan Nuclear Disaster Update 32: "Biggest Industrial Catastrophe in History"
In the old days this was easy. The power plants were melting down but no one knew what was going on inside them; Water was being poured in and cooking off as steam, and every now and then the way they were getting...
The International Atomic Energy Association issued its last report on Fukushima on June 2nd and appears to not be keeping their web site up to date any more. This is the last time I'll be checking with them unless I hear otherwise. The email scandal reported last time continues "Analysts say...
Using a crystal ball to protect homeland security might seem far-fetched, but researchers at Wake Forest University and Fisk University have partnered to develop crystals that can be used to detect nuclear threats, radioactive material or chemical bombs more accurately and affordably. The...
Perhaps the most interesting single thing on the table in today's update is the revelation that at least one of Fukushima's reactors suffered sufficient damage from the earthquake that hit the region ... prior to the tsunami ... to have likely gone out of control or melted down. This is hard to...
The first nuclear power plant ever was built in Obninsk, Russia. It was the first electricity generating plant on a civilian grid. The plant operated until April 29th 2002.
The exact date of the plant's "birth" varies, but as I understand it, it began operating on the 26th and went to large...
Much of the current news is about exposure and fallout.
As a point of information, the Sievert is a unit of exposure to radiation that was designed to indicate relative levels of biological effects of ionizing radiation. This measurement technique attempts to take into account the fact...
There is an increase in reports of activity of scientists studying the extent and impacts of radiation spilled or otherwise transferred into the ocean from Fukushima. TEPCO, in the meantime, seems to have a need to put a lot more water, possibly decontaminated to some degree, into the sea...
In terms of radiation fallout Fukushima is said to be approaching Chernobyl by at least certain measures, and the potential for Fukushima to be worse in terms of total radioactive material released is very real. However, the two disasters really can't be compared sensibly because the...
Even as the situation at the troubled Fukushima Nuclear Reactors ... well, remains troubled ... the post-game analysis of what went wrong and what could have been done better develops. It is becoming clear that the plant had no real plan for the event of a tsunami even though it was built at an...
I always thought that Japan is a country that won't make the same mistake as Russia did with Chernobyl. I was sure they would tell their citizens if there was some serious worries.
And now, 10 weeks after the earthquake and tsunami, people get to know that the meltdown in all three reactors of...