Breaking news from Fukushima!
 

Nothing terribly dramatic is happening!

Ok, so that's not really breaking news... Just trying to keep fear alive.

I shit myself in anticipation

^also lol

troll'd

Ok, so in all seriousness, it is official that all three of the damaged reactors at Fuku have achieved a cold-shutdown state. This is defined as a condition in which the reactor vessel is both at ambient pressure and below the boiling point of water, and requires no forced coolant circulation in order to maintain the stability of the core. In this state, a reactor is "passively safe," meaning that no human interaction is required for it to remain in a stable condition.

Obviously, the fact that the reactor vessels have sustained damage and continue to leak into the wetwell and suppression pools requires that some water be pumped back up into the vessels in order to maintain coverage of the fuel. But aside from that (and the fact that cleanup and decommissioning is going to take a while) the "crisis" is basically at an end.

Radiation at the plant's boundary is presently around 0.1 mSv/year, which is about one-eighth the amount of radiation emitted by the granite structure of the US Capitol building (source).

We were talking about Fukushima today.

You know, Joe. What they SHOULD do (And time for politics!) is make it so there is much more radiation in the US Capitol building!

Sure, you'll be fine for the first few years. But don't plan on a lifetime as a Senator unless you are really devoted.

I would find it personally hilarious. It would certainly change the face of politics. "Join Congress, be there for a lifetime, GET CANCER!"

Headline:
US Capitol building radioactive!

All granite buildings emit some radiation. Must be why gov't workers are such slackers.

Oh, and I should add:

The death-toll from the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant remains at two. (Two workers were trapped in the basement of one of the buildings when it flooded, and they drowned.)

Unless you believe this rather questionable story, which claims that Fuku is responsible for 14,000 deaths in the US. When I read things like that, I have to ask myself "Does the person who wrote this actually believe what they are saying?"

I want Penn and Teller to do an episode about this on "Bullshit!".

Sheesh, Joe. Do you think you could find a more biased site? That place screams "tree huggers".

Not that it's true, but all the fellow t-huggers will believe it is.

I guess I'll go unpack my zombie apocalypse box now since all near future mutations have been averted.

Doubtful. It took me a while to find that one. I suppose it's possible that a more alarmist and poorly-informed article exists somewhere, but if so, it eluded my Googling skills.

You might not have tried hard enough. I don't know if this is worse, or just funnier:
http://www.survival-quiz.com/?p=2337

MILLIONS OF TONS OF RADIOACTIVE WATER (I predict .01 million tons, or better yet .00001 quadrillion tons):
http://www.survival-quiz.com/?p=2420

BETTER. Fukushima will kill us all guys. It really will. Just give it about 10 million years.:
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/fo...age1638679/pg1

If you believe the forum above to be true, then this German guy outdid hitler!:
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/one...pill-combined/

Just to clarify, in all seriousness. I have seen news articles quote anywhere from 45 tons to 14,000 tons of radioactive water.

That's....a far cry from millions of tons.

So 2 years later, what's the epilogue?

Any truth to the idea that migratory fish caught in CA have unacceptable radiation levels?

Shit is still fucked up.