Lucky you're not in LA Blackout

stip said:
Radiation is always around us, it's just a matter of dosage. I wouldn't worry too much for LA...for now. But there's a severe threat in Japan and the true dimension of this is yet to be realized.
It's sad that the monstrous risk of nuclear power isn't a global discussion. In Germany there's a heavy discussion since decades and with the tragedy in Fukushima people weren't willing to take it anymore. Pressure on government was too high, the 8 oldest nuclear power stations have been shut down now and Germany will completely abandon nuclear power within the next 10-15years and expand renewable energy technology.
It makes me angry to realize that in most other countries this isn't even a topic.

It doesn't take an earthquake, a highjacked airplane can do that as well.


Sorry for the off-topic rant.
Click to expand...

No worries, I had a rant of my own, right below. Germany has a very smart gov. Maybe thats why, their one of the few that actually have a surplus of money. And not trillions in debt. :)
 
jleo said:
There's too much cheese on my Cheetos puffs!!

All the health food stores here are sold out of potassium iodide and kelp. As radiation continues to be detected on the West coast.
Click to expand...

Form the wiki article on Iodine 131...
-----
It has a radioactive decay half life of about eight days.
----

This means that whatever amount that was released in Japan, by the time it gets to the US West Coast, it takes approximately 1 week. Hence, half of whatever that amount was, is no longer
I-131...

The concern about Iodine, is for those in the vicinity, and the amounts that may be leaked where either direct contact, or nearly direct, via wind currents, in the neighboring areas.

The biggest issues with long term radiation and reactor melt down come from the release of Strontium-90, and Cesium-137, both of which have a half life of about 30 years.

For these isotopes no amount of Potassium Iodide will be of any use.

For those living near the reactor, if Chernobyl is an example, those people would do well to be treated with clean KI, as in the case of post Chernobyl effects, thyroid cancer has significantly
increased, most likely due to the radioactive Iodine.

For those who are 'really' worried, you would probably do well not to live in eastern Washington, where the Hanford nuclear facilities are located, nor drink any water from the Columbia River watershed, that is
from eastern Washington, northwest Idaho, and along the border between Washington and Oregon, all the way to Astoria on the coast, nor fish from the Columbia effluent... ie most of the Pacific Northwest...

And for those who think that the East Coast is safe... just think Oak Ridge Tennessee... and eventual bleeding into the Mississippi River basin.

And for the men readership, I know this is important to some... the amount of full body radiation required for permanent sterilization, is lethal, so no worries there you're dead anyway...
----------

Since this is a site dedicated to 'film'... I'll leave of this sort of thing with the following film recommendation...

"Pu-239"(2007, aka, "The Half-Life of Timofey Berezin")
-----

 
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j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
Form the wiki article on Iodine 131...
-----

This means that whatever amount that was released in Japan, by the time it gets to the US West Coast, it takes approximately 1 week. Hence, half of whatever that amount was, is no longer
I-131...

The concern about Iodine, is for those in the vicinity, and the amounts that may be leaked where either direct contact, or nearly direct, via wind currents, in the neighboring areas.

The biggest issues with long term radiation and reactor melt down come from the release of Strontium-90, and Cesium-137, both of which have a half life of about 30 years.

For these isotopes no amount of Potassium Iodide will be of any use
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm aware of this, however that doesn't stop the panic and hysteria. Like the Kurosawa clip, people will even beat back the radiation with their coats even if its futile. Although radioactive iodine has a half life of 8 days, it it still being detected in slightly higher amounts in New York. Maybe it's travelling faster?!

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110401b1.html

But now the reactors are leaking Cesium 137, being detected in Washington State. According to TEPCO, the company that owns the reactors:

TEPCO claims there are 3,400 tons of fuel in seven spent fuel pools and 877 tons in five of the reactor cores.

http://www.freshrant.com/blog/media-blind-to-fukushimas-toxic-plutonium-burps

http://weeklyintercept.blogspot.com/2011/03/caldicott-japan-may-spell-end-of.html

But all is good. The govbmint has a good track record of telling us what is safe, like thalidomide, aspartame, prescription drugs, Soylent Green, etc, etc. :)

PS For those who say discussing radioactivity has nothing to do with films. Many movies depict radioactivity as having positive effects. Like turning people into superheroes...Hulk, Fantastic Four, Spiderman bitten by a radioactive spider!
 
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The world has been bombing hundreds of nukes since WWII. We still survived. I think the current issue is mostly confined in Japan.

Some worry about food safety in the States. Well... I haven't seen a fish w/ 3rd eye in my dinner table yet.

But the people in Japan are in deep sh!t....
 
stonebat said:
The world has been bombing hundreds of nukes since WWII. We still survived. I think the current issue is mostly confined in Japan.

