leroy

Glad to hear of the enlightenment!! Keep up the good work!! leroy PS-- Enfield's post #7 is exactly right. We have a prez. that is either an illegal or (...and far more devistating to his fan base...) is listed as "caucasion" on his birth certificate. I've got a dear friend that knows the medical/demographic protocol for single mothers. It is the protocol to list the race of the baby as the mother's race. Barark's mom is white. I believe that is exactly why you cant see his birth certificate. The great "man of color" is listed as "whitey". Trump evidently knows that little tidbit. That's why he continues to stir it up. Food for thought. leroy

You are exactly right. Here's another interesting tidbit that has come out: Fukushima faced 14-metre tsunami . The TEPCO guys have re-estimated the wave height of the tsunami and revised it from about 7 meters (...if i remember right...) to 14 meters. The sea walls were about 5.7 meters high. That means that about 9 meters came over the wall. Thats about 29.6 feet of water. No wonder the switchyard and cable tunnels were totaled out. Interesting and serious stuff. leroy

AL:_____________ I would recommend going to see Bob at the Predator Gun Shop here in Knoville. Link here: Predator Custom Shop. Phone number and location on the website. Hope this helps leroy

OS and mike:________________ Check this link out here: NEI Nuclear Notes: Evening Report. The valuable stuff is here: Remember, this stuff aint linear, so the math difference between 507 and 449 aint the over-design number; as the units are in cm/seconds squared. It is the difference of the squares (...i think!...). Hope this helps. leeroy

All:_______________ I suspect bad things will come out of all this for the BATF and Justice Department. If all this is true (...and i think it is...); it will rank right up there with "Ma Justice" sending Elian Gonzales to Cuba and the burning of the Branch Dividian compound. It will take a long time to come out, though, due to the splits in the two houses of congress. My guess is the culprits in this little operation will keep stalling; but that only works for so long a time. Senator Charles Grassley has been asking a bunch of questions about this and getting very few answers. My guess is it is about to get pretty hot, and that these chumps are guilty as sin. I wonder who (...ahem...) in the Demorat party would benefit the most from a strategically timed giant hot button scandal? I noticed that Hillary is about to hang it up as the Secretary of the Nobama nation. Wonder why? We well may be seeing the final revenge of the Clinton wing of the Demorat party on the Kennedy wing; since (...thankfully...), that noted socialist Ted Kennedy is resting in the ground. This ought to be good. Let's watch and listen closely. I cant wait to hear the 2012 Demorat primary campaign retoric. You who are "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" fans will remember the great character Homer Stokes famous quip (...which ill pharaphrase...)...."We cannot afford fo mo years of Pappy Nobama... . Fo mo years of rascalism, chronyism, nepotism, and service to the enemy! ...". The big question is will Hillary or another Demorat operative play the part of Homer Stokes? I cant wait!! leroy

All:_______________ DaveTN hit a homerun shot right here: No truer words were ever spoken. It is the ultimate in overbearing, paternalistic imagined superiority. We destroyed the american indains with this and have almost destroyed the black community with this foolishness. Most of the hispanic folks i know dont need any "minority" policies and neither should us white folks when the time comes. I say go to work and all the rest of this stuff straightens itself up. It works most every time it's tried. I have a greek friend that is a bit older than i am that came to the US in 1955. He couldn't speak a lick of english. He learned the language, went to work, and he is now very well to do. The vietnamese did the same thing down in Lousiania in the shrimping business. In one generation they own the fishing business down there. Work and no hand outs work every time they are tried. God forbid that white folks go on the dole as a "minority". leroy

