Disaster preparation

[akv]

Not great news, though a decent gesture by the NukePills company.

Official: Japan's nuclear situation nearing severity of Chernobyl

(CNN) -- The explosion Tuesday at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has elevated the situation there to a "serious accident" on a level just below Chernobyl, a French nuclear official said, referring to an international scale that rates the severity of such incidents.

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale -- or INES -- goes from Level 1, which indicates very little danger to the general population, to Level 7, a "major accident" in which there's been a large release of radioactive material and there will be widespread health and environmental effects.

"It's clear we are at Level 6, that's to say we're at a level in between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl," Andre-Claude Lacoste, president of France's nuclear safety authority, told reporters Tuesday.

Japanese nuclear authorities initially rated the incident at Level 4, according to Greg Webb of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Level 4 is characterized as a minor release of radioactive material that necessitates only measures to control food due to contamination. But in the latest information about the explosion, Japanese authorities did not give it a rating, Webb said, and the IAEA is not putting a number on it either.

Whatever the level, many experts warn that it's too early, and there's too little information, to determine what it means for the people who live in the region near the Daiichi plant.

"We don't know enough to assess the long-term or short-term effects of this," said Dr. Kirby Kemper, a noted nuclear physicist, physics professor and vice president of research at Florida State University.

Based on information from Japanese authorities, Kemper said it appears the radioactive material that has been released has mostly dissipated into the atmosphere. However, he said, authorities would have to test the soil for contamination in the 20-kilometer radius that was evacuated around the plant before anyone could return home.

Trying to place the situation on the INES scale is premature, said David Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University.

"I've been asked to put a number on it a few times and I've resisted," he said.

With the effort to get the reactors under control still under way and uncertainty over where winds will blow radioactive waste, there's no way of telling how much waste will be released or what impact it will have on human health, he said.

As things stood Tuesday, Brenner said he did not believe the releases that had been reported so far posed a significant public health threat. He said the situation will clarify within 48 hours, for better or for worse, at which point, he said, it would make sense to assess the incident's overall severity.

At least 30 people died following the 1986 explosion and fire at Chernobyl, and large swaths of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were contaminated from the nuclear fallout. The core meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pennsylvania, in 1979 caused no injuries or deaths, and only very low levels of radiation were found later in plants and animals, experts said.

The latest incidents in Japan -- an explosion Tuesday at the plant's No. 2 reactor and a fire in a cooling pond used for nuclear fuel at the No. 4 reactor -- briefly pushed radiation levels at the plant to about 167 times the average annual dose of radiation, according to details released by the IAEA.

That dose would quickly dissipate with distance from the plant, and radiation levels quickly fell back to levels that posed no immediate public health threat, said Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano.

But the deteriorating situation at the plant and concerns about a potential shift in winds that could loft radiation toward populated areas nevertheless prompted authorities to warn people as far as 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) away from the plant to stay inside.

"There is still a very high risk of further radioactive material coming out," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said, asking people to remain calm.

According to the information about the radioactive matter released Tuesday from Japanese authorities, Kemper said, "as long as you're sealing your house well enough you're not going to ingest it."

Another problem with trying to predict contamination is that the levels don't necessarily go down the farther you get from the source, according to David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"The contamination levels aren't linear, so the farther away you get doesn't necessarily mean you get a lower dose rate. Chernobyl, in some cases, had areas 100 miles away from the facility having significantly higher radiation levels than areas only 10 or 15 miles away," he explained Tuesday in a teleconference with reporters.

"The winds would carry the radioactivity and then the rainfall would bring it down to the ground to contaminate where people were, he said. "So there are a number of factors that determine where it goes and who's in harm's way."

About 200,000 people within a 20-kilometer (12.4 mile) radius of the Daiichi plant had been previously evacuated.

But Japanese authorities couldn't rule out the specter of greater radiation dangers down the road.

For the first time since the quake crippled cooling systems at the Daiichi reactors on Friday and blasts occurred at two reactors Saturday and Monday, Edano said radiation levels at the plant had increased to "levels that can impact human health."

He said Tuesday he could not rule out the possibility of a meltdown at the troubled reactors.

While seawater was being pumped into the reactors in an effort to prevent further damage, "it cannot necessarily be called a stable situation," he said.

The plant's owners have taken precautions to protect the people in Fukushima Prefecture, where the reactors sit. The plants are 138 miles (about 225 kilometers) from Tokyo.

They evacuated all but about 50 workers from the facility and urged people within 30 kilometers of the plant to remain indoors. The government imposed a no-fly zone over the 30-kilometer radius "because of detected radiation after explosions" there, the country's transportation ministry said.

A North Carolina-based company, Nukepills.com, has donated about 50,000 potassium iodide tablets to a hospital in Tokyo. Potassium iodide "is recommended by health officials worldwide to prevent thyroid cancer of those exposed to radioactive iodine in the event of a nuclear reactor accident or detonation of a nuclear bomb," said a statement from the company, which describes itself as a internet-based provider of radiation emergency preparedness products.

