In the vast Pacific Ocean, the Sailors on the Ronald Reagan got hit with a rogue radiation cloud

[itsrobert]

Not buying it. That would be like finding a needle in a 1000 acre hay field. There is more radiation than the Japanese are telling us.

[ensho]

1. kick

nt

[Atman]

2. The Japanese government has a history of secrecy

They're worse than we are. I don't believe for a minute that we're getting the full story.

[geardaddy]

3. Kick

Is there a link to this?

[closeupready]

4. Here's the thing, though - if there were a big release of radiation, satellites would pick that up.

I haven't, to date, seen any such reports.

[Atman]

7. I was checking my satellite readouts...nothing.

Neither the Pentagon nor the NRC has sent me any reports, either. I'm assuming that means everything is copacetic. Thanks for the reassuring words!

.

[closeupready]

11. when Chernobyl happened, NATO allies first detected the radiation, even though

they couldn't say for sure what was causing it.

Is the suggestion here that Japanese authorities can contain satellite data, on a global scale? For their next trick, can I suggest they end hunger?

[vaberella]

34. LOL! n/t

[itsrobert]

37. I got a report from a Polar Bear floating on a iceberg Ground Station in the pacific

He says Operation Cold Stone Creamery is a Go, I repeat Cold Stone Creamery is a Go.

[itsrobert]

10. And you won't

Satellites are controlled/managed by NORAD; and the nuclear industry has a mutual vested interest.

[ensho]

12. kick

nt

[closeupready]

13. Okay, but see my response above.

nt

[Statistical]

19. All sat and all ground monitoring stations in the world are controlled by NORAD?

Wow. Pretty powerful organization.

Even civilian monitoring stations, acaedmic/research monitoring stations, and anti-nuke monitoring stations are all controlled by NORAD. Go US. Never knew we were that powerful.

[itsrobert]

21. I didn't say anything about ground monitoring

But then again there is not much ground in the ocean. Well, there is ground, but is covered by a great amount of water. NORAD does control the movements of satellites. Sorry if you think US academia/research operate in a vacuum. You are woefully uninformed.

[Statistical]

22. NORAD controls the movement of foreign sats? Really?

We have complete supremacy over outerspace huh.

Also the movement of sat is caused by gravity. They are continually falling towards the earth in a circular path. Even if NORAD says no they will still keep orbiting the earth.

[itsrobert]

23. Really. NORAD and Governments

You are being a little simplistic in the movement of satellites. Satellites are moved all the time by small burst of power which can alter their course and reposition them all the time. When they are moved by this method, permission needs to be granted by international agencies controlled by GOVERNMENTS. And a big player in most, but not all cases is NORAD.

[Statistical]

27. Sat are rarely "moved" (orbit changed) outside of the movies.

Sats have very limited reaction mass and that mass needs to be used periodically to correct orbits and overcome friction (orbital decay). Since the mass can never be replaced they almost never change orbits. However given than a particular orbit goes all the way around the planet one can see a significant portion of the planet with a single sat. Once can see even more with a constellation without ever "moving" them (which is an innacurate term since they are always moving but I guess you mean alter their orbit.

Also no country asks permission from other countries to move their sats. You think we ask the Chinese, or Russians, or Iranians permission before we move a military sat. Hell durring the Cold War we had russian sat collide with ours because they moved them without even telling US much less asking us. NORAD tracks objects in orbit but friendly and enemy but has no control over their movements.

[itsrobert]

28. How many stationary satellites are focused on the west Pacific Ocean?

Do you have that number handy?

[Statistical]

29. No sat is stationary except one sitting on earth.

Do you mean sats in geosynchronous orbit? Still why would it need to be in geo? Even if not parked over Pafific they will rotate into posistion quickly enough. Most sat have an orbit time of a few hours. The International Space station (the largest sat) orbits the earth every 90 minutes.

[itsrobert]

30. Regardless, how many have the capability to detect radiation levels?

How many? Take your best guess, since that's all you are doing.

[Statistical]

31. I don't know I simply corrected you incorrect fact that NORAD controls everything.

so you accept that NORAD has no control over foreign sats?

That was the correction I made.

As far as monitoring stations. There are plenty of ground station and those include stations onboard ships. A lot of people around the world don't like nuclear power you think they won't be moving monitoring equipment into position. International water is the easiest place to monitor because you don't need to get permission from anyone.

[itsrobert]

35. Seems like you are just throwing things up to see what sticks

Ground stations are now ship stations? I like how you bend things in a spirited defense, lacking as it is.

[madokie]

36. You got that one right

[oldhippie]

43. Sats are controlled by NORAD? The NRO isn't going to like that.

Nor probably the GPS Program Office.

AFAIK, and I know a bit about the business, NORAD doesn't operate or "control" any satellites.

[madokie]

33. What satellite is set up to spot radiation?

I don't believe that but welcome a link so I can read for myself.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. Ok what satellite sniffs atmosphere

[Statistical]

44. Who said sniff? Radiation is energy.

At a minimum we (and Russians) have sat used to detect nuclear detonations by neutrons emissions (even those clandestinely detonated hundreds of feet underground).

