Chernobyl – Three Mile Island – Fukushima

Funny how many links to this blog are coming from people searching these titles.  Actually, they are people searching for Chernobyl and Three Mile Island[!?!].  That is happening because I posted a blog earlier that has these words as keywords.  I wonder if people are searching these names because they don’t know what they are or if they are looking for a comparison…

I heard on the radio the other day that “Japan apologized for not making the Fukushima incident a disaster sooner,” (not an exact quote but…) and I thought to myself, “I think they did a pretty good job of that already!”  They were actually talking about the status that they had assigned to the incident itself.  Seeing how that is [to me] the least important part of the whole thing, that was my reaction.  I mean, did they build the thing directly over a fault line?  There should be a level of responsibility that goes along with building power plants of any kind. 

And [yeah I started a sentence with and] I am surely not blaming the Japanese people or their country in any way [necessarily], just the engineers.  They simply get paid to do their work and it is supposed to be up to the bureaucrats to stop the horrible from happening.  But how are they supposed to do so when they probably know so little about the subject.  The people who can stop the worst from happening are… the engineers.  They are always under pressure to save money, time, and face!   [I know this from personal experience]  This is a very horrible and tricky and stressful existence.  Bureaucrats, construction workers, and everyday people complain about the costs of things being built and the people designing them, and because of this incessant whining,  accidents like the Fukushima plant happen [more than you would think/know btw]. 

So if anyone is to blame… well

Go live in a hut that you make yourself, or own up and pay someone to make you a better place to live.  And don’t go and complain about it unless you paid yourself to do it!  [This place I speak of is the world around you,   and all of the things in it!  Next time you think to your self, “why don’t they make it like this…, ” you should be thinking “I should make it like this!”  That way everyone is thinking and not expecting someone else to do it.

I complain about a lot of things though so,  take that with a grain of salt, or sugar, or basil, or steak sauce, or… lol

Just my $0.02…

Japanese Radiation in United States

The fact is, they have discovered trace amounts in California and Washington State.  Even though it is considered to be an insignificant amount, it should be taken into consideration.  The most important thing to consider is the fact that science can often fall short of the truth (and I do consider myself an advocate of science, love it, and think it is very important).  For instance, a professor at Washington State University has said that they would expect to see radiation from Japan in about ten days.  Another source has stated that minuscule amounts of Xenon-133 were detected on March 16th and 17th and that this isotope was common to the Fukushima reactor explosion releases caused by the Earthquake on March 11th.  Seems to be quite a few days less than 10! 

Coming right at us?!? Computer modeling of what could happen...

Now, I don’t think it is a reason to panic, although some would claim that people trying to protect themselves (by purchasing KI – potassium iodide) from exposure is indeed panic.  It isn’t panic, it is protecting yourself from what not everyone is clear or sure about.  The effect of radiation can take many years to show itself, and new things are being discovered (medically that is) every day.  Just today on the radio, another agency trying to downplay the seriousness of the incident has stated that, although unacceptable levels of radiation were found in spinach in Japan, if one were to eat the spinach for a year, it would be the same amount of radiation you would get from a cat scan.  Now, one would think that since a cat scan is a medical procedure, it would be basically harmless.  But there is a growing concern in the world that it could in fact be very harmful (as found on this page and this article). 

All together, I just wish that the agencies that “tell the people how it is” would be more upfront about what is really going on.  Keeping people from being in a state of panic in a situation that is of concern to their health really doesn’t seem fair.  Sure sure, it could “harm the economy” in a number of ways (but seriously, could that really get any worse?!?).  I mean, they are going to rape us on gas prices anyway, and there is little to nothing we can do about it. 

At least they could tell us we are all in harm’s way, before we are exposed.  Lying about the mistakes that have been doesn’t fix anything… anybody ever heard of two wrongs don’t make a right. lol

Does this thing, posted on the Washington State Department of Health website, look like it is a life saving state-of-the-art piece of equipment.  This is an airborne radiation detector in Tumwater, WA.

State-of-the-art lol

And as much as scientists will claim to know (and take it from me… they will), nuclear disasters can have a long-term impact. 

Three Mile Island

They are currently telling us that the Fukushima reactor is relatively stable!!  Not STABLE, but relatively stable (lol).  That is like saying, “well you might not die, we just aren’t quite sure of it yet.”  Well if there is to be a meltdown, this will be a problem, so my advice is to pay attention to what they are telling (and selling) you!

I would not like to live here any time soon!

A view of Chernobyl taken from the empty city of Pripyat.

The question people should REALLY be asking themselves is, “What can I do to help the power needs of the world?”  There are scientists, positive good-hearted politicians, and philosophers in all of us… and it IS up to humanity to solve the problems of humanity. 

So get back to work on it already! [ I think about it everyday!!!!]

Oh, and I did not take any of these pictures (thank you Wikipedia).  I usually only like to use my own content, but luckily, I have not been close enough to a meltdown to grab a pic, as of yet!