"We are very pleased that these tablets will be given to people directly affected by the nuclear crisis," said Troy Jones, president of Nukepills.com.

CNN's Michael Pearson and Richard Greene contributed to this report

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/as...uclear/?hpt=T2

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Pete

That story is all over the PI. News sources are showing officials saying "It don't work".

Maybe. It beats taking nothing, and should not hurt anyone who does not have an iodine allergy.

TR

https://marketcuriosity.wordpress.co...ear-emergency/

According to research by Health Physicist Ken Miller, Hershey Medical Center, using 24 healthy adult male subjects, an adult could get a blocking dose of stable iodine by painting 8 ml of a 2 percent tincture of Iodine on the abdomen or forearm approximately 2 hours prior to I-131 contamination. The abstract of his study titled “Effectiveness of Skin Absorption of Tincture of I in Blocking Radioiodine from the Human Thyroid Gland” from Health Physics, June 1989, Vol. 56, No. 6, pages 911-914, states:

“Although there were large variations within each subject group in regard to serum-I levels and thyroid uptakes, the increase in serum-I concentration after topical-I application was effective in reducing the thyroid uptake of I131. The authors conclude that in the absence of KI, most humans would benefit from topical application of tincture of-I, and that in some the effectiveness would equal that of oral KI.”

[greenberetTFS]

[QUOTE=The Reaper;381544]Maybe. It beats taking nothing, and should not hurt anyone who does not have an iodine allergy.

TR

Agree with TR 100%,nothing to lose when fighting for your life whatever the odds maybe...........

Big Teddy

[Hand]

Sirs,
I understand that putting together a kit for purposes of short term survival or sustainment enroute to a better situation in general is the focus of this thread. In this vein, would some sort of two way radio be prudent to inuclude?

[Snaquebite]

Some great info here and I always love these type posts. I may have overlooked it but waterless anti-bacterial soap seems to always be forgotten.

Originally Posted by Hand

Sirs,
I understand that putting together a kit for purposes of short term survival or sustainment enroute to a better situation in general is the focus of this thread. In this vein, would some sort of two way radio be prudent to inuclude?

Sure, why not have a few, big fan on internal commo plans. But consider, are you ever away from your immediate family longer than the time to adjust gear and/or source materials?

Stay together, live together, die together. Teach bona fides to wife and kids, learn to communicated cryptically with family members / friends at other locations, limit transmission times, conserve batteries, etc.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Hand

Sirs,
I understand that putting together a kit for purposes of short term survival or sustainment enroute to a better situation in general is the focus of this thread. In this vein, would some sort of two way radio be prudent to inuclude?

Who do you plan to talk to?

TR

[Hand]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Who do you plan to talk to?

TR

Thats a great question sir. My curiosity leaned toward what could happen if in a situation like Japan, where massive numbers of people were displaced on a regional level. If someone were to be as prepared as you gentlemen like to be, would a radio be helpful in assisting with maybe hurrying relief efforts to devastated areas in situations where telephone lines were gone and the cellular networks were overloaded and useless? And your question echoes my own, who WOULD you talk to? Are there groups of people who still talk to each other on short wave radios? Would having such a radio be beneficial to get news, communicate locations, communicate information from/to devastated areas?
I wonder how aware the displaced people in Japan are of the possible dangers they are or could be exposed to from the power plant situations and if being able to get that type of news would affect their decisions to stay where they are or try to migrate to a different location.
I consider these things because surely there are people who have no means of transportation and are stranded miles from any help at this point...

My prayers are with the people in Japan right now.

[Irish]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Who do you plan to talk to?

TR

My thoughts exactly. If you believe it could benefit you then by all means pack it. But looking back on things I can't say that any sort of radio/comm gear would've benefited my situation. Besides, immediate priority should be watching your 6 and that of those with you IMHO. I prioritized my family's survival as such...

1.) Get out and get to safe ground.
2.) Be prepared to combat elements and sustain nutrition for 72 hrs.
3.) Have ability to signal first responders/rescue teams.

Comm/radio just didn't factor into those 3 things for me. You may have better luck with a payphone/mobile phone. In my case, here in Japan, NTT opened the disaster lines, meaning you could call out for free on any public phone. I think the limit was 60 mins per call. Pretty generous amount of time for a cryptic message. Also, cell phones were down out here for about 24 hrs. A cell phone (if operating) will allow you to get a cryptic message out whether you talk to a person/leave a voicemail/shoot an e-mail/post to a social site. Soon as my mobile was up and running I shot an e-mail from it to my mom stateside. Then I posted a cryptic message on a social network... seems they do come in handy

I rationalize it like this... when you're in a disaster, you know how you're doing. It may sound bad but let everyone else worry about you. You worry about the task at hand. Get through the golden hour and then reach out when it's convenient for YOU. That may inconvenience the thoughts and feelings of loved ones not effected by what you're experiencing, but your reassuring them simply isn't a priority to immediate survival. Fight or flight. My humble .02

[Irish]

Originally Posted by Hand

If someone were to be as prepared as you gentlemen like to be, would a radio be helpful in assisting with maybe hurrying relief efforts to devastated areas in situations where telephone lines were gone and the cellular networks were overloaded and useless?

