Re: [tlug] How much of radiations measured in Central Tokyo?

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephenjturnbull@example.com>]

On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 9:20 PM, BALUTA Chris <baluta@example.com> wrote:
>> On 16/03/2011 10:44, Tobias Diedrich wrote:
>> > You may also want to read
>> > http://geniusnow.com/2011/03/15/the-strange-case-of-josef-oehmen/
>>
>> Hmm. Do you have something that points out the factual errors? Because to me,
>> whether it's accurate or not is more interesting than who hosts the web site.
>
>   I'm with Simon here.
>
>   The author's contention that the website is hosted by a "pro-nuke"
> organization is irrelevant to this situation. What matters is: Does the
> website contain inaccuracies or omissions?

Yes, and no.  There is a very strong source of bias here.  People
whose job is to *prepare* for a disaster often cannot see one coming
because if they'd thought of that, they would have prepared for it.

The mitnse.com website contains a *lot* of inaccuracies in spelling,
grammar, and occasionally technical terminology.  I would guess that
it is mostly manned by undergrads and maybe some grad students.  There
has been no correction or augmentation in response to the criticism
that the Fukushima reactors may not have a secondary containment
system of a concrete pad under the primary containment system.

Nonetheless, I have seen no plausible discussions of mechanisms for
breaking the containment.  Edward passed on an URL to me from an
anti-nuke group that was written in 1997 but specifically about these
reactors, but as far as I can tell so far the mechanism for actually
breaking containment was *assumed*, not analyzed, and their english is
at least as bad as mitnse.com's:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Japan#Citizens.27_Nuclear_Information_Center
http://cnic.jp/english/topics/cycle/MOX/ima/index.html

So I remain pretty optimistic (except for people in the immediate
neighborhood of the reactors who have already been and will continue
to be exposed to abnormal levels of radiation) that the main
consequences will be economic (including the severe effects on
people's lives of power shortages as "economic", I don't just mean
money to clean up).