Three core meltdowns and nobody seems to care anymore

[PhillySane]

Have you seen that cloud over North America lately? Just curious. I know there was some coverage on it a couple months back. Today, can't find anything. Do we all honestly believe it just disappeared? Has anyone been checking the radiation levels of produce coming out of CA? I would like to know if there is any updated info out there.

[Horse with no Name]

1. There is a WEINER out there

nuclear fallout isn't important.

[NightWatcher]

if Weiner resigns we might get some news coverage back

[Horse with no Name]

11. Really? When did we actually HAVE news coverage in the first place?

Seriously?

You are deluding yourself to think that once they get the bounty on Weiner's scalp that they won't keep going back for more. And when they do, it's the fault of those in our own party who were so quick to throw him out while not insisting they clean their own backyard first.

I accept that every one of our folks in Congress are human and have probably done something that would be an embarrassment to the pearl-clutching crowd.


But we are going to find ourselves in a predicament if we expect sexual and moral purity from everyone we elect. The republicans who actually run on this shit don't have it--why should we demand it when we aren't the ones who are the panty-police?

[NightWatcher]

21. SOME news coverage back. I turn off the tube everytime I hear "weiner"

which means Im not seeing anything else.

[Chisox08]

44. News coverage what news coverage

All Wiener did was get Sarah Palin off of the TV for a while.

[PhillySane]

4. Yea, that's the way it all will end

Everyone gets radiation sickness but just keeps on tweeting their dick pics. What a way to go.

[Horse with no Name]

6. Well there is always the possibility their errant members will just fall off

that would be helpful.

[Thav]

36. Correct!

Look at this picture! Look at it! It's a man in boxers. See that there? LOOK! It's a bulge. Look at the bulge, it looks like he's sporting an erection. Do you see that? Look! What an erection, just look at it. Just look at that picture and imagine. Imagine that erection. Yeah, the long, hard... err CAN YOU BELIEVE HE DID THIS! OMFG!

(oh, and japan had 3 nuclear melt downs)

Now, back to looking at the picture and imagining the... DISCUSSING THE SCANDAL! DISCUSSING THE SCANDAL!

[PhillySane]

37. Do you know how much time and money is spent on the internet

doing just that? Its worth billions of dollars. And you know what powers those computers? Nuclear reactors and carbon emissions. So, yea, that is the way it will end.

[dkf]

2. I've been assuming it will be whatever the worst case scenario is.

They obviously don't know how to fix it.

[Poll_Blind]

13. DKF, I actually agree with you. I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic or not but...

...I absolutely agree with the sentiment and have been making some changes in my life based on my belief that the truth of the situation is far more alarming than Japan has let on.

Well, actually, they have been sort of releasing the steam in dribs and drabs, "Oh, we weren't honest about this or that". Seems like every few weeks there's an admission. I live on the West Coast and in a weird way (and this is probably not the best approach, but it's also tough to deal with) I'm sort of waiting for the Japanese people, themselves, to find out how bad the situation really is- because it's going to impact them worse than me, nomatter what (I presume).

PB

[dkf]

33. No sarcasm, just sadness and resignation.

I can't bear to think about it.

[Scuba]

23. Bingo.

[KittyWampus]

35. I agree. With the BP Gulf Spill, I could see the end. I knew they'd eventually cap it and

the environment would recoup after taking a big hit.

With this mess in Japan... I don't see an end in sight.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. All the data you could want, here:

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/rert/radnet-data-map.html

[RadiationTherapy]

9. It looks like 2 month old date on a difficult to navigate website?

'Difficult' may be an overstatement, but it is not very user-friendly to get information quickly.

[Abq_Sarah]

34. I was able to pull up RadNet Data on Eureka, CA

In less than a minute. It wasn't difficult at all.

[RadiationTherapy]

40. Cool.

Thanks for the help!

[PhillySane]

10. Thanks

good to have, except this is government data. Any independents doing this work?

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. Me, I like the government (nt)

[kristopher]

41. Government data is on a par with NGOs

It is usually good but caution should be exercised because the data collection and analysis is frequently part of achieving a goal and as such, will often mislead if taken at face value.

For example, the DOE is charged with promoting nuclear power. It would be foolish to look to them for aggressive investigation of things that act to stop the promotion of nuclear power. A similar case would be Greenpeace, which is dedicated to stopping the deployment of nuclear power. It wouldn't be wise to look to Greenpeace for aggressive research into areas to help the nuclear power industry build more reactors.

The best sources are referred academic publications. And even they are frequently subject to conflict of interest issues related to industry financial support.

[FBaggins]

5. Of course people still care... but it (still) isn't an issue in North America

No "cloud" to worry about.

Yes, there is still some testing going on, though the ramped-up testing that the EPA puts into place when airborne contamination levels were above a certain level are now back to their normal frequency now that even that tiny amount is gone.

Cal berkeley is probably your best source for "checking the radiation levels of produce coming out of CA".

http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/UCBAirSampling

[RKP5637]

7. And Christie loves it soooo much he wants to bring it to NJ with a new plant. Meanwhile the

Germans are smarter, as usual.

[Avalux]

8. Not just meldowns; at least one melt through.

They've also doubled the initial radiation readings from when the disaster first occurred.

American media and people have short attention spans.....

[PhillySane]

12. Seriously...

I think the world did end on May 21. No one payed attention. Too many sex scandals to follow.

[Poll_Blind]

16. Those revelations and some other ones have really rocked me back on my heels.

It is a very, very bad situation and there is literally no end in sight for either A) a resolution or B) finding out the truth of the matter.

