The reactors where written off as soon as they started pumping sea water into them. Normally they run de-ionised water as coolant as it is pure and the high radioactivity in the the core doesn't create all sorts of weird isotopes in the cooling water. Now it's contaminated with who knows what, so the only option is to keep cooling it, limit the leakage, then de-fuel it and scrap it (bury it all in hole for a 1,000 years probably)

They knew the risks when they used the sea water, but they were less than doing nothing, which might have resulted in all sorts of weird isotopes bubbling out of the overheated fuel, and possibly a total loss of containment. Which would have been MUCH worse than the mess they have now.

Right now the fuel is still cooling, and although it's going to be generating MUCH less heat than immediately after the shutdown, it still takes a couple of years to decay back to where it's going to be "safe". And yes some radioactive rubbish is leaking out of the mess. But compared to the rest of the disaster, it hardly rates.

Ian

Iodine 131 halflife is only 8 days - provided no more leaks, that decays fairly quickly to 'harmless' levels. Ceasium tends to be more of a medium term problem.

Would help more if they stated actual measurement numbers or what the limit is.

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Carola
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I'm multilingual - I can misunderstand people in several languages!

Iodine 131 halflife is only 8 days - provided no more leaks, that decays fairly quickly to 'harmless' levels. Ceasium tends to be more of a medium term problem.

Would help more if they stated actual measurement numbers or what the limit is.

Here is a "Nature" article I just received:
Radioactivity
Tullio

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Iodine 131 halflife is only 8 days - provided no more leaks, that decays fairly quickly to 'harmless' levels. Ceasium tends to be more of a medium term problem.

Would help more if they stated actual measurement numbers or what the limit is.

Plutonium was mentioned once in conjunction with these reactors on CNN/BBC/Aljazeera, this material is serious, Of course this material is more than just one isotope, Like so:

Plutonium wiki wrote:

Plutonium is the heaviest primordial element, by virtue of its most stable isotope, plutonium-244, whose half-life of about 80 million years is just long enough for the element to be found in trace quantities in nature.[3] But plutonium is a regular byproduct of a reactor’s splitting uranium atoms in two. Some of the speeding subatomic particles of the fission process turn uranium into plutonium. [4]

The most important isotope of plutonium is plutonium-239, with a half-life of 24,100 years. Plutonium-239 is the isotope most useful for nuclear weapons. Plutonium-239 and 241 are fissile, meaning the nuclei of their atoms can break apart by being bombarded by slow moving thermal neutrons, releasing energy, gamma radiation and more neutrons. These can therefore sustain a nuclear chain reaction, leading to applications in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors.

Plutonium-238 has a half-life of 88 years and emits alpha particles. It is a heat source in radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which are used to power some spacecraft. Plutonium-240 has a high rate of spontaneous fission, raising the neutron flux of any sample it is in. The presence of plutonium-240 limits a sample's usability for weapons or reactor fuel, and determines its grade. Plutonium isotopes are expensive and inconvenient to separate, so particular isotopes are usually manufactured in specialized reactors.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Miracle number 2 folks, sniff sniff

lucky dog

Well that's one down and 19 to go, Hopefully the 19 will have the same luck as Ban has had.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Miracle number 2 folks, sniff sniff

lucky dog

Brilliant!!

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It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

oh wow.. both owners and dog survived..

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Janice

oh wow.. both owners and dog survived..

And that Dog sure was glad to see Her, So the Dog is really Hers, 1 miracle is better than nothing.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Hmmmm

Radioactive water

Radioactive Iodine 131 decays 89% of the time according to the wiki into harmless and stable Xenon gas, What Iodine decays into the other 11% of the time? I have no idea.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I'm sure that they wouldn't be allowed to do it if it was harmfull long term to the environment. But I bet the press will have a field day.

Just delay eating stuff(fish, etc) in Japan by 8 days by putting stuff in the freezer and It's safe to eat after that I'd think. So yeah, harmless.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I'm sure that they wouldn't be allowed to do it if it was harmfull long term to the environment. But I bet the press will have a field day.

Just delay eating stuff(fish, etc) in Japan by 8 days by putting stuff in the freezer and It's safe to eat after that I'd think. So yeah, harmless.

Dunno....
Wonder if freezing would affect the rate of decay.
(Of the iodine, not the food....).

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

From Department of Energy
Ask A Scientist
"The rate of decay (i.e., half-life) is characteristic of a radioactive
element and "for all practical purposes" it is unaffected by temperature,
pressure, atmospheric conditions, vacuum, space, etc. "

I did read elsewhere that at absolute zero radio active decay stops. However, based on this, I think it's safe to say that putting fish in the freezer would not extend the half life of any radioactive elements.

From Department of Energy
Ask A Scientist
"The rate of decay (i.e., half-life) is characteristic of a radioactive
element and "for all practical purposes" it is unaffected by temperature,
pressure, atmospheric conditions, vacuum, space, etc. "

I did read elsewhere that at absolute zero radio active decay stops. However, based on this, I think it's safe to say that putting fish in the freezer would not extend the half life of any radioactive elements.

Thanks, Carlos.
I didn't have enough time before I went to work today to research it.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

From Department of Energy
Ask A Scientist
"The rate of decay (i.e., half-life) is characteristic of a radioactive
element and "for all practical purposes" it is unaffected by temperature,
pressure, atmospheric conditions, vacuum, space, etc. "

I did read elsewhere that at absolute zero radio active decay stops. However, based on this, I think it's safe to say that putting fish in the freezer would not extend the half life of any radioactive elements.

Thanks Carlos, I'd known last night that radioactive elements decayed constantly, But not by how much at absolute zero, As I couldn't prove It as I was sleepy and today well I had Carlos the park maintenance man over here fix the swamp cooler and then I did some work on a replacement pc I'm building, among other things to distract Me today.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I'd known last night that radioactive elements decayed constantly, But not by how much at absolute zero,

So it makes sence that if there is radioactive decay,
then absolute zero can not be reached?
celttooth

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I'd known last night that radioactive elements decayed constantly, But not by how much at absolute zero,

So it makes sence that if there is radioactive decay,
then absolute zero can not be reached?
celttooth

Their close by, But currently, No. That's a long way down the Kelvin temperature scale.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

That is a tad worrying .....

It's probably just an after shock, But time will tell.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

It's kind of hard to believe that It's been a month since this nightmare has begun for Japan, Over 13,000 Dead and almost as many missing... And climbing I expect.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's