# Rantings about stupid nuclear reporting, and I want to bitchslap somebody, also other crap **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077 "2011-03-26T19:11:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/221 "2011-03-28T15:43:11Z")
[QUOTE=FXMastermind] It’s funny that a thread that actually says “rantings” in the title, the pro nukers still want to try and make a debate. [/QUOTE] What’s funny is that you read that Greenpeace had upped the level to 7 and you rushed here to post it, only to find out that it hasn’t been officially raised and that GP really has no say in or probably direct knowledge of the situation or what the level is set too. And now you are trying to cover up by saying ‘well, it’s not really a debate _wink wink, nudge nudge_’ You are quite right…it’s not a debate since it’s in the Pit. You can spout any fact free bullshit you like. But nothing stops other posters from pointing out your bullshit and calling you on it. That way, any lurkers following along will be able to see your bullshit for what it 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:** [March 28, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/222 "2011-03-28T15:43:19Z")
Fuck. And I was going to try and ignore this whole clusterfuck today. I got shit to do. Fucking stupid Japanese. Waiting until this level of complete fucked upness to finally ask for, and accept help. Plutonium leaking into the groundwater and sea, and the pro nukers are still trying to raise the banner. What complete fucking idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/223 "2011-03-28T15:46:18Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Well, I’m not going to be your personal news feed. So if you can’t bother to spend 30 seconds reading the morning headlines, sorry about your luck. Mind pointing to the official IAEA assessment? The last update from them has it remaining at INES 5. > **[Fukushima Nuclear Accident Update Log](https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/fukushima-nuclear-accident-update-log-34)** > > → Chronology of Updates: ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/224 "2011-03-28T15:46:29Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Let me spoon feed you the data. It’s still a document, in Japanese. Can you translate the labels on the rows? How about anything else? Is this a table of “Projected values”, or “detected values” or “suspected values” or… And do you have a cite yet to a regulatory agency stating that it’s now a level 7? ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/225 "2011-03-28T15:46:44Z")
[QUOTE=FXMastermind] The media are now reporting it. That should make the widdle babies feel better. [/QUOTE] Good grief…did you READ your fucking cite? First off, it doesn’t say anything about this being upped to a level 7 disaster. Secondly, it doesn’t support your assertion that high levels of radioactive material have been released outside of the building. It says: > [@](#): > > For now, however, the plant’s operator TEPCO has insisted that the level of plutonium found in the soil is not harmful to human health. So. For now, no high levels of radiation have been detected outside of the building. That might change, but as I said earlier I’m not seeing anything official that backs up your earlier assertion. -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:** [March 28, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/226 "2011-03-28T15:48:15Z")
> [@](#): > > The presence of the highly radioactive element in the soil does, though, confirm that enough damage was caused to reactor number 3, and to its containment facilities, for the nuclear material at the reactor’s core to escape the plant itself. No shit? There’s a fucking surprise. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/227 "2011-03-28T15:50:00Z")
Of course what they aren’t saying (yet) is that the reason the water leaking out of the plant is so highly radioactive is the plutonium (and other material) in the water. This is why they have to drain the water inside the plant before they can hook up the power. You can’t walk through plutonium water. Even inch thick lead boots won’t protect your feet. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/228 "2011-03-28T15:51:23Z")
So, are you actively masturbating, hoping for the worst news possible? Or are you simply tightening a belt around your neck in preparation for a news article saying that the IAEA has raised it to a level seven? ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/229 "2011-03-28T15:51:42Z")
[QUOTE=FXMastermind] No shit? There’s a fucking surprise. [/QUOTE] Not at all. Highly radioactive elements do not equal high levels of radioactive elements in the soil. There are highly radioactive elements all around you, but they are at such low concentrations that they don’t have much effect on your health. Seriously, you should try and read for clarity in the future. -XT ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/230 "2011-03-28T15:56:01Z")
