# Nuclear meltdown! Holy Godzilla NOOOO!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 12, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389 "2011-03-12T08:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 68
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1341 "2011-04-04T18:14:18Z")
[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil] Take that, you pussified anti-nuclear whackjobs! [/QUOTE] From the (obviously biased according to The Gonz) [IAEA](http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html) web page for today’s update: > [@](#): > > In addition TEPCO will discharge 1,500 ton of low level contaminated water in the sub-drain pit for Units 5 & 6 to prevent the water in the pit from leaking into the reactor buildings and potentially damaging safety-related equipment. > > TEPCO has estimated that the potential additional annual dose to a member of the public would be approximately 0.6 millisieverts (mSv), if they ate seaweed and seafood caught, from near the plant, every day for a year. From your cite: > [@](#): > > Though Japanese officials say the water being discharged is less radioactive than the water now leaking into the sea, its top concentration of radioactive iodine-131 is 20 becquerels per cubic centimeter, or 200,000 becquerels per kilogram. That’s 10 times the level of radioactivity permitted in food. But since it’s being dumped into the Pacific, it will be quickly diluted, according to Dr. James Cox, a radiation oncologist at Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center and a CNN consultant. No one is saying it’s health food, or will have zero effects, but it sounds a lot worse than it actually is. And it seems the priority is to try and get the highly radioactive materials out of the basements and tunnels that is leaking into the same place. If they can get that water out of there and into the storage currently used by lower level radioactive water then overall that seems to be a good thing, as it will decrease what is leaking and allow more access to the areas that need repair if the workers don’t have to slog through highly radioactive water to get to those places. -XT ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1342 "2011-04-04T18:16:34Z")
> [@](#): > > The radiation levels were highest in the water from reactor No. 6, the officials said. You mean the reactor that is under control and didn’t have any problems? You know, 5 and 6, the two that were already shut down at the time of the disaster. The two buildings that didn’t blow up. That they chopped huge holes in to prevent a hydrogen explosion. That anybody still believes any of the bullshit TEPCO is shoveling, it shows the power of a true believer. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1343 "2011-04-04T18:22:56Z")
I’m relying on the IAEA as my primary source for news on this, since they, you know, have people on the spot and working the problem. Who are you relying on again to keep you informed? Some bloggers. Some ‘experts’ who aren’t on site? Some nutty anti-nuke sites with an agenda? Your own obviously ignorant and uninformed preconceptions and opinions? The chicken in your trousers that whispers to you that the sky might be falling?? -XT ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1344 "2011-04-04T18:28:03Z")
I’ve said it before, I’m part of a very long and intense discussion by real scientists and engineers, where speculation and insults are enough to get you banned. And no, foul mouthed idiots who cast aspersions aren’t invited to the party. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1345 "2011-04-04T18:32:51Z")
While i certainly bitched about the lack of imaging, especially infra red, that data has been leaking out, and between that and the forensic analysis done by the French, based on the fallout, there is a pretty good idea of what actually happened now. Of course it’ so much worse than the media are reporting, and far worse than what TEPCO is still trying to get everyone to believe. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1346 "2011-04-04T18:34:50Z")
[QUOTE=FXMastermind] I’ve said it before, I’m part of a very long and intense discussion by real scientists and engineers, where speculation and insults are enough to get you banned. [/QUOTE] Yes, you’ve said that before…and you have about as much credibility on this assertion as you have on the others you’ve made. I won’t say zero, since you certainly have a following amongst the Le Jac, Gonz and TSS crowd (I won’t count lev in that group, much as he and I have disagreed)…but, based on your contributions in these series of threads I’d rate the chances of you being involved in any sort of serious discussion regarding the dangers, or the pros and cons of nuclear energy (or anything else having anything remotely to do with the subject) as about the same as having the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan being caused by mutant space worms digging for unobtaineum off the coast. Possibly the mutant space worm theory is actually a higher probability. > [@](#): > > And no, foul mouthed idiots who cast aspersions aren’t invited to the party. Well, if you are being allowed in the obviously smarmy, brain damaged idiots ARE invited…well, unless you crashed the party that is. -XT ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1347 "2011-04-04T18:36:30Z")
But at least they aren’t having to dump radioactive pollution from six reactors directly into the ocean. Because that would be disastrous. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1348 "2011-04-04T18:36:45Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > I’ve said it before, I’m part of a very long and intense discussion by real scientists and engineers, where speculation and insults are enough to get you banned. > > And no, foul mouthed idiots who cast aspersions aren’t invited to the party. Your cousin Abe, the mechanic, doesn’t count as an engineer, shithead. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1349 "2011-04-04T18:37:49Z")