[Ptah]

5. The USS Ronald Reagan was only 100 miles from the power plant.

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2011/03/14/uss-ronald-reagan-dodges-japanese-fallout/

The nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan was about 100 miles northeast of the power
plant when trace amounts of radiation were detected on 17 helicopter crew members
from the carrier after their aircraft flew through a radioactive plume generated
by the disabled power plant. It was likely released when Japanese officials vented
pressurized vapor from inside the plant to avert a meltdown. Three choppers about
60 miles from the plant first detected the radiation using sensors aboard the aircraft,
and it was later detected using similar devices aboard the Reagan. The ships and aircraft
from the carrier are in the region helping with relief efforts around Sendai, the city
near the power plant hardest-hit by the earthquake and resulting tsunami.

---------------------

[SidDithers]

25. Facts are good...nt

Sid

[NuclearDem]

6. Rogue radiation cloud...

Did it wink at them and say you betcha?

[Zorra]

8. I agree. nt

[hedgehog]

9. Turn about is fair play?

Daigo Fukuryū Maru (第五福龍丸?, Lucky Dragon 5) was a Japanese tuna fishing boat, which was exposed to and contaminated by nuclear fallout from the United States' Castle Bravo thermonuclear device test on Bikini Atoll, on March 1, 1954.

Aikichi Kuboyama, the boat's chief radioman, died less than seven months later, on September 23, 1954, suffering from acute radiation syndrome. He is considered the first victim of the hydrogen bomb of Operation Castle Bravo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daigo_Fukury%C5%AB_Maru

[ensho]

14. kick

nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

15. Puff, the magic dragon, lived by the sea. . . .

[Sonicwall]

16. (Bad joke warning)...

Wonder if the radiation cloud would cause Alzheimer's on the sailors? Would they drift for days before they remembered that they are supposed to do SOMETHING?

[snot]

17. I wonder if concern re- radiation exposure is affecting/will affect decisions re- sending help.

This is so upsetting.

[suffragette]

18. Actually, that's consistent with previous reports from Miyagi prefecture

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x630891#632923

http://www.thejournal.ie/japanese-authorities-declare-state-of-emergency-at-second-nuclear-plant-2011-03

JAPAN’S NUCLEAR AUTHORITIES have declared a state of emergency at a second nuclear power plant in the country, after its operator reported an unexplained increase in the level of radioactive readings in its surrounding area.

Authorities have declared the lowest possible state of emergency – a level 1 alert, with level 7 being the most severe – at the Onagawa plant, near Ishinomaki in the Miyagi prefecture that has borne most of the damage from Friday’s earthquake and the resulting tsunamis.

~~~

Those levels are around 700 times the normal level, TEPCO added, but were still considered low.
The IAEA has said that the three reactor units at the station are “under control”, and said the state of emergency was declared as a legal requirement.

It has begun investigations to identify the source of the radiation – as Japan’s nuclear authorities suggested that yesterday’s blast at Fukushima I, which is about 120km away, might be to blame for the scattered radioactive substances being recorded near Onagawa.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=637674&mesg_id=638675


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14plume.html?_r=1&ref=asia

Military Crew Said to Be Exposed to Radiation, but Officials Call Risk in U.S. Slight
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: March 13, 2011

The Pentagon was expected to announce that the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, which is sailing in the Pacific, passed through a radioactive cloud from stricken nuclear reactors in Japan, causing crew members on deck to receive a month’s worth of radiation in about an hour, government officials said Sunday.

The officials added that American helicopters flying missions about 60 miles north of the damaged reactors became coated with particulate radiation that had to be washed off.

There was no indication that any of the military personnel had experienced ill effects from the exposure. (Everyone is exposed to a small amount of natural background radiation.)


That sounds to me like they were in the Miyagi area, which is where the increased radiation was reported in the area around the Onagawa nuclear plant. So, this must be the debris from the 1st explosion at Fukushima which traveled north to Miyagi.
Glad the helicopters provided protection for them while in the air.

[Statistical]

20. Who said it was rouge.

The RR is offshore of Japan and the wind is directly blowing towards it. Not exactly a random wandering rouge cloud.

[gratuitous]

24. Well, if it was rouge, we should definitely be seeing it

I mean, a big old red blob like that? You could see it coming from miles away. And what are we doing about it? Why, if Chimpy McCokespoon was still camping out in the Oval Office, by golly, we'd have invaded Cambodia or someplace by now!

[geardaddy]

26. lol

I thought I saw a misspelling.

LOL

[madokie]

32. Sure there is

They never tell the truth. You can't see it can't smell it can't feel it so why not lie is their mo

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. Well nothing to see here...

Oh unit one, two and three are in trouble

[yawnmaster]

39. One - not a "rogue" cloud; that's hyperbole. Two - the RR didn't get hit...

An aircraft from the RR ran through the cloud.

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. Hmmm no...

A chopper first detected it, the carrier later went through it. In the famous words of DOD they were exposed to a month's worth

[yawnmaster]

45. Oh noes, one whole month worth! thats 25 millirems! I'd have to fly coast to coast...

twice to absorb that much!

btw one shuttle mission and astronauts are exposed to 25,000 millirems.

Hyperbole, it is.

[pokerfan]

42. It was a million to one shot, doc!