PB

[MineralMan]

14. It's not that people don't care, and the information is out there if

you care to go looking for it. The thing is that the incident happened and there's not much we can do about the consequences of the incident, really. It is what it is, and no amount of concerned hand-waving will change that. So, the story has moved from the front pages. You can still find out whatever information you want and many people are watching what's going on and trying to figure out what to do about it.

Bottom line is that the plants should not have been built where they were built. But, we can't go back and undo that.

If you want the information about current levels, etc., you can find it pretty easily. the USGS, weather service, EPA, and other agencies are tracking that stuff, and the radiation monitor network is active. In Japan, they're also monitoring conditions, but have not found a solution for what is an unprecedented chain of events yet. The work goes on apace, however.

[DainBramaged]

15. No Weiners, no matter

Olive Garden, Cigarettes, breastfeeding, circumcision


narwhals, pit bulls, smoking bans, and soda pop


Rapture, PETA, breeders vs child free, High school bands, kids on planes, bombing the moon not so soon

ponies, Ipods, Ipads, and Michael Vicks, Applebees, vaccinations and now we have our Weinergate


Poutrage, outrage, keyboard justice outrage we didn't start the Weiner, but we want the Weiner gone.

[PhillySane]

22. Nice

got any gutiar chords to go along with that? :)

[FiveGoodMen]

17. It seems that 'Murkins don't think at all

till someone tells them what to think.

[slackmaster]

19. Who told you to think that, FiveGoodMen?

Serious question.

[slackmaster]

18. I care a lot, but there's not a blessed thing I can do about it

So I'm not going to wallow in anger or grief about it.

[Le Taz Hot]

20. Yes, I care.

I'm in California and I care very much. Question: What am I supposed to do about it?

[PhillySane]

26. Well

I guess we can't do anything except demand that our government continues to asses the threat from it and let us know what is going on. Some independent research needs to be put out there as well, cause, honestly, I don't trust a damn thing our government tells us anyway. Why is it if we want any info concerning our health and well-being they really don't give a shit, but hey, wanna see a picture of my dong?

[leveymg]

24. Those who ever cared still do. The industry/gov't propaganda was amazingly effective at confusing

a lot of people a few months ago, and most just turned off. The attitude is very fatalistic - "why should I give a damn, I'm not even sure what happened or whom to believe?" That's enough to defuse most of it, right there.

Like the Iraq WMDs and Bush-Cheney's aggressive war, lies become a fait accompli once the audience turns off in frustration or fatal resignation. Sad, but true.

In the end, the civilian nuclear industry is a goner, though, worldwide. So, the outcome isn't all bad.

[Safetykitten]

25. But there is penis talk. Radiation will always be there.

[Javaman]

27. If it's between a story regarding life and death some guys pants elephant,

which do you think will win in our gossip tv that passes for news these day?

[ensho]

28. I care and the nuke toxins are spreading far and wide

our govt is afraid to release the true facts

[justiceischeap]

29. I've been driving miles out of my way to make sure I'm getting produce grown on the East Coast

I drove 45 minutes last weekend so I could buy produce grown by Amish farmers from Lancaster, PA.

[PhillySane]

31. I actually have a farmer's market today

in my neighborhood that features fine Amish produce. Lucky for me. But honestly, even if that were contaminated, how would I know?

[CoffeeCat]

45. but cesium and radioactive iodine-131 were both...

...found in the east coast.

About six weeks ago, there were many articles about radioactive isotopes that were found
around the country. This was not just in California. Cesium and iodine-131 were found in
milk in Vermont. In Pennsylvania, high levels of radioactive isotopes were found in drinking
water. There were many, many articles. Radioactive isotopes were found in strawberries,
mushrooms, leafy greens, milk rainwater and drinking water. The levels were at or slightly
above EPA safe levels.

The leaks from Fukushima never stopped, so this stuff has been accumulating since those initial
reports. Funny, after those initial reports, the EPA stopped their extra testing, and decided
to return to a normal testing schedule. So, we won't see any radioactive isotope reports for
a couple of months. Unbelievable, right?

It's also important to note that CIIRAD, a French research body on radioactivity issued dire
warnings to Europeans--warning them not to eat leafy greens or drink milk. They called such
activities "risky behaviors" due to the radioactive isotopes in these foods. They also said
that the levels in Europe were high, but were several times higher in the United States.

This is a very sickening situation.

[spanone]

32. radioactivity can be reported on for hundreds of thousands of years....weiners rule the day

our media is beyond broken...it's a waste of time

[SoCalDem]

38. Probably because there is really nothing that anyone can do about it

All during the "event", we were talking about it non-stop and were routinely "slapped down" for being alarmists:grr:

[Mz Pip]

39. I care

but there isn't much I can do about it. I can't fix this. It's serious and I hope that serious, knowledgeable people are doing whatever they can.

[Ichingcarpenter]

42. These are "melt-through" being "far worse than a core meltdown"

The nuclear fuel in three of the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant has melted through the base of the pressure vessels and is pooling in the outer containment vessels, according to a report by the Japanese government.

The findings of the report, which has been given to the International Atomic Energy Agency, were revealed by the Yomiuri newspaper, which described a "melt-through" as being "far worse than a core meltdown" and "the worst possibility in a nuclear accident."

A spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the company is presently revising the road-map for bringing the plant under control, including the time required to achieve cold shutdown of the reactors.
In a best-case scenario, the company says it will be able to achieve that by October, although that may have to be revised in light of the report.

Water that was pumped into the pressure vessels to cool the fuel rods, becoming highly radioactive in the process, has been confirmed to have leaked out of the containment vessels and outside the buildings that house the reactors.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8565020/Nuclear-fuel-has-melted-through-base-of-Fukushima-plant.html

[Dreamer Tatum]

43. Everyone TALKS about the meltdowns. But no one is DOING anything about it.

Um...ok. What would you have people DO, exactly?