Mike:________ I understand. No offense taken. I just get bent from time to time about this whole energy thing; and i despise the media. That comes out sometime as a tirade that aint really meant to be aimed at a brother shooter and opiner on current events. Sorry for the fit -- i apologize. RE: I think you are exactly right. The Japanese (...TEPCO, the Japenese nuclear regulators, and the government at all levels...) are actively trying to keep this to a calm level. I would, indeed, agree that they are practicing a good bit of "Public Relations" here and putting the best face possible on this extremely serious situation; while folks outside the country are seeking actively to stir up controversy and engender fear in folks far away from the problem. There is no doubt in my mind that there is some pretty nasty stuff in puddles and on equipment like valves and pumps inside the plant. The good news in all this is that i believe it is localized to the plant (...exactly as it was designed to be...). I do believe that they have a pretty good handle on what emissions have come from the plant during all these events, as they can monitor them very easily. I think the jury may be out on the exact levels for the very reasons you stated. This thing is far from over. It will take several months (...maybee years...) of hard, dangerous (...to the plant folk...) work to figure out what is broken, what is contaminated, what needs decontamination, and how to fix what is broken. The good news is that every day that passes, the fuel in the reactor calms down a bit and so does the spent fuel; along with any loose contamination (...definition: "contamination" -- radioactive material in a place where you don't want it to be....). I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find out that the spent fuel may be the culprit in this last contamination problem. There is also a good possibility that this stuff came from the reactor loop too. The TEPCO folks have said there may be some fuel damage in the reactors. That usually means that the rods that contain the fuel pellets have ruptured or leaked and let out some fission products (...this, by the way, is one of the big problems with normal plant operation, and is a large source of contamination in the plant piping systems that come in contact with water from the reactor...). That's why they dont like to vent the steam (...and hydrogen...) from the main reactor loop. My guess is that the plant is full of this stuff, and as soon as they get the lights on and systems re-started they will start a thorough decontamination of everything in the plant (...a daunting task in itself...). I, like you (...and many others here at TGO and other places...) continue to hope and pray that this works out. It is serious business and many folks are (...and continue to be...) affected by it. Keep up the good work. leroy

All:______________ Take the time to look at this RE: the exposure of workers to high levels of contamination in the plant : NEI Nuclear Notes: The Japanese Workers. Here is the same info from another source: Exposures and progress at Fukushima Daiichi . I'm not trying to minimize this, but it's important to understand where it could have come from and where it is (...it's inside the plant....). One of the problems with BWR plants (...and it's main criticism...) is that the steam that runs the turbine flows directly thru the reactor. If the fuel has been hurt (...and it may well have...), fission products can mix with that steam (...or water...) and run thru the turbine and into the condenser. This happens to a small extent in normal operation; but can get pretty bad when these serious situations arise. I would not be suprised if the TEPCO guys dont find out that this is what happened, or that water from the spent fuel pit leaked (...or was splashed...) into the areas where they are working. It's important to understand that it is inside the plant, not outside. leroy

I agree fully. I'm saving my pennies for one of them little jewels. leroy

Thanks for that pearl of wisdom. Makes perfect sense. Voltaire may have unknowingly spoke a "universal truth" during his dissertation on religious dogma. Keep up the good work. leroy

I think it is interesting that this guy was found not guilty so quickly in the face of the circcumstances. My take is that more and more people are getting fed up with thugs running wild and shooting in defense of property is becomming a more viable option for some folks (...those sitting on the jury...). The Knoxville metro area (...along with lots of other places...) is rapidly turning into a cesspool of thuggery. It appears that more citizens are comming to the conclusion that since the law seems powerless to punish this thuggery; folks are taking a more sober view of these situations, revolting against the pronouncements of the "court officers" (....read that prosecuting attorneys...), and giving approval to more "final" actions. Looks to me like the legal establishment (...prosecuting attorneys and the criminal court system...) needs to concentrate more on actually punishing criminal behavior; but that's just me. leroy

