According to VOA, the U.S. government (along with a drug firm named Onconova) is currently working on an anti-radiation drug called Ex-Rad. “Ex-Rad is a drug which is effective in saving a cell damaged by radiation,” says Onconova CEO Ramesh Kumar, “and we have found that it can be given in advance of exposure to radiation up to a day ahead or it can be given up to a day after the exposure to radiation.” If this is true, it’s worth keeping an eye on. source
The reactors are more stable as time progresses. By now, the decay heat is greatly reduced and it becomes easier to supply sufficient water for cooling. As far as we know, the containments are holding and the radiation levels have dropped.UC Berkley nuclear expert Peter Hosemann • Suggesting that Fukushima is quickly becoming less of an issue, and more under control. He does warn, however, that radiation may still get into the environment: “We might see some more release of radioactive material, mostly due to the water going through the systems.” Overall, though, this is promising in terms of getting things handled. source (via • follow)
China and South Korea wary of radiation in food: Some countries (and even individual restaurants) that import food from Japan are concerned about the possibility of radiation contamination. The Japanese government has assured their citizenry that the radiation levels detected in milk, spinach, and some water is not enough to do rapid or lasting damage, though they’ve imposed a freeze on food from that region. China and South Korea want to look into the matter themselves, though, absent the responsibility of keeping the Japanese citizenry from being stricken with panic, which their government obviously has. That seems reasonable enough. source
Power lines up in all six Fukushima Daiichi reactors: Which is great sounding news, but they’re not out of the woods yet. There are a number of implications to this, mainly that cooling systems can be turned back on, thus pumping water back into the reactors and preventing a meltdown of the fuel rods. However, the power hasn’t yet been switched on, as engineers fear that the pumps, damaged as they are, could cause an explosion if activated abruptly. That aside, this news is a credit to the bravery of the workers who stayed at the plant. We hope the government gives them truly first-class care once this is over, it’s the only moral thing to do. source
Meanwhile, while Glenn Beck and Lawrence O’Donnell are arguing/agreeing about whether or not the Japan nuclear crisis is going to end the world (it’s not), thousands have been killed, thousands more are currently without a roof over their head, and millions more could face electricity issues for months after the Japan quake seriously damaged the power grid. Good to see they’re keeping things in perspective by arguing over who’s right. source
Well, that’s alarming: “The Japanese government advises villagers in Fukushima prefecture not to drink tap water because of radioactive iodine - AP”
This is a chart of the ionizing radiation dose a person can absorb from various sources. The unit for absorbed dose is “sievert” (Sv), and measures the effect a dose of radiation will have on the cells of the body. One sievert (all at once) will make you sick, and too many more will kill you, but we safely absorb small amounts of natural radiation daily. Note: The same number of sieverts absorbed in a shorter time will generally cause more damage, but your cumulative long-term dose plays a big role in things like cancer risk.
This is really fascinating, and totally plays into some of our previous coverage.
» What happens next: Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says that they’ll continue to test food products, and if they find contaminated products, they’ll ban them from the market. Some experts are understandably skeptical. “They should seriously think about restricting any agricultural products in that area,” said Lam Ching-wan of the University of Hong Kong School of Medicine. “It seems that the whole ecosystem could be affected, so they shouldn’t take any chances.” The radiation factor of milk and spinach is important to note, because after Chernobyl, many cancer cases resulted from children who ingested high levels of radiation in milk.
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It has been an intense week of covering just one topic: The earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Like so many people, I first heard about it as an alert on Twitter, then noticed many comments about the coverage on CNN. I flicked the TV on right as CNN International broke away to the devastating…
Hats off to a week of great posts by producermatthew. And thanks to him for his overnight posts during the crisis! They really helped out a lot!
A bit of a contradiction: “We advise British nationals to follow all relevant advice from the Japanese authorities, and as an additional precautionary measure, not to go within eighty kilometers of the site.” It seems that the British have assessed the situation in Fukushima, and have come to the same conclusion the Americans have. While it’s impossible to say at this juncture what is and isn’t the proper advice, this much seems clear; that both the U.S. and Britain would publicly refute Japan’s own evacuation plan, however politely, makes the Japanese look pretty bad, and implies some degree of turmoil in diplomatic communication and coordination. source
Extensive damage can be seen at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in this new video filmed from a helicopter. (TEPCO)
Whoa. That’s really bad.
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