Greenpeace: Arctic 30

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And its quite a large area.
Random soil samples taken in Tokyo are classed as radioactive waste.
 
And its quite a large area.
Random soil samples taken in Tokyo are classed as radioactive waste.

How radioactive? Can you provide a qualitative figure for the benefit of the forum? I'll do the translation into Banana Equivalent Dose for the benefit of the board too.

Nozzle
 
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Still waiting to find out what going near Fukushima has to do with whether we install new nuclear in the UK.

But in the meantime, I'll just leave this here:
LandUseforEnergy-ClintonAndrews.jpg


The more land we use for energy production, the more we impact on the environment. Nuclear does rather well I'd say.

As for land use in the area of Fukushima, here is an interesting discussion on some of the readings found in the comments section of the blog. The person is a well thought contributor to the blog:
To give some perspective, the amount of picocuries per gram given off by a Brazil nut is from 7-14 pCi/g and in a banana is 6 pCi/g. Natural trace amounts of elements (Radium 226, Uranium 238, Thorium 230 and Thorium 232) in a fertilizer could exceed 128 pCi/g.

The highest single pCi/g given in Gundersen’s spreadsheet was for Cesium 137 from the first of the 5 samples- at 167 pCi/g. Certainly we aren’t scared of radiation from trace elements in fertilizer or other natural sources, so the amount of activity here isn’t something to be concerned about in the environment. The rest of the numbers are certainly not dangerous levels.

Besides being around the soil, what would happen if you say, ate it? Ingested cesium is similar in uptake to potassium. It is also dispelled like potassium. If your kid ate the dirt, it is actually dispelled more quickly in children and teens. Trace amounts of cesium do not present a significant hazard.

Cobalt 60 is a more concerning element than Cesium generally, because although Cesium 134, 137, and Cobalt 60 all have decays with beta and gamma radiation involved, the gamma from Cobalt is significantly more energetic. However, the amount of activity given (a maximum of 40 pCi/g) shows that there is such a low level of Cobalt that it is not a significant concern.

Ingestion of Cobalt is less likely to be absorbed, from 10-30%. What is absorbed, a majority will be dispelled within days, although a very small amount might not be expelled for a few years. Using the most negative and conservative estimates (and probably wrong estimations- see the post on aspirin and the LNT method), Cobalt of this amount would not increase cancer risk by more than about 0.6% if continuously exposed for an entire lifetime in thick soil of this activity level. This estimate makes little sense, however, since within a matter of years the amount of cobalt 60 would have disappeared. In other words, this amount of cobalt should not cause concern.

We need further research to establish the effects of low level radiation exposure, and whether it has positive or negative effects. Right now we assume that there is a linear relationship between a dose causing a fatal cancer and any smaller dose, which creates a ridiculous assumption when taken down to the natural low level doses the earth provides. This assumption is part of why we may consider it "low level radioactive waste" simply because it is man-made, although not more radioactive than natural radiation.

(sources include: http://www.fusrapmaywood.com/factsheet/radenv.htm, http://www.evs.anl.gov/pub/doc/cesium.pdf, http://www.evs.anl.gov/pub/doc/cobalt.pdf)
http://www.thingsworsethannuclearpower.com/2012/03/earthquakes-and-tsunamis.html

Cobalt info here:
http://www.remm.nlm.gov/ANL_ContaminantFactSheets_All_070418.pdf

So an increase risk of less than 1%.
 
And of course, if you lived in Iran, you could be exposed to levels of radiation above recommended levels, just from natural background radiation:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11769138
A level of 260 mSv y(-1) have recorded in Ramsar, which is over 13x higher than the 20 mSv permitted for radiation workers- and have possibly lower rates of cancer. These are levels above evacuation thresholds set in many industrial countries, and Ramsar is hardly a nuclear wasteland! In fact, Ramsar was the city where international wetland conservation treaties were signed.
 
More propaganda. :rolleyes:

Sure it is, it's a game of two halves. The Green lobby is just as "guilty" of propaganda as is the Nuclear lobby. That is the politics of the issue; one side pedals numbers, the other side pedals emotion but "at the end of the day" it's all down to opinion. If you respond to figures or if your respond to emotion. Any propaganda from the "green" side that includes references to children is one such example - and it does the remainder of the green lobby a disservice. Oh won't someone think of the children!! Get with the programme, if the currency is the survival of future generations on a halfway hospitable planet, then nuclear generation IS a part of that mix.

Nozzle
 
Still waiting to find out what going near Fukushima has to do with whether we install new nuclear in the UK.

'Someone' said...

Parts of the area of Fukushima area are unsafe at the moment.

So maybe you can tell us the safety history of all the nuclear power plants currently operating that are of the same design as the one proposed at Hinkley?

What's that I hear you mutter?...There are no current nuclear power plants of that design in operation?

And you must be aware that the first similar one of these due to go into operation is massively over budget, and years behind schedule?

You must also be aware that EDF is swamped with litigation due to it's lack of H&S, cheap labour usage, and financial fraud?

And then of course you are also no doubt aware of the construction 'irregularities' which puts the whole 'spent fuel' storage facilty at risk?

No doubt you will also be aware of the fact that EDF officials were jailed for espionage, particularly of Greenpeace?

You know f*ck all of the risks wobs, and keep spouting the usual automated b*llocks that governments and their corporate masters do...
 
So maybe you can tell us the safety history of all the nuclear power plants currently operating that are of the same design as the one proposed at Hinkley?

What's that I hear you mutter?...There are no current nuclear power plants of that design in operation?

It is to be a PWR - there are hundreds in operation across the planet, and a number in submarines and ships too, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PWR_reactors

Nozzle
 
So maybe you can tell us the safety history of all the nuclear power plants currently operating that are of the same design as the one proposed at Hinkley?

What's that I hear you mutter?...There are no current nuclear power plants of that design in operation?

It is to be a PWR - there are hundreds in operation across the planet, and a number in submarines and ships too, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PWR_reactors

Nozzle

I was surprised to see there are so many, especially in France (and the US of course).

If only we had had the same foresight. :rolleyes:
 
It is to be a PWR
Actually it is to be an EPR - which is a new unit that has no operational plants yet...

EDF said it's first one (flamanville) would be operational in 2012 for a cost of $4bn...

Now it is $11bn and due to start in 2016

Who knows when it will actually open and how much it will actually cost...

And there is no record for this model of reactor which has been plagued with safety design issues so far...

So you tell me if there is a risk, and whether it is financially viable at Hinkley!
 
An interesting article on Greenpeace, and their stances on various issues, including nuclear opf course:
http://www.activistcash.com/organizations/131-greenpeace/

Well worth a read.
And therein lies the ultimate contradiction in Greenpeace’s antinuclear agenda. “On the one hand the movement demands reductions in fossil fuel consumption while on the other it presents the greatest obstacle to achieving that goal,” writes Patrick Moore in Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout. By campaigning diligently against our two best hopes for providing energy to our growing world population, Greenpeace is, in essence, sentencing us all to a dark, cold future — one that will be especially hard for those nations and populations who cannot afford the significant investment in wind or solar power.
 
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