#radioactivity

hackbyte@friendica.utzer.de

Should Fukushima Release Radioactive Water?

(long read + video ;))

Kyle Hill - Should Fukushima Release Radioactive Water?

https://youtu.be/UwFoOVyB40s
https://redirect.invidious.io/UwFoOVyB40s

Disclaimer: I might not have as much knowledge about radiation as kyle hill, but still i'm pretty good and deep into this topic for neurodivergent reasons and out of curiosity/interest. ;)

So ..... _that_ they're going to release this water, was a non-issue for me from the get go. Other nations and power plants release _far_ more radioactive residue per year, as fukushima daiichi is going to release. (On top of that, he says that in the video, we have about 8 kilogram of diluted thorium in the oceans. The amount of thorium in the water which will be released over _decades_ is _just_ 3 grams.)

Kyle Hill nicely show up the facts, provided from tepco, but they are in accordance with international scientific standards.

On top of that, he actually takes a tour to the power plant, looks at the cleaned water itself.. And feels confused.

I have to second that. They tried to make american class advertising premium quality bullshit PR.

Going along with kyle, i agree. Still. While ethically not so ideal and perfect. They need to get their word out.

And, there is no viable alternative as to treat the water as best as chemically possible.... and release the remaining bit of thorium we can't get out into the oceans.

For ah so many reasons sadly.

But _ONE_ which is actually the reason, which turned me away from the "nuclear bridge technology" idea and concept.

That we could and should use nuclear power, as a bridge, for powering us while we try to build alternative and regenerative power sources like wind and solar energy.

And _my_ personal reason, why the fukushima daiichi accident actually really and completely changed my mind, is similar to the reason, why they now need to start to release that water.

It's basically business administration and economics.

We can't economically build really safe nuclear power plants, where we include _all_ costs, from the mining for resources, building a plant, purifying fuels, maintaining fuel and plant, recycling fuel as far as possible, and safely dismantle a plant after it's lifetime _and_ store all the irradiated and naturally radioactive stuff until it becomes harmless lead in millions of years.

It's just not possible.

In a perfect utopia, where our main focus would not be the creation of profit, but research and safe handling of technology.. It would maybe be possible.

But in this capitalistic world? No way ever ... sadly, but realistically.

Like, it was the frickin main reason in chernobyl as well as in fukushima:

Both plants essentially failed not just by neglect or bad management. But because at some point, someone took the cheap route..

Costing thousands of ppl their lives and millions of ppl their homes.

That's why i principally think, nuclear energy is a bad idea. We can't handle it safely .. and as long as capitalism rules the world, we never will be.

Getting that out.... Kyle Hills video is really good and gives a few things to think about .... not just for today, but for the future too. ;)

And still ... they need to get rid of all that treated water... Again, for freaking economical reasons... _meh_

#Fukushima #Daiichi #Kyle #Hill #Nuclear #Accident #Radiation #Thorium #Ocean #Water #Bridge #Technology #Chernobyl #Radioactive #Radioactivity #RandomShit ;)

mlansbury@despora.de

ISW: Russia threatens Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant sabotage

Russia may be signaling a willingness to sabotage the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant to dissuade Ukrainian forces from conducting a counteroffensive in the area, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote.

The experts point out that a radioactive leak would be difficult to control and could potentially impact Russian forces more than the Ukrainian ones, depending on given conditions at the time.

They also note that a radiological terror attack would render many areas in occupied southern Ukraine "uninhabitable and ungovernable," degrading Russia's hold over them.