Who are you gonna hurry? A lot of the first responders were wiped out in the same disaster. You're a needle in a haystack. Focus on keeping yourself and those with you alive.

I wonder how aware the displaced people in Japan are of the possible dangers they are or could be exposed to from the power plant situations and if being able to get that type of news would affect their decisions to stay where they are or try to migrate to a different location.

There're a lot of "ifs" that you could come up with from the outside looking in. But when you're stuck in the middle of it I think you should focus on your immediate surroundings and the things that you have power over.

I consider these things because surely there are people who have no means of transportation and are stranded miles from any help at this point...

I can assure you from a first person point of view, transportation and being "stranded" is the least of your worries mate. You should be thinking about how you're going to make it from here on out, as if no one is going to help you, but hopeful help will arrive.

I'm not a QP but these are my thoughts and this is how I survive. Luckily I didn't have to push the envelope and things for me were back to normal fairly quick. Well... not exactly normal... but we were able to return home after 24 hrs and my utilities are pretty much on without a catch. I consider myself and my family fortunate. I wouldn't wish what the folks up north are going through on my worst enemy. And if I was in the same boat as folks up north I would be sticking to my game plan.

[Hand]

Thank you gentlemen, for your informed and thorough replies.

I was on the Gulf Coast during Katrina, the situation was quite different there. Fuel and generators were gold.

Glad to hear you are safe Irish.

[Golf1echo]

That is a good list. A waterproof pen and paper could be helpful.

Two things for consideration after Hurricanes or similar disasters are the lack of gasoline, even beyond the scope of the disaster and the ability to navigate without any standing signage.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Golf1echo

That is a good list. A waterproof pen and paper could be helpful.

Two things for consideration after Hurricanes or similar disasters are the lack of gasoline, even beyond the scope of the disaster and the ability to navigate without any standing signage.

Roger that.

And gasoline is not safely storable at home in the long term.

Most people do not realize that gasoline starts to break down really quickly, even faster in the heat. After 90 days or less in storage, it begins to decompose and I would prefer not to run it in a fuel injected or high compression engine after that.

You can treat it with a preservative like Sta-Bil, but even that will not keep it viable for most engines for more than six months to a year. You have to rotate your stocks regularly, and most people are not going to do that.

Diesel or better yet, LP fueled generators are the way to go, IMHO.

If you are not planning to bug out by vehicle, a siphon hose will allow you to recover whatever is in your vehicles' tanks and run your genset for quite a while, and a vehicle fuel tank is probably the safest place to store gasoline.

A smaller generator will run longer on the same amount of fuel. OTOH, you have to calculate what you intend to provide power to and allow for start up loads. Lights, fans, radios, laptops, etc. draw little power, appliances quite a bit more, and the HVAC will be the Big Mac Daddy. A little Honda generator will power the small stuff, and you can run extension cords to where you need the devices. I would look at something more than 5,000 watts to power all of that as well as a fridge, freezer, sump pump, well pump, etc. pushing that up to 8,000 watts or more. If you stagger the start ups, you could probably run a window AC on that as well. When you get to that point, you probably need to get an electrician and set up a power transfer switch and a subpanel. You do not want to energize your home service panel without turning off the main breakers to grid power. A 3 ton AC unit is going to take 12,000 to 14,000 watts to start.

I would not plan on running the genset 24/7, even if you have the fuel. A few hours a couple of times per day should keep the fridge and the freezer cool, unless you open and close them a lot between generator runs. If I anticipated losing power for more than a few days, as in after an earthquake, really bad storm or hurricane, I would probably stock up on some oil, a filter or two, and a set of spare maintenance parts.

Some people want to be able to run everything and pretend nothing has happened. I suspect that in a protracted emergency, like Katrina or Andrew, they will soon be out of power as well.

The really trick set-up is to get a few deep-cycle batteries and an inverter, and use them to power the small stuff between generator charges. A large solar panel or two could keep the batteries topped off and allow you to go longer between generator runs as well.

Remember that the power company brings electricity to your home for a few cents per kilowatt hour (KWH). You cannot make electric power from an internal combustion engine for much less than 30-50 cents per hour just for fuel. The generator itself will be a large upfront investment, and it could be a very significant one, because you will not likely find any deals on one (or the fuel) after a disaster occurs. You will probably get to know your neighbors better though, after they notice you have lights, the smell of coffee brewing, and the sound of an engine running.

Just my .02, YMMV. Hope it helps.

TR

[MtnGoat]

Great Tread.. I like the spin off from Be Prepared.

Second story house. