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I understand radiation is serious, but I suspect we all are at more risk of being run over by a bus than dying of radioactivity from Fukushima.
One thing that puzzles me is the remark about an air burst "containing" radiation moreso than a ground level or underground detonation. Common sense tells me that blast radiation (which initially travels in a straight line outward in all directions from the blast center) would disperse a lot MORE from an air burst, and an in-ground explosion would contain it more.
Here's an illustration:
That is, in fact, one of the prime reasons most nuclear testing was done underground.
I understand radiation is serious, but I suspect we all are at more risk of being run over by a bus than dying of radioactivity from Fukushima.
You're right, of course.
However, we're still dealing with Fukushima as a long-term danger, a disaster with planetary consequences.
To some extent, we're ignoring it in public because the long-term, planetary wide disaster that it represents is something that we are helpless to alter with our current technology, our current fiscal resources.
And I have a confession to make: It has irretrievably altered my perception of the Japanese government and how we should and should not trust them in the future.
To some extent, our moves with India and China are a result of a reassessment of the value of Japan as a long term strategic partner.
In the US civil service on this date, my view is not the majority view. But it's coming. I can see the wind changing.
We have a neighbor whose son speaks Japanese, Russian & several Chinese dialects who was under contract in Tokyo teaching English when events occurred.
He came back home 6 months afterwards despite the threat of a "breach of contract" suit because of water/food contamination everywhere in the country, news of which was being severely suppressed by the government and still is.
He was being paid wheelbarrow $um$ and he didn't care. In a sign of goodwill, he wasn't sued.
The Earth and it's oceans will cleanse itself...as soon as it gets rid of the contaminants...humans
We have a neighbor whose son speaks Japanese, Russian & several Chinese dialects who was under contract in Tokyo teaching English when events occurred.
He came back home 6 months afterwards despite the threat of a "breach of contract" suit because of water/food contamination everywhere in the country, news of which was being severely suppressed by the government and still is.
He was being paid wheelbarrow $um$ and he didn't care. In a sign of goodwill, he wasn't sued.
The Earth and it's oceans will cleanse itself...as soon as it gets rid of the contaminants...humans
It does not surprise me. However it is not just the Japanese government who is suppressing info. ALL governments are doing it to one extent or another, and the worst offender is the United States. Did you hear about the potential nuclear attack that happened just two days ago in the Ukraine? Why wasn't that on every news broadcast station? Use your head and you will understand why. What I am saying is this kind of information suppression happens everywhere. It is not just the Japanese.
In an air burst, most of the weapon and fission products vaporize, yielding much less fallout than a ground burst which will draw up soil or water into it and make it radioactive.
Some nuclear weapons intentially release more ionizing radiation based on their makeup.
Check out the Bikini Atoll testing done in the 40s-50s. Very interesting reading there.
Nuclear devices for detonation are quite different than nuclear fuel used in reactors. The reactors at Fukushima were only 3-6% enriched uranium 235 and MOx fuel, depending on which reactor. At those enrichment levels, it will not detonate.
A U-235 or Pu-239 device like Hiroshima/Nagasaki were highly enriched.
The explosions you saw from Fukushima were a result of the zirconium containing the fuel melting and creating hydrogen.
I don't think anyone is ignoring Fukushima, they are still working diligently to clean up. It is beyond just TEPCO too. WANO, INPO, NRC, NEI and every other organization is involved and assisting. It is no longer the flavor of the week as far as the media is concerned.
People are still treating it very importantly.
Like Fukushima Daiichi is a 6 unit site (6 individual reactors), many people do not realize Chernobyl was a four unit site. Unit 4 is the one that had the accident. The other three reactors continued to operate during and after the accident. Unit 3 was just shut down in 2000. Even with how bad everything was at Unit 4, people continued to operate the reactors right next door for years.
In an air burst, most of the weapon and fission products vaporize, yielding much less fallout than a ground burst which will draw up soil or water into it and make it radioactive.
I don't want to dispute you, Damaged, since you seem to know something about this subject, but the U. S. intentionally detonated Little Boy and Fat Man as air bursts over Hiroshima and Nagasaki to inflict maximum damage. If the bombs had detonated on the ground, much of the energy would have been expended upwards, instead of being directed back down to the ground as with an air burst.
Most of the boiling (and radioactive) mushroom clouds that rose to 50,000 feet were made up of dust and debris and smoke from burning structures, stirred up from the ground. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think fission produces smoke.
That said, the clouds of radioactive dust and debris from these explosions spread far and wide. Radioactive fallout was even recorded here in the States. So, fallout from an air burst is probably as bad as a ground burst, where the ground itself would absorb and contain some of the debris.
I don't want to dispute you, Damaged, since you seem to know something about this subject, but the U. S. intentionally detonated Little Boy and Fat Man as air bursts over Hiroshima and Nagasaki to inflict maximum damage. If the bombs had detonated on the ground, much of the energy would have been expended upwards, instead of being directed back down to the ground as with an air burst.
Most of the boiling (and radioactive) mushroom clouds that rose to 50,000 feet were made up of dust and debris and smoke from burning structures, stirred up from the ground. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think fission produces smoke.
That said, the clouds of radioactive dust and debris from these explosions spread far and wide. Radioactive fallout was even recorded here in the States. So, fallout from an air burst is probably as bad as a ground burst, where the ground itself would absorb and contain some of the debris.
But our RLX's are still safe to drive.
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It's all good. You are 100% correct, they were detonated as air bursts for damage. Since the OP was concerned about radiation, I mentioned that ground bursts produce more fallout based on drawing earth or water up into the cloud upon detonation. Crossroads Baker was a huge example when it was detonated underwater. That sucker contaminated everything!
Worldwide background radiation significantly increased as a result of nuclear testing at that time. The background radiation was quite a bit higher then in comparison to what we have seen from Chernobyl or Fukushima.
Either way, you RLX drivers have nothing to concern yourself with as far as receiving extra dose from your car!
It's all good. You are 100% correct, they were detonated as air bursts for damage. Since the OP was concerned about radiation, I mentioned that ground bursts produce more fallout based on drawing earth or water up into the cloud upon detonation. Crossroads Baker was a huge example when it was detonated underwater. That sucker contaminated everything!
Worldwide background radiation significantly increased as a result of nuclear testing at that time. The background radiation was quite a bit higher then in comparison to what we have seen from Chernobyl or Fukushima.
Either way, you RLX drivers have nothing to concern yourself with as far as receiving extra dose from your car!
So I shouldn't be concerned that it glows in the dark?
if your little green light is neither green nor red, but rather blue, then you should be concerned
By the way, the underground tests basically seal themselves. Everything around the device melts upon detonation an collapses around the test sealing it. That doesn't mean the radiation is sealed, but a lot of it is kept local. Also, the tests were performed a mile deep.
02-10-2015, 09:56 AM