Meanwhile, words are still causing devastation around the world. Remember kids, radioactive material from destroyed reactors isn’t the danger, the real danger is words. Radioactivity is easy to clean up. But words, they can kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1350 "2011-04-04T18:39:08Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Meanwhile, words are still causing devastation around the world. > > Remember kids, radioactive material from destroyed reactors isn’t the danger, the real danger is words. > > Radioactivity is easy to clean up. But words, they can kill you. That would be dangerous, since all you have is words and you need to lie and misrepresent at every turn to make your point. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1351 "2011-04-04T18:40:01Z")
Are ‘the officials’ liars? Fuckhead clowns and idiots? Why yes, yes they are. [http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/04\_10.html](http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/04_10.html) ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1352 "2011-04-04T18:40:41Z")
[QUOTE=FXMastermind] Remember kids, radioactive material from destroyed reactors isn’t the danger, the real danger is words. [/QUOTE] I just hope you aren’t holding an open flame around all that straw you are shoveling…or around that bag full of glue you are sniffing! Fire…strawmen…glue…paper bag…now THAT is a dangerous combination, especially when combined with a guy who is delusional AND has the mental capacity of a not particularly intelligent kumquat… -XT ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1353 "2011-04-04T18:40:42Z")
I’m sure it will be rejected as biased itself, but the [Sourcewatch article on the IAEA](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=International_Atomic_Energy_Agency) is a good, well-cited read explaining why the IAEA is anything but an unbiased source about anything nuclear. Regarding the reporting of the Fukushima crisis specifically, I treat the IAEA as _a_ source, but there’s no way I trust their candy-coated G-rated “general audience” revelations of what’s going on in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1354 "2011-04-04T18:42:23Z")
Unlike Japan, other countries have the ability to measure what is blowing in the wind from the disaster site. > **[As Fukushima fallout circles the globe, nuclear sleuths sift it for clues](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/as-fukushima-fallout-circles-the-globe-nuclear-sleuths-sift-it-for-clues/2011/03/30/AFfnQBHC_story.html)** > > Three weeks after the nuclear crisis began in Japan, minute traces of fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant have circled the globe. Nuclear sleuths are analyzing the fallout to understand what happened. It won’t belong before we will see crying Japanese officials asking for forgiveness for being giant fucking liars. Again. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1355 "2011-04-04T18:45:31Z")
If you could read this, you would shit bricks. > **[日経BP](https://www.nikkeibp.co.jp/?ST=business&P=2)** > > 日経BPは日本経済新聞グループの一員として、経営・技術・生活という3分野で主にビジネスパーソンに向けて事業を展開しています。その内容は、雑誌・書籍の出版事業、デジタル事業、展示会・セミナーなどのイベント事業、調査・コンサルティング事業など、多種多彩なメディアとサービスを駆使して、高付加価値の先端・専門情報を提供しています。 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1356 "2011-04-04T18:54:12Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > If you could read this, you would shit bricks. > > [日経BP](http://www.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/column/20110404/265766/?ST=business&P=2) Google Chrome auto-translates Japanese for me. It’s a crappy translation, but if you’re already familiar with the topic, it’s not hard to gist it. It says, “Fuel melting point of 2700 degrees higher than the pressure vessel at 1550.” At least, that’s what page two (your link) of the article is about. I think even \*\*Xtisme \*\*is coming around to the idea there’s been meltdowns. I think. **Xtisme**? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1357 "2011-04-04T18:59:59Z")
I think I mentioned the fact that there were (probably) partial meltdowns on, oh, the 2nd or 3rd day. I don’t recall ever denying the possibility, and even linked to a cite at some point with an expert saying that it might have been better for them to just let the things meld down completely than to try and pour tons of sea water on them to keep them cool, when the result was a partial melt down (worst of both worlds). Jury is still out on that, as they didn’t have the luxury of time to consider every angle…they were dealing with the disaster that had hit the entire area, as well as the localized disaster that hit just the power plant. ETA: I love the fact that FXM links to an all Japanese web page and then thinks this means or proves something. Basically, if HE could read it I would expect him to do a summary or partial translation. -XT ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1358 "2011-04-04T19:17:48Z")
If I thought it would make the slightest bit of difference to a true nuclear believer, I would flood you with evidence. But we know that would just annoy the pigs. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1359 "2011-04-04T19:23:02Z")
😛 Sure you would, FXM. And I’m sure we all believe you! Just like we all believe that you are involved in serious discussions about this stuff in other places with ‘real’ experts on the subject. I mean, based on your posts on this board, who could doubt? -XT ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/1360 "2011-04-04T19:28:57Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > If I thought it would make the slightest bit of difference to a true nuclear believer, I would flood you with evidence. > > But we know that would just annoy the pigs. This board is about reducing ignorance. The trouble is, you are fountaining ignorance and misinformation. Bring some facts and people might not laugh at you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389.md?page=67) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389.md?page=69)