Great post!!! Keep up the good work. leroy

mike:______________ RE: My posts were never intended to infer that things aren't bad in Japan. No subliminal messages were encoded into my posts. My point was to try to point out that most of what is said by the "experts" in the media is pretty much baloney and hyperbole; and to give a bit of a more insightful view concerning nuclear power, radioisotope decay, etc. It was never intended to be a cheerleading exercise nor did the evil capitalists pay me to post what ive posted. There are a bunch of folks dead with homes destroyed in Japan; that is a bad thing. You do no one a service by lying to them (...or us unaffected spectators...) concerning what has happened; nuclear, tsunami, or otherwise. You owe it to them (...and us...) to tell the truth. The truth is there is Iodine 131 around in the water (...evidently....). The other truth is that it will soon go away. The second truth is that contrary to what the news media would have you believe; the guys at TEPCO did a job no one said could be done; they saved these units and their neighbors from more danger and suffering thru their actions at these plants. The third truth is that these plants survived mistreatment far above their design limits and still did the job they were designed to do. I've got far more confidence in the truth telling tendencies of the Japanese folks that are managing this situation than i do the "experts" sitting a continent away working overtime to slander the motives and abilities of folks fixing things. I'm an relatively old codger, i've got more time behind me, than ahead of me; so i may not live to see my prediction come true. But remember this; you heard it from ole leroy: "...There are no other technologically viable powersources out there other than fossil (...coal, gas, and petroleum...) and nuclear. Wind and solar power (...nor any other currently known energy technology...) is not capable of powering the energy needs of this or any other country on the face of the earth." That makes the choice pretty clear for the long-run. We will either start using more petroleum and coal to provide energy needs; we will crank up more nuclear plants using fuel reprocessed from the bomb making days, or both. The hype, hysteria, and disinformation that you hear and see comming out now RE: the japan crisis is nothing more than a bunch of over-priveleged activist and jackasses braying to advance an agenda. That agenda is a combination of anti-capitalism and anti-energy bias; and is ultimately self-destructive. Only in a land filled with prosperity could we raise up such a bunch of mislead, bratty, buffonish, uneducated children, and allow them to be viewed as responsible commentators on world events, and even make them "public servants" actually making serious public policy. A poor society simply does not have that luxury. In my view, the travesty going on in this country, europe, and australia is that there appears to be a goodly number of folks considering and even believing some of this bunk. Remember this, in spite of two serious nuclear "accidents" in the commercial nuclear power industry; there have been exactly zero (0) civilian fatalities; in spite of the dire predictions of the "wizened ones". Only a bunch of petulent, willfully ignorant, mush-headed, bratty children could be induced to believe that we ought to shut this source of power down and banish it from our inventory of energy options. It is astounding to me (...i know i'm a bit slow...) that while we see the middle east turning into a revived muslum caliphate with no interest in helping or trading with the "decadent west", we see regulators here in this country stopping domestic oil production thru bureaucratic shennanigans, and trying to finish off the coal industry; we would actually consider shutting down the last viable means of energy production we have. It is almost like "providential blindness" and the "lemmings jumping into the sea" to me. I aint seeking to pick a spitting contest with you are anyone else here. I'm simply sayin that sooner or later some adults are going to have to consider what will really work if you want to continue to live in a relatively free and prosperous country. Hope this gives you a bit of a different prespective on several of things, and clears up any misunderstandings that may have arisen concerning this tragic event. I'll close by pointing out the words of the noted philosopher Voltaire that is posted on my usual signature line -- i think that it is one of the most strikingly true, erudite pronouncements ive ever encountred: "...Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities...". I believe that this one quip is the center of what is going on in western society today. In this particular case, the absurdity is that we can meet our energy needs with zero risk and that there is technology out there that can make that happen. The atrocity is that we need to throw away the technology we have and embrace the absurdity of "alternate energy sources". leroy

grey:____________ Thanks for posting this neat forward. I like this stuff too. leroy

Design life of forty years (...i think...). It seems that i remember that the fossil plant design life was on the order of 35 years; but it is lots easier to rehab them. leroy By the way: crimsonaudio makes a most excellent point here: The coal and gas industry is winning the energy war (...for now, at least...).

Pardon my French but that "crappy design" has been making power since 1971 (...at substantially more than the original design capacity...). It is a GE design Boiling Water Reactor system. It has kept up with design and construction updates; i (...and many others...) helped update them. All nuclear plants are continually updated and refubrished as technology improved and is codified into regulations. Remember this; the Japanese plants withstood more than the design maximum for earthquake resistance by a factor of ten (...designed for a magnitude 8 quake, got a magnitude 9 --- earthquake scale is logrithmetic; each number up brings it up by a factor of 10. The tsunami wave was figured at over 10 meters high, the plant designed seawall(s) for about 7 (...i think..-- it's somewhere in the updates on the other thread on this subject...). These on-line units shut down just as they should. The tsunami wave knocked all the external power out and destroyed the incomming transmission lines. The plants ran normally on battery power for about 8 or so hours, then the batteries went dead. These plants have survived what many "experts" said was unsurvivable -- a complete "station blackout" and loss of external power. The problems that these plants are having are directly attributable to that loss of power. It took 9 days to restore power and re-power the critical systems. During that 9 day period, there was a continual howl by various talking heads and experts saying the plants couldnt be saved and armageddon was near; while a bunch of brave souls used their heads and worked hard to save these units and their neighbors under the most unimaginable conditions. Now that the "experts", "talking heads", "opiners", and regulators have been proven wrong; i pretty much expect them to hush-- maybe they will apologize to the folks that saved these plants (...but i wouldn't hold my breath or bet the farm on it...). Looks like two units may be damaged (...due to fuel problems in the reactors; but we dont know that yet...). The remaining 4 will probably be brought back on line. My guess is that all the other stuff (...spent fuel pools and all...) will be repaired. How's that for a "crappy" build? More "food for thought": Three Mile Island was a PWR plant. Improved design similar to a Westinghouse unit. It even worked ok as far as contining dangerous stuff is concerned. It put Babcock-Wilcox out of the commercial nuclear business, but it still kept people from being hurt. By the way, it wont be restarted. I'm kinda like Enfield mentioned in his post. I'm not too scared of nuclear power. We've got 6 units of nuclear generating capacity between where i live and Decatur, AL. Hope this gives a bit of a new perspective leroy

