Japan nuclear crisis: evacuees turned away from shelters

[IScreamSundays]

Source: Telegraph

Hundreds of people evacuated from towns and villages close to the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are being turned away by medical institutions and emergency shelters as fears of radioactive contagion catch on.

By Julian Ryall, in Tokyo 3:54PM BST 30 Mar 2011
Hospitals and temporary refuges are demanding that evacuees provide them with certificates confirming that they have not been exposed to radiation before they are admitted.

The situation at the plant remains critical, with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency yesterday that radioactive iodine-131 at more than 3,350 times permitted levels has been found in a sample of seawater taken from near the facility.

The water is the most highly contaminated sample taken from the sea and indicates that radiation from the core of one or more of the reactors, where fuel rods have partly melted, is leaking into the Pacific Ocean.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8416302/Japan-nuclear-crisis-evacuees-turned-away-from-shelters.html

[virgogal]

1. Poor Japan---a never ending tragedy .

[ElsewheresDaughter]

12. Yes it is very tragic and it is going to effect not only Japan but perhaps a thrid of the planet.

[jtuck004]

2. Medical institutions that turn away sick people, shelters that don't

want you if you have no place else to go.

Sounds like how we treat pets, and a lot of people, here.

One would think that an educated people could do better than simply responding out of fear.

[Paradoxical]

3. They should set up decontamination showers and dryers.

Dispose of your clothing. Shower off. Get a new set of cloths.

You'll be fine.

[Iliyah]

4. My prayers

go out to the people of Japan. What a horrible lesson to learn, in fact, I know it's wishful thinking but I wish we could get rid of the nuclear plants here in the U.S.

[Paradoxical]

5. The plants will be safe for now unless we are hit by a historical earthquake.

Which I guess is possible. But even then, we'd have to lose power to the emergency pump systems.

What happened in Japan evolved out of a series of incredibly unfortunate and unforeseen events.

[liberation]

7. Famous last words.

Gotta go and knock some wood ASAP.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Brown's Ferry could get ugly quick if we get another triple 8.0+ on the new madrid seismic zone.

A repeat of 1811-1812 would be disasterous on many levels.

Browns ferry is the same containment type as Fukushima site 1, reactors 1-5.

[bananas]

16. Except the events were foreseen

the nuclear industry and the government regulators had their heads in the sand.

[Paradoxical]

17. The engineers did not plan for such things because they didn't think they were possible.

There comes a point when engineers believe that planning for certain catastrophic, but HIGHLY unlikely events, is not worth the effort. This happens all the time in all elements of science.

It's one of the major tenants. Plan for the worst case scenarios. But what if the worst case scenarios are worse than what you imagined?

[bananas]

18. Some engineers didn't believe the scientists who said it was not only possible but extremely likely.

[bananas]

19. Heck, I predicted it myself

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bananas/1299

[bananas]

21. One scientist resigned in protest: 'What happened...should not be described as "unexpected"'

When the good scientists are forced out, all you're left with are incompetent yes-men.
This was written after a 2007 earthquake took out another nuclear power plant:

http://japanfocus.org/-Ishibashi_Katsuhiko/2495

Why Worry? Japan's Nuclear Plants at Grave Risk From Quake Damage

Ishibashi Katsuhiko

I had warned that a major earthquake would strike the Chuetsu region around Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, and about the fundamental vulnerability of nuclear power plants.

The 6.8 magnitude temblor of July 16 caused considerable damage to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), proving me right.

<snip>

In the past two years, major quakes took place in close proximity of three nuclear power plants: the Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture (August 2005), the Shika plant in Ishikawa Prefecture (March 2007) and the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. In each case, the maximum ground motion caused by the quake was stronger than the seismic design criteria for the nuclear power plants. The latest temblor near Kashiwazaki generated a peak ground acceleration of 993 gal, compared with the design value of 450 gal.

<snip>

What happened to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Plant should not be described as "unexpected".

<snip>

I was a member of the expert panel that developed the new seismic design guidelines, but I resigned during the final stage of the work last August to protest the panel's stance on this issue. This defect must be fixed quickly, learning from what happened at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant.

<snip?

Ishibashi Katsuhiko is a professor at the Research Center for Urban Safety and Security of Kobe University.

This article appeared in the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shinbun on August 11, 2007). Posted at Japan Focus on August 11, 2007.

[liberation]

6. Yeah, those showers are totally useful to get rid of all those particles

once they enter your lungs and bloodstream. All you have to do is scrub your insides a little, and voila... radiation-b-gone.

[ljm2002]

14. It does remove any exterior radioactive particles...

...and getting new clothing removes potentially radioactive materials also. Doing that would mean there is no chance of contaminating others with radioactivity. That's why it would be a good idea.

As far as internal radiation, you are correct, there is no magic "radiation-b-gone" to remove it. However, it will not contaminate others either.

Now how you overcome the fear that others have, is another question.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JVS]

20. "Fine" as in not a hazard to other patients.

[Urban Prairie]

9. The equivalent of being radioactive "lepers", how tragic and horrible n/t

[closeupready]

10. I'm ashamed of my reaction now, but years ago,

in the early 90's, I met a guy from Kiev (in the US for no more than a month or so), and he had a gaunt, sickly appearance to him, and I thought to myself, he's got cancer related to Chernobyl. I was friendly and everything, but I later talked about it with a friend, who shook his head and said, no, cancer isn't like that. But I'm ashamed that I felt this way.

But the question is, if someone has been exposed to toxic levels of radioactive isotopes, is that something that a third party need not be concerned about?

[PoliticAverse]

11. Somebody get these places a geiger counter... n/t

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. I tried to buy on last week they are are sold out and back ordered...