[QUOTE=FXMastermind] You can’t walk through plutonium water. Even inch thick lead boots won’t protect your feet. [/QUOTE] 😕 Dude…technicians ran power lead through those tunnels in an attempt to get the pumps working. That’s how they found the pools of water. So far, none of them are dead from it either. There is no doubt that if they are reporting this accurately and there is 1000 mSv/hour levels of radiation in that contaminated water that it’s definitely unsafe for anyone to be there for more than a few minutes at most, but it’s not like it will instantly turn you into green goo or something. If you stayed there an hour you would most likely come down with a serious case of radiation poisoning…and 4-5 hours and you’d be a dead man walking. -XT ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/231 "2011-03-28T15:56:39Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > You can’t walk through plutonium water. Even inch thick lead boots won’t protect your feet. You have no fucking clue what your talking about. Might want to look at what kind of radiation plutonium gives off and how very little it takes to stop it. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/232 "2011-03-28T16:05:56Z")
It’s plutonium water! Technicians walk in, radiation comes out! You can’t explain that! ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/233 "2011-03-28T16:08:46Z")
I think with FXM it would be: Plutonium water! Technicians check in, but they don’t check out! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA! Take THAT you pro-nuke assholes! -XT ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/234 "2011-03-28T16:10:26Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > You can’t walk through plutonium water. Even inch thick lead boots won’t protect your feet. I’d love to see a cite for this, preferably including measurements of the dosage equivalents in Sieverts (or the radioactivity in Becquerels) Now, for a little bit of real facts. The highest reported radiation deposition (according to IAEA - [Fukushima Nuclear Accident Update Log](http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html) ) is 7,500 Becquerel, with typical depositions at or under 500. 1 Bequerel represents an average of one nuclear decay per second in a sample. For reference, the amount of naturally occurring radioactive potassium in your body has a radioactivity of 4000 Bq. (if you’re old school enough to have a mental baseline for a Curie, 1 Ci = 37GBq) ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/235 "2011-03-28T16:11:44Z")
I’m seeing: Plutonium Water - half the carbs of Monster! Do you think we can work up an advertising campaign? ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/236 "2011-03-28T16:12:58Z")
> [@](#): > > The even numbered isotopes (plutonium-238, 240 and 242) fission spontaneously producing high energy neutrons and a lot of heat. In fact, the neutron and gamma dose from this material is significant… If Pu-240 is leaking into the water, this is very bad news. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/237 "2011-03-28T16:13:35Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > You have no fucking clue what your talking about. Might want to look at what kind of radiation plutonium gives off and how very little it takes to stop it. To expand on this, of the Plutonium isotopes, all of them except Pu-241 are alpha emitters (and thus trivially shielded against–the danger from typical Pu isotopes is ingestion/inhalation of powder/dust) Pu-241 is a beta emitter, which is slightly less trivially shielded against, but still easy to shield against. No common isotope of plutonium is a gamma emitter, which is the type of ionizing radiation that is difficult to shield against. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/238 "2011-03-28T16:15:30Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > If Pu-240 is leaking into the water, this is very bad news. Except their respective half-lives for 238, 240, and 242 are 87, 6500, and 373000 years, respectively. You need one hell of a lot of plutonium for its spontaneous fission decay mode to produce appreciable amounts of harm. ---
**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:** [March 28, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/239 "2011-03-28T16:15:38Z")
Now why would they not go into the basements where the water is? If it is just alpha and beta radiation there is no problem. Radiation suits and boots can block that completely. And with the urgency to connect the power and get the cooling pumps going (hopefully) water with just beta in it doesn’t represent any danger at all. But of course that isn’t what is happening. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077/240 "2011-03-28T16:17:17Z")
> [@FXMastermind](#): > > Now why would they not go into the basements where the water is? If it is just alpha and beta radiation there is no problem. Radiation suits and boots can block that completely. And with the urgency to connect the power and get the cooling pumps going (hopefully) water with just beta in it doesn’t represent any danger at all. > > But of course that isn’t what is happening. Duh. There are Deathclaws in the basements. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rantings-about-stupid-nuclear-reporting-and-i-want-to-bitchslap-somebody-also-other-crap/576077.md?page=13)