Im surprized. I figured they would spend their time explaining how Nobama is doing a great job in Lybia or some other "important" stuff. By the way, found this on that noted commie university website at Madison ,WI. Take a look. INTERESTING FACTS FOR IODINE 131: If the little guys drink bottled water for 9 days, looks like everything is ok. I bet Lybia wont be ok in nine days. Link here: http://chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/sstutorial/Text4/Tx46/tx46.html Keep up the good work. leroy

All:______________ Here is an interesting summary report on the four units: 10+ days of crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant – 22 March 2010 « BraveNewClimate. RE: Radiation/contamination in Japan: Radiation trends in Japan By the way, it's 4792 miles from Tokyo to Seattle, WA. It's 5487 miles from Tokyo to Los Angeles. It's 6560 miles from Tokyo to Austin, TX. It's 6600 miles from Tokyo to Memphis. My guess is that we wont have to worry about getting contaminated.. For what it's worth. leroy

Me too. Will send some $$ now. leroy

Aint it the truth, brother!! Keep up the good work. leroy OH: RE: FiddleDog's excellent question: I think one of the quickest ways to help the folks in Japan is to look at "Samaritan's Purse". They are busy sending people and stuff to Japan. Link here: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/pray_for_japan/ . I think it might be a good idea to donate and mention that it is from the concerned folks at TGO. Whatdaya think? leroy

All:_______________ Here is the latest update on the plants: Stabilisation at Fukushima Daiichi. Looks like the power is tied in, plant cooling systems are running, and the temperatures in the fuel pits are going down (...more water plus heat removal equipment working...). Looks like the checkout is about complete to the main control room. That will make monitoring and operating the plant cooling systems much easier than before. Note the last paragraph of this status report. The fact is that these heroes have about whipped this problem. The nation of Japan, the people of Japan, the stockholders of TEPCO, General Electric, Westinghouse, and the world commercial nuclear power industry (...as well as us...) owe these heroes a great debt of gratitude. These folks have done something that had never been done before; they rescued these plants from a "station blackout" --- no power anywhere to run anything ---the ultimate Jane Fonda "China Syndrome". It is now day nine after the quake and tsunami. Remember how long Three Mile Island went on? I predict that the naysayers, pseudo-experts, anti's, regulators, and news media will suddenly think that the "near nuclear melt-down" in Japan is a non story in the next few days. Let's wait and see. Again, thank you heroes. God bless the brave!! leroy

I would almost bet that there is a seawall of some sort around the plant (...at least the front...) to stop the crushing effect of the water. My guess is that it simply got overtopped and flooding caused the damage. It didn't hurt the wall, it just went over it and flooded it like a swimming pool. It's hard to say without looking at the drawings. I bet this question is addressed before the next unit is built. leroy

All:______________ RE: The tsunami wave hitting the plant. I believe it did. I seem to have read that the tsunami wave was 7.1 meters high -- thats about 23 and one half feet tall. It seems that ive seen some photos that show the switchyard partially full of water. If that is so; the tsunami wave was the worst part of the problem. It evidently either flooded or tore down the interties between the station power and the transmission lines or flooded out the cable tunnels; or both. TEPCO did say for sure that the tsunami wave was the cause of the diesel generator failure. My guess is that crews have been pumping and drying out these cable tunnels since this whole thing began, while the guys you keep seeing and hearing about in the news were busy getting water to everything else. Check out this video for an annimation of the probable time line for the problems: YouTube - Timeline: Japan's nuclear trouble Here is some late breaking news on the powerline intertie: http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110320D19JFF09.htm Hope this helps. leroy

All:_______________ Here is a good report (...for a change...) RE: the plant and ongoing accident mitigation activities: Fukushima nuclear accident: Saturday 19 March summary « BraveNewClimate. leroy

If you are going out toward sevierville; you can go out Alcoa Highway (US129 -- probably 3 or so miles south toward the airport...), take a left at Governor John Sevier (...cant remember the #...), then right on Chapmn Highway (..US441...). Thie route brings you out about 4 or so miles south of the Henley Bridge. Hope this helps. leroy