[ RadSafe ] Philippines Carnage Direct Result of Fukushima Radiation

[Richard L. Hess]

On 2014-01-30 9:42 AM, Tim Hart wrote:
> Down through the years I have watched this list with morbid curiosity
> for the various stories and discussions about the anti nuclear
> activist and their ilk. In general my impressions on this topic have
> been formed by the discussions held on this list server (okay I don't
> get out much). I am not one to challenge others usually because it
> tends to make me a little uncomfortable; I try to avoid confrontation
> as much as I can. Just recently my son sent me a link that he had
> stumbled on to, that he found quite disturbing:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sabVRft-Q4Y
>
> My son is probably better educated on these topics than most and has a
> very strong sense of right and wrong. He asked me how to respond to
> this very poorly informed and "fanatical," (his word), post. I am at a
> loss when faced by such misguided insanity, so my question to the
> group is this; How would you counsel your teenage son or daughter to
> respond?
>
>   --
> Tim Hart
> US Navy (none of this is their opinion or is endorsed by them in any way)
> magspidy at gmail.com
> (757) 329-3933
Tim,

As a parent of two boys 19 and 20, I care deeply about what they learn 
and do on the Web.

My advice to my sons would be don't get involved with this p---ing match 
on YouTube...you have better things to do with your time.

I feel especially comfortable in saying that as the most recent comment 
on the video is:
>
>
>       K3NatCSS
>       <http://www.youtube.com/profile_redirector/109166311671940332919>
>
> 6 days ago 
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sabVRft-Q4Y&google_comment_id=z12jgrhp4sr0xr10v232hbb5kqbkjb0db>
>
> I think you misunderstand the magnitude of the energy that was 
> contained within the reactor at the time of the disaster, as well as 
> the magnitude of energy needed to heat up the ocean in a significant 
> manner. Compare the size of the sun to the size of the Fukushima 
> plant. They're both nuclear reactors, and the sun is more efficient. 
> If the sun shining on one side of the planet does not invariably 
> create catastrophic storms, how can a release of coolant and 
> radioactive particles do so? I'm not even challenging the idea that 
> heating the ocean would cause a typhoon.?

In Mid-November 2013, my wife and I took a trip to Maui and I had 
thought for a bit it might be interesting to take my Geiger counter as I 
did to Montana in 2002 after a friend told me to "be careful, I might 
end up glowing in the dark" (the lip of the Butte open pit former mine 
was the hottest I measured). I also measured a Los Angeles to Chicago 
flight:
http://www.richardhess.com/rad/lax_chi.jpg (and yes, I know, I should 
have used CPM rather than µR).

I decided against it in part because our luggage was limited AND I was 
more interested in taking pictures.
http://www.pbase.com/rlhess/maui_2013

On our flight out, I could see the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station 
(SONGS) from the air (or what remains of it) and then I could see the 
Pacific Ocean... Five hours of the Pacific. Then I imagined how deep it 
was... and then I thought about the little speck that was SONGS and how 
quickly it faded from view. At that point I decided that I was glad I 
had not bothered. Yes, we should avoid pollution and not wantonly 
pollute, but I suspect the amount of radiation leached into the Pacific 
from all the crustal radioactive materials over this vast area is 
probably significantly higher (albeit not a point source) than what 
Fukishima has leaked and will leak. (I could be wrong on this--it is 
just a gut reaction, not even back-of-envelope calculations.)

So, seriously, tell your son that you can't fight religious convictions 
with facts because the zealot will counter with religious, faith-based 
arguments. I don't discuss AGW with many of my friends, because they 
BEELIEVEEE. I don't believe, but I'm still cautious because conservation 
makes sense on many grounds even if AGW is later proven false.

There are many humorous ways of saying this, but I think you get the idea.

Cheers,

Richard

-- 
Richard L. Hess                   email: richard at richardhess.com
Aurora, Ontario, Canada           http://www.richardhess.com/
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
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