The ISW reminded that Moscow has repeatedly used nuclear threats related to the Zaporizhzhia plant to constrain Ukraine's military actions and prevent further Western assistance to Kyiv

https://kyivindependent.com/isw-russia-likely-threatens-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-sabotage-to-dissuade-local-counteroffensive/

#RussiaInvadedUkraine #nuclear #ZNPP #ZaporizhzhiaNuclearPowerPlant #RussianWarCrimes #terrorism #ISW #radioactivity #radioactive #Zaporizhzhia #sabotage

wazoox@diasp.eu

Is Low-Level Radiation Good For Us? Interview with Dr. Chris Thome

#environment #health #radioactivity

MH: The idea would be that organisms, including humans, are constantly awash in natural background radiation and have evolved in low levels of ionizing radiation. Therefore, it may actually be imperative for life – and the absence of that radiation may be detrimental to health.

CT: Exactly. Getting a little bit more into into why we hypothesized that, we're thinking that the little bit of damage you get from natural background radiation – it's small in comparison to a lot of other types of stressors that we're exposed to – but that little bit of damage keeps things functioning properly. It keeps your things like DNA repair and antioxidant processes active. If you remove it, you might now start to shut down some of these natural processes. And in doing so, now you’re making yourself more susceptible to damage.Basically, by removing that background radiation, we might actually be suppressing some of these beneficial natural processes.

https://madihilly.substack.com/p/is-low-level-radiation-good-for-us?publication_id=1050314&post_id=100907038&isFreemail=true

legeneralmidi@diaspora.psyco.fr

The Most Radioactive Places on Earth

Radioactive isotopes have shockingly long half-lives – the amount of time it takes them to decay. As a result, radioactive accidents or emergencies potentially leave lifetimes of #toxicity behind in their wake. If you’re a world traveler, it’s worth knowing about some of the most radioactive places on the planet so you can steer clear and prevent exposing yourself to unnecessary doses of direct radiation.

Take Care When Traveling to 5 of the Most Radioactive Places on Earth

Remember learning about half-lives of isotopes in earth science and chemistry? If not, we’ll refresh your memory with this list of commonly-used radioactive isotopes and their half-lives:

#Uranium: 4.5 billion years
#Plutonium 239: 24,300 years
#Plutonium 238: 87.7 years
#Cesium 137: 30.2 years
#Strontium-90: 28-years
Depending on the spill or fall-out situation, and the isotopes involved, certain areas on the planet are off-limits for a generation or two, and others are permanently wiped off the map for all of life as we know it.

As of today’s date, 5 of the most radioactive places on earth are:

Fukishima, Japan
On Friday, March 11, 2011 the Pacific coast of Japan experienced an earthquake with a magnitude upwards of 9.0. This significant movement of the tectonic plates caused a tsunami that destroyed Fukushima, along with its Daiichi Nuclear Plant. Theoretically, the plant was supposed to shutdown in the case of a natural disaster. Instead the generator designated to cool the reactors failed to engage and this lead to a nuclear meltdown.

Ultimately, three active reactors leaked radioactive material, and this was followed by a succession of other nuclear emergencies, including a radioactive spill next to the contaminated wastewater storage pool. In addition to the ground around #Fukushima, adjacent areas of the Pacific coast are also affected.

The power plant is completely shut down and experts believe it will take a full 40-years or more before the plant is completely decommissioned.

Chernobyl, Ukraine
Chernobyl was the nuclear event of the 1980s. On April 26, 1986 one of the world’s largest nuclear disasters occurred when Reactor 4 exploded, and it released radiation that was 100-times more powerful than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined. Very sadly, as a result, the immediate effects of radiation exposure affected six-million innocent people, and experts believe that when all is said and done, the death toll from Chernobyl will be as high as 93,000 people.

#Belarus has been the most-affected area by the disaster, where the population experiences record numbers of thyroid and other types of cancers. Roughly 2,600 square km (almost 1004-square miles) is a designated Exclusion Zone (meaning public access and inhabitants are completely restricted) because of the high levels of radioactivity.

The Polygon
During the cold war, the Soviet Union used an area called #ThePolygon, which is now located in modern-day #Kazakhstan. During that period of time, nuclear experts estimate that as many as 400 #nuclearweapons were tested in that area.

