Recent content by rowmag

See the third slide (page-numbered "2") of this NISA presentation: http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/shingikai/800/28/006/6-3.pdf "The reason there was no hydrogen explosion at Unit 2 is conjectured to be that by luck, the blow-out panel was opened as a result of the explosion at Unit 1, releasing...

Are you sure? My recollection is that they announced that they intended to open it, but then discovered that it had already popped off by itself. (As a result of the Unit 1 explosion?)

After doing some more research, it turns out there are several radon onsens dotted around the eastern half of Fukushima prefecture, including one in Hirono, about 20 km south of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. So, there are likely to be uranium ores distributed over a rather wide area in the...

To make an atomic bomb: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/world/asia/06abomb.html?pagewanted=all

The radon could escape directly to the atmosphere from the holes in containment (the ones from which the steam was coming last year), couldn't it? Could be, though there have been plenty of rain events in the past year without any associated spike in radiation. The spikes only seem to be...

I checked the weather for then, and the radiation spiked occurred during a time when it was snowing in Tsukuba, AND the wind was blowing straight from Fukushima Daiichi. (By the way, the radiation started to rise before the earthquake, so that is probably not the cause. And the radiation...

Thanks for the links as always, Tsutsuji. The report was also featured on the news tonight. What a blisteringly critical report...

Ah, of course, silly me.

Why is there so much strontium relative to cesium there, when there is so little strontium relative to cesium seen outside the plant? Strontium doesn't become airborne as easily, I presume?

Thank you, NUCENG. That makes sense. My other question was whether the krypton and xenon could possibly account for the occasional synchronized transient spikes seen around Kanto. The spikes are pretty small, around 0.05 uSv/h above steady-state levels, but the krypton and xenon...

No obvious typo. It was 110 micro-Sv/h measured on the surface before they started digging down. The bottle (which had no cap) was 40 mSv/h. 2 mSv/h was what remained in the dirt after removing the bottle.

Why no I-131 if Xe-133 and Xe-135 are there? Remained dissolved in water with no release to air?

Looks like from the second article that the gas filtering and measurement system was only started on 10/28, and this was the first measurement result from that. So this may have been going on all along. Could this provide a source term for those transient mini-spikes seen throughout the Kanto...

Sounds complicated. I think a more reliable method would be to distribute a bunch of plastic discs with the radiation sign stamped on them to all towns, who could then distribute them to schools, PTAs, jichikais, regular private citizens, etc., with instructions to toss it in the hole on top of...

Thanks again, tsutsuji. Your efforts are very much appreciated. As for the method of disposal, our local school just dug a hole around back and buried the offending material there. In the absence of official guidance, there is not much other option. I worry that such spots are not being...