Michio Kaku recommends the "Chernobyl Option"

[somone]

http://bigthink.com/ideas/31617

If I Had the Ear of the Prime Minister, I Would Recommend the "Chernobyl Option"
Michio Kaku on March 15, 2011, 12:17 PM

The situation in Japan, as of Tuesday morning, keeps getting worse. We are getting close to the point of no return (the point where we have uncontrolled releases of radiation due to breach of containment)...

If I had the ear of the Prime Minister, I would recommend the "Chernobyl Option."
* Put the Japanese Air Force on alert
* Assemble a huge fleet of helicopters. Put shielding underneath them.
* Accumulate enough sand, boric acid, and concrete to smother these reactors, to entomb them forever.

This is what the Soviets did in 1986, calling out the Red Air Force and sandbagging the reactor with over 5,000 tons of concrete and sand. We have not yet hit the point of no return. But when we do, I think the only option left is this one.

[DearAbby]

1. Agree -nt

[RT Atlanta]

2. I didnt realize that's what the Soviets did...

I actually had the thought the other night - would dropping an a-bomb on those reactors wipe them out and "end the mess" or only open up a whole new can of worms.

[Codeine]

7. Yeah, aerosolizing all that reactor fuel and throwing it

thousands of meters into the air sounds like a magnificent plan, especially mixed in with all the normal A-bomb material.

And I'm sure the Japanese would be THRILLED to have another atomic weapon deployed on one of its cities.

[PCIntern]

9. FUBAR...actually it might bring upon the 'end times'...

make guys like Huckabee happy...then again...probably not...

[Stinky The Clown]

8. There is simply no way on earth the Japanese psyche would EVER accept an intentional nuclear blast

Not Japan.

Not ever.





I can see them entombing the reactors, but not blowing them up.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Chernobyl did not blow up either

there is no way a reactor can get critical mass for an actual honest to goodness mushroom cloud. The physics are NOT there, period.

What they had was a pretty conventional explosion that sent crap into the upper atmosphere.

The chernobyl option means a permanent exclusion zone and burying the station.

[Codeine]

20. Stinky didn't say it did.

He responded to someone suggesting it be nuked with an a-bomb.

[Stinky The Clown]

30. Please don't lecture me.

You misread what I said.

[bananas]

31. Yes it did

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

A second, more powerful explosion occurred about two or three seconds after the first; evidence indicates that the second explosion resulted from a nuclear excursion.<21>
...
However, the ratio of xenon radioisotopes released during the event provides compelling evidence that the second explosion was a nuclear power transient. This nuclear transient released ~0.01 kiloton of TNT equivalent (40 GJ) of energy; the analysis indicates that the nuclear excursion was limited to a small portion of the core.<21>

0.01 kiloton = 10 ton, which is like a small tactical nuke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_%28nuclear_device%29

The M-388 round used a version of the W54 warhead, a very small sub-kiloton fission device. The Mk-54 weighed about 51 lb (23 kg), with a selectable yield equivalent to 10 or 20 tons of TNT (very close to the minimum practical size and yield for a fission warhead).

[CLANG]

19. You didn't just say that. The scary thing is you would have had to think it up first!

j/k - But it's probably not such a good idea.

[quinnox]

3. better sooner than later, why wait?

Does Japan really want to wait until that plant gets to the point of total nuclear Armageddon?
Jesus, Chernobyl was one reactor that blew its top, here we are talking about 5 reactors that are in trouble.

[jtrockville]

24. Right on. Those reactors are already destroyed by seawater.

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. It may come to that. If I had the ear of PM Kan, I'd recommend getting kids in the evac zone out

Remember all of those nations offering help? Have them take Mom & the kids on a little vacation until this thing is resolved. Turn Norita into a giant departure lounge; planes land with non perishable food and bottled water; unload; and leave with parents (1 per group of kids) all the kids they can bring.

[Jamastiene]

26. Agreed. n/t

[Indydem]

5. Better get some good shielding.

Every one of the pilots at Chernobyl died within days.

[Lucky 13]

23. WOW. Is that true?

Do you have a link? Not that I don't believe you, I had just never heard that.

This is scary shit. There are no good options.

[Indydem]

29. Many of them died soon after.

A scant minority of them lived a few more years.

[moondust]

6. Sarcophagus. n/t

:shrug:

[Lastactiongyro]

10. Yep, then they threw lead ingots, unfortunately the lead particulates went into the air.

[Baclava]

11. Let the cores all melt down?

Oh those wacky theoretical physicists

I did like his starfighter build though.

[hlthe2b]

13. well, at least they aren't advising "nuking" them...

Anyone remember that as an approach to stopping the Gulf oil leak? And, some DUers actually advocating it? :eyes:

[Codeine]

17. Look upthread.

someone did.

[hlthe2b]

21. Uggh... I give up...

What to do when all about you, "folks" are going insane?

[wtmusic]

14. I wish Bill Nye would weigh in on this one

We need the heavy hitters for the big questions. :crazy:

[hifiguy]

15. When one of the greatest minds on the planet

- a theoretical physicist of stunning intellectual accomplishments - can come up with nothing better than this as a solution, why are we fucking around with this technology?

[flamingdem]

18. +10000 sigh

[ananda]

16. Is Japan capable of doing this?

I really want to know if they would be able to do that.

[dkf]

22. How large would the area taken out of operation be?

What is the downside other than not being able to use the area?

[CJvR]

25. The point of this would be?

In Chernobyl it was to reestablish some form of containment to make it possible to build a new containment structure.
In Japan the containment is still intact. So other than the satisfaction of bombing the hell out of the reactors, a worthy goal in itself, what would be the point?

[RandySF]

27. Read the pro-nuke posts

They are acting like burying this plant is akin to putting your grandmother to death. It's just a THING that is endangering lives.

[Statistical]

28. WORST IDEA EVER.

Chernobyl isn't a perfect seal. It was more a best attempt. The best they could do to reduce and mitigate the radiation.

As a result a massive amount of radiation still pours out of the reactor.
15 years later the exposure at Chernobyl is still massively higher than what is at the Japanese plant today.

Go for the Chernobyl option and northern Japan is done. Seal if off and wait 300-800 years.