Worried about Japan's radiation in Pacific?

[Wookie]

You'll receive a far higher ionizing radiation dose flying to the Phillipines than you would if all of the reactors on the planet were dumped into the sea of Japan, and you lived in Oregon. In fact, the sea is a great shielding device. If you need to worry about something having an effect on the sea, be far more concerned about the carbon spewing from your tailpipe and causing the ocean's surface pH to rise. Be worried about the long term effects of the Gulf spill last year. In the PNW, I'd be way more worried about the ongoing effects of the Exxon Valdez spill than anything coming out of Japan. Be concerned about the bazillions of tons of plastic in the Pacific Gyre. Don't sweat the Fukushima power plant.

Yes, it's time to permit reactor plants in seismically stable areas/not hurricane prone/non-tornado prone areas of the USA, and build them as quickly and safely as possible. It is possible to build a safe reactor, after all, the US Navy builds them so that 18 year old harddicks can operate them safely. 18 year old boys can't even drive for squat, but they run reactor plants without major (and very few minor) incidents every day.

Don't believe the hype.

 

[Peter_C]

Wind and solar will never be the answer in our lifetimes. I hope more power companies will start adding more nuclear ASAP.

You are so wrong!

Solar is the wave of the future. Germany which doesn't have nearly as much sun as the US installed over 7gw. The US only installed 1.2gw. The prediction is that the US will be installing about 20gw a year in a few years. The cost is no longer prohibitive as a solar system financed will typically cost less than most folks current electric bill, and often can offer a huge savings (Break even with savings is around $120 a month). Over 25 years it can add up to $150,000 in cash in the bank!

The price you pay today for energy will double within 10 years as it has done historically for the last 30 years with a 6.7% increase per year.

BTW 22% of our power from Pacific Gas and Electric Company comes from nuclear power. 44% comes from natural gas. 17% from hyrdo power. Hmmm...what happens if natural gas spikes as oil prices are driven to European price levels? Maybe YOU should be looking at putting a solar system on your home now?

 

[Doubler]

Frank hit the nail on the head. Just look at data after the Bikini tests where they detonated several nukes. Nothing was detonated in Japan. What gets me is why would you build a reactor on a fault on the Ocean knowing that the reactor could survive an earthquake or a tsunami (but not at the same time) and it is earthquakes that form tsunami's? Must have been an engineer or two involved.

I worked with nukes for years and I'm watching this dumbass reporter all in a panic about radiation complaining that all they told him to do was wear long sleeves, not eat or drink and "..they gave me this useless paper mask" I almost died laughing. Alpha and Beta particles, that is what they are checking for with those Radiac Meters, will wreck havoc in the human body if they get inside. They are so slow that paper masks and long sleeves prevent that from happening. The reason they kept those Navy ships out fifty miles was in part to prevent having to scrub every nook and cranny prior to coming into port. Like Frank said don't believe the hype, reporters don't know squat.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

In the PNW, I'd be way more worried about the ongoing effects of the Exxon Valdez spill than anything coming out of Japan.

Boy ... everything you said is right on the money. I'm just gonna comment on the above as someone who lives in the PNW and works for a municipal Public Works department.

The thing to be most worried about is coastal development. Rainwater used to get filtered through the ground before it made it back to the sea. Now, with all the coastal areas getting developed and paved over, that doesn't happen. Rainwater runs down roofs, roadways, parking lots, and sidewalks ... and washes every bit of pollution humans put in those places right back into the sea. A few years ago a study in the greater Puget Sound area found that rainwater washes the equivalent of an Exxon Valdez worth of petroleum pollutants into Puget Sound every two years. And that doesn't even account for other significant sources of pollution, like the chemicals commonly used on yards, parks, golf courses, etc ... or industrial waste that gets flushed into the water from refineries, smelters, paper mills, and other types of industry that get built next to where ships can load and unload.

Then there's the dead zones we get every summer ... those are areas where human waste flushes into our coastal waters in such large quantities that they feed massive plankton blooms, which then die off and decay, removing the oxygen from the water. The result is that marine critters can't live there ... they leave or they die. These dead zones get bigger and last longer every year ... as more and more coastal development takes place.

