Japan Earthquake/Tsunami

France's nuclear watchdog wants to call it a 6. But it's France and no one cares.

The authorities in the US and Canada have warned people there is need to rush to buy iodine tablets. Chemists along the western coast of North America have reported a soaring demand for the tablets, which prevent give the body sufficient iodine that is stops absorbing any externally which may be contaminated by radiation.

Lol wtf.

It's not that serious.

1950s

* December 12, 1952 — INES Level 5 - Chalk River, Ontario, Canada - Reactor core damaged
o A reactor shutoff rod failure, combined with several operator errors, led to a major power excursion of more than double the reactor's rated output at AECL's NRX reactor. The operators purged the reactor's heavy water moderator, and the reaction stopped in under 30 seconds. A cover gas system failure led to hydrogen explosions, which severely damaged the reactor core. The fission products from approximately 30 kg of uranium were released through the reactor stack. Irradiated light-water coolant leaked from the damaged coolant circuit into the reactor building; some 4,000 cubic meters were pumped via pipeline to a disposal area to avoid contamination of the Ottawa River. Subsequent monitoring of surrounding water sources revealed no contamination. No immediate fatalities or injuries resulted from the incident; a 1982 followup study of exposed workers showed no long-term health effects. Future U.S. President Jimmy Carter, then a Lieutenant in the US Navy, was among the cleanup crew.

*** french... you can't just upgrade it. There are pretty clear criteria for that ***.

So is it actually dangerous or just media stupidity?

So is it actually dangerous or just media stupidity?

International survey organism classified it already 6
Japan officials still keep it 4

BUT it's now proved nuclear reactors are heavily endommaged and situation is no more under any form of "control", in some zone of facility radiations are 1000x time what a human body can eat in a year... With the flames spreadin at reactor 4 now...it's HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE to believe situation can stay at 4!

Level 6: Serious accident

Impact on People and Environment
Significant release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of planned countermeasures.

Level 5: Accident with wider consequences

Impact on People and Environment
Limited release of radioactive ­material likely to require i­mplementation of some planned­ countermeasures.
Several deaths from ­radiation.


Impact on Radiological Barriers and Control
Severe damage to reactor core.
Release of large quantities of radioactive material within an installation with a high probability of significant public exposure. This could arise from a major criticality accident or fire.

Level 4: Accident with local consequences

Impact on People and the Environment
Minor release of radioactive material unlikely to result in implementation of planned countermeasures other than local food controls.
At least one death from radiation.
Impact on Radiological Barriers and Control
Fuel melt or damage to fuel ­resulting in more than 0.1% release of core inventory.
Release of significant quantities of radioactive material within an installation with a high ­probability of significant public exposure.

#
2216: The BBC's Matt Frei in Tokyo says spent fuel rods in reactors five and six are also now believed to be heating up.

Potentially with the fuel-coolin pool incident goin worst and worst, it could even be WORST then tchernobyl. Tchernobyl was a meltdown incident of reactors, pool explosion could be a Radiation STORM!

Radiations ARE spreadin and town is ALREADY eatin them, in tokyo radiotions got 10x time the usual already! Its no more a 4 level since LONG, follow actuality plz. Did your country even know USA army made rescuer boats move cause they was eatin the nuclear spreadin ??? lulz

Oh, Dasva, just a FYI, based on watching the news yesterday, whenever they quote a radiation number it seems to be /hr.

http://www.nytimes.com

Pool cooldown could...

@ Gilgamesh.Thedreamer & Seraph.Rafik

Please read the good information here.
Then go back to the "What was Japan's Backup Plan?" thread to post.

If any of the spent fuel rods in the pools did indeed catch fire, nuclear experts say, the high heat would loft the radiation in clouds that would spread the radioactivity.

“It’s worse than a meltdown,” said David A. Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists who worked as an instructor on the kinds of General Electric reactors used in Japan. “The reactor is inside thick walls, and the spent fuel of Reactors 1 and 3 is out in the open.”

A 1997 study by the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island described a worst-case disaster from uncovered spent fuel in a reactor cooling pool. It estimated 100 quick deaths would occur within a range of 500 miles and 138,000 eventual deaths.

The study also found that land over 2,170 miles would be contaminated and damages would hit $546 billion.