As a result, it’s considered completely uninhabitable – a fact that has shamefully not been enforced upon the more than 500,000 people who have lived in the area throughout the past decades. It’s believe that more than 200,000 people are still suffering from #radiation sickness at some level due to their exposure to radiation. Fortunately, the immediate area has been abandoned and is completely off-limits to visitors.

Hanford, Washington – USA
During WWII, the US manufactured plutonium for #atom bombs in a quiet town called Hanford, Washington. The materials made there were eventually dropped on Nagasaki. Then, during the Cold War, Hanford’s plutonium manufacturing efforts ramped up again in order to produce 600,000 additional nuclear weapons.

The plutonium plant in #Hanford is now decommissioned, but (see half-life numbers above) it currently contains roughly two-thirds of our nation’s highly #radioactivewaste – in both solid and liquid forms. Radioactive waste has contaminated an estimated 200 square miles of groundwater in the area as well, making Hanford the most radioactive place in the United States.

Goias, Brazil
#Goias has one of the most interesting stories of them all because the radioactive waste was uncovered during a robbery attempt back in 1987. Two men broke into an abandoned hospital, hoping to steal scrap metal. While there, they noticed a cancer therapy device that contained a glowing, blue material the criminals couldn’t resist.

The robbers stole the machine and – oblivious to the fact that the glowing, blue material was radioactive – they started calling up friends, neighbors and family to come take a look at this amazing glowing object. Sadly, everyone who heeded the call was exposed to radiation. More than 250 people were admitted to the hospital, four of whom died. The Brazilian government was called in to clean up the area but the unprecedented event left #radioactiveparticles spread across a large area.

Always Use Adequate Protection When Exposed to Radioactive Materials
The above places and stories are prime examples of what great respect medical and industrial professionals must have and hold for the materials they work with. Always protect yourself from any level of radiation exposure to err on the safe side.

#radioactivity #nuclearaccidents

berternste@pod.orkz.net

Atoms and Ashes by Serhii Plokhy review – why another nuclear disaster is almost inevitable

The Guardian

A grim account of the downhill slide of atomic power since its heyday in the 1950s illustrates why it can never be the solution to global heating.

Once hailed as a source of electricity that would be too cheap to meter, atomic power has come a long way since the 1950s – mostly downhill. Far from being cost-free, nuclear-generated electricity is today more expensive than power produced by coal, gas, wind or solar plants while sites storing spent uranium and irradiated equipment litter the globe, a deadly radioactive legacy that will endure for hundreds of thousands of years. For good measure, most analysts now accept that the spread of atomic energy played a crucial role in driving nuclear weapon proliferation.

Then there are the disasters. Some of the world’s worst accidents have had nuclear origins and half a dozen especially egregious examples have been selected by Harvard historian Serhii Plokhy to support his thesis that atomic power is never going to be the energy saviour of our imperilled species. (...)

“Nuclear power is too costly and it takes too long to build a reactor and it is inherently unsafe not only for technological reasons but also because of the risk of human error.” (...)

[T]he nuclear industry has gone past its spring and summer years and should be allowed to reach a useful but limited autumn before it is quietly forgotten as a dark global experiment that should not be repeated.

‘Atoms and Ashes: From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima’ by Serhii Plokhy is published by Allen Lane

Complete article

Photo of nuclear explosion
A digitally altered image of a US nuclear weapon test at Bikini Atoll, July 1946. Photograph: United States Department of Defense

Tags: #books #nuclear_power #atom #atomic_power #nuclear_disaster #nuclear_weapons #global_heating #global_warming #climate_change #climate_crisis #energy #nuclear_energy #nuclear_disasters #electricity #radiation #atomic_waste #nuclear_waste #Chernobyl #Three_Mile_Island #Fukushima #Windscale #Bikini_Atoll #hydrogen_bomb_test #radioactive_cloud #Pacific #Kyshtym #Urals #plutonium #radioactivity