Nuclear Radiation Soaring in Japan + Update

Doubtless you have heard about the continued explosions at Japan’s troubled nuclear power plants.  I am sorry to report that the radiation levels are soaring in the vicinity of the plants and the winds are now northward – meaning that the radiation is blowing toward Tokyo.  This is a horrible set of circumstances.

Specifically, at the Fukushima Daiichi plant radiation levels were reported to be 163 times previous levels at the number 2 reactor.  Meanwhile, at the number 3 reactor radiation levels were reported to be 400 times the “annual legal limit” of radiation parts per million.  At another plant, Fukushima Daini, a fire started at the number 4 reactor which was put out, only to be followed by an explosion.

Any time you hear of an explosion at a nuclear power plant it is usually a sign that there is a leak of cooling systems that have subsequently allowed for the radioactive fuel rods to heat to too high a temperature.  In turn, that causes steam and gasses to build up, which leads to the explosion.  If the cement containment structures are breached then there is a radiation leak.  That is clearly what has happened at both of these plants.

Meanwhile the wind is blowing this radiation leakage southward toward one of the most populated cities on the planet, Tokyo.  Just east of the mega city, Chiba prefecture (think: county) saw radiation levels 2-4 times normal.  Barely north of Tokyo, Utsunomiya-Tochigi prefecture is enduring radiation levels 33x normal.  Perhaps worst of all, just south of Tokyo, Kanagawa prefecture is reporting radiation 9x worse than normal.  Since radiation is flowing from north to south, for radiation levels to be this high south of Tokyo is a strong indication that Tokyo itself is sitting in a radiation soup at the moment.

In fact, the government has not stated what level radiation Tokyo is at right now but they have said that radiation levels are now hazardous to human health.  Clearly it is only a matter of time until the health effects of the radiation exposure begin to affect folks.  At this moment the people of Japan are at the mercy of the winds.

The only encouraging thing at this moment is that at the nuclear power plants affected by the earthquake meltdown has still not occurred.  Or, if it has happened, it has not been stated to have happened.  Meltdown would result in a disaster on par with Chernobyl back in Russia in the 1980s.

In terms of the Intuitive Assessment of the Japanese Disaster I did this past weekend…

• The people of Japan feel despondent but more resolute.  Feelings of panic have subsided.  But there is now a strong sense of surrendered humbleness.
• Consciousness is coalescing around central authorities – which means that order is beginning to be restored.
• Despite the excruciating bad news about Japan’s nuclear facilities – I do not see a reason to update what I wrote in my intuitive assessment of Japan.
• Understandably, and overwhelmingly, while the cleanup is accelerating in areas affected by the tsunami, the primary focus of most citizens is on their health relative to the nuclear radiation.

Jason