Some worry about food safety in the States. Well... I haven't seen a fish w/ 3rd eye in my dinner table yet.

But the people in Japan are in deep sh!t....
Click to expand...

If the fish or other animals have not been 'accumulating' radio active isotopes, the existence of physical anomalies due to perhaps radiation damage, will be of no 'nutritional' significance.

There is just the aesthetics of having more then the usual number of eyes staring back at you from the plate... if you eat fish with the heads on...

On the other hand, beware of Them giant ants... thems is killers...
 
LOL. You've been eating tofu, right? See how much soy beans have gone through generic engineering experiments. We still survived.
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
Form the wiki article on Iodine 131...
-----
It has a radioactive decay half life of about eight days.
----

This means that whatever amount that was released in Japan, by the time it gets to the US West Coast, it takes approximately 1 week. Hence, half of whatever that amount was, is no longer
I-131...

The concern about Iodine, is for those in the vicinity, and the amounts that may be leaked where either direct contact, or nearly direct, via wind currents, in the neighboring areas.

The biggest issues with long term radiation and reactor melt down come from the release of Strontium-90, and Cesium-137, both of which have a half life of about 30 years.

For these isotopes no amount of Potassium Iodide will be of any use.

For those living near the reactor, if Chernobyl is an example, those people would do well to be treated with clean KI, as in the case of post Chernobyl effects, thyroid cancer has significantly
increased, most likely due to the radioactive Iodine.

For those who are 'really' worried, you would probably do well not to live in eastern Washington, where the Hanford nuclear facilities are located, nor drink any water from the Columbia River watershed, that is
from eastern Washington, northwest Idaho, and along the border between Washington and Oregon, all the way to Astoria on the coast, nor fish from the Columbia effluent... ie most of the Pacific Northwest...

And for those who think that the East Coast is safe... just think Oak Ridge Tennessee... and eventual bleeding into the Mississippi River basin.

And for the men readership, I know this is important to some... the amount of full body radiation required for permanent sterilization, is lethal, so no worries there you're dead anyway...
----------

Since this is a site dedicated to 'film'... I'll leave of this sort of thing with the following film recommendation...

"Pu-239"(2007, aka, "The Half-Life of Timofey Berezin")
-----

Click to expand...

Paddy Considine - perhaps the best of the current breed of English actors in the cinema. Can't wait!
 
Actually stonebat, only two nuclear weapons have been used in war, add to that the few more that were tested and that does not equal hundreds.
 
CalebStephens said:
Actually stonebat, only two nuclear weapons have been used in war, add to that the few more that were tested and that does not equal hundreds.
Click to expand...

The United States alone has conducted 1054 nuclear test explosions. These have occurred in Nevada, Marshall Islands, Alaska, Colorado, Mississippi, and New Mexico. There have been more than 2000 nuclear test explosions conducted by nuclear powers worldwide.

Here's a neat chart!
800px-Worldwide_nuclear_testing.svg.png
 
A lot of the testing was underground, though.


Nuclear Testing 1945 - 1998 Complete Video HD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAnqRQg-W0k

John Wayne, Dick Powell , cast and crew bathed in radioactive dust during filming The Conqueror 1956

Because the government had given the area its seal of approval, no one worried about what the soil, that seemed to work its way into the hair, clothing and bodies of everyone working on the film, contained. Strontium 90, cesium 137, radio iodine, and plutonium were just not things one considered while making a Hollywood blockbuster.

http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/6057/C104/L104
 
1959 was when President Eisenhower was working on a test ban with the Soviets. There was a one year suspension of tests until Dec 29, 1959. Soviet Tests resumed in Sept 1961. US tests under President Kennedy resumed in March 1962.
 
jleo said:
1959 was when President Eisenhower was working on a test ban with the Soviets. There was a one year suspension of tests until Dec 29, 1959. Soviet Tests resumed in Sept 1961. US tests under President Kennedy resumed in March 1962.
Click to expand...

Including high altitude tests which demonstrated how a nuclear bomb exploding in space/near space could wipe out communications by means of the EMP and fry electronics and power cables on the ground...

One during the Cuban Missile Crises by the Soviets had this effect...

----
The worst effects of a Russian high-altitude test occurred on 22 October 1962 (during the Cuban missile crisis), in ‘Operation K’ (ABM System A proof tests) when a 300 kt missile-warhead detonated near Dzhezkazgan at 290-km altitude. The EMP fused 570 km of overhead telephone line with a measured current of 2,500 A, started a fire that burned down the Karaganda power plant, and shut down 1,000-km of shallow-buried power cables between Aqmola and Almaty
----
 
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