These phenomena are a far greater threat to our health ... and should be a far greater concern to us as divers ... than what's going on in Japan ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Guba]

I agree with Frank and Bob. Those are precisely the topics of presentations I've been making to science educators for a number of years now (and of course presenting in my science classes), stressing that the connectivity of EVERY human to the ocean is something concrete and finite. When one considers, for example, the HUGE watershed (two thirds of the US) that drains into the Gulf of Mexico and that toxins and debris from Chicago can and do wind up in the GOM, it starts to become apparent that it's not just the coastal areas that affect the health of the Gulf. It's ALL of us, and we have to own that responsibility. Living far from the ocean is no longer an excuse to ignore our effect upon it, and it's also no excuse for being oblivious to the practices that harm it. The oceans face some daunting challenges in the near future, and we right along with it. It's more important now than ever before to learn and understand our impact upon our marine (and freshwater) systems and be educated enough to contribute toward sound decisions and practices that will help us preserve the earth's water environments.

(I'll get off my soapbox, now. Thanks for your patience.)

 

[MarineResearch]

Impacts from radiation spill into the ocean have been foretold. Look for a genetically mutated creature to emerge from Tokyo Bay. The locals will refer to it as Godzilla.

All seriousness aside, dilution is the solution to pollution. Unless you are diving in the immediate area, radiation exposure from the spill will be trivial. As noted by many posters, pollutants from non-point source runoff is a concern in most coastal areas, whether chemical/petroleum pollution in urban areas, or raw/inadequately treated sewage in underdeveloped areas.

 

[Rich Keller]

I am very upset over the nuclear radiation water spilling into our precious Pacific Ocean. I know it's a big body of water and it will disperse eventually, but what about the safety of our diving in those waters nearby? We were planning a dive trip to the Philippines soon and now have put that on hold to see what happens. I see no mention in the news about what this disaster will do to the fish of the world or how far this radiation will travel through the world's oceans.

Now that we are seeing the damage to the Earth that nuclear disaster's create, how can any of us support building and using nuclear power. There must be some eyes opening now towards a safer power source.

The Pacific Ocean has a current running in it like the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic and traveling in the same direction so the radiation will take a while to reach the Philippines. I would not cancel your trip if I were you. But you are right to worry about the radiation. I am not happy about how the radiation levels that are being talked about as far as the air is concerned. I have heard in the news that the amout in the air that has reached New York is 1-10,000th that of a chest Xray but you are only exposed to a chest Xray for one second. If you went to the Yankee home opener you were out there for more then 10,000 seconds. A chest Xray a day sound a lot worse to me then 1-10,000th! This should be of concern to anyone who spends a lot of time outside as I do.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

dilution is the solution to pollution

Actually, that "solution" is what brought us the problems we've been talking about. That may have been true a hundred years ago, but we've long since breached the point where dilution can be used without harmful consequences.

The solution is to reduce the amount of pollution ... which would best be accomplished by reducing the breeding rate of our species. But perhaps that's a topic best left for The Pub ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ScubaWulf]

You are so wrong!

Solar is the wave of the future. Germany which doesn't have nearly as much sun as the US installed over 7gw. The US only installed 1.2gw. The prediction is that the US will be installing about 20gw a year in a few years. The cost is no longer prohibitive as a solar system financed will typically cost less than most folks current electric bill, and often can offer a huge savings (Break even with savings is around $120 a month). Over 25 years it can add up to $150,000 in cash in the bank!

The price you pay today for energy will double within 10 years as it has done historically for the last 30 years with a 6.7% increase per year.

BTW 22% of our power from Pacific Gas and Electric Company comes from nuclear power. 44% comes from natural gas. 17% from hyrdo power. Hmmm...what happens if natural gas spikes as oil prices are driven to European price levels? Maybe YOU should be looking at putting a solar system on your home now?

Downside to this is the landscape in China where they are creating the materials to make solar panels. They are crapping all over the landscape with waste materials to do this.

 

[ReneeDr]

This has been interesting to hear all of the different opinions here. Thanks to all of you for giving me some of the stats on radiation dispersing and the types of radiation that we are talking about so far. I was thinking of plutonium, the worst case scenerio I guess, and it sounds like that hasn't leaked yet.( if we can trust the reports on that).

I agree with all of your comments that we do pollute the earth in many ways. To me radiation seems so much more fatal to the earth than runoff from land to sea from cities, but I suppose it's the accumulation of all the pollutants that will probably kill the human and animal population someday.

Each of us can do our tiny part to do the least damage to the earth and feel fortunate that we have the earth to use during our short life here. If we don't take better care of our clean water supply though, that will be the end of life as we know it. It's a big problem.

Now, the happy part of this conversation is that I have decided to go ahead and plan that trip to the Philippines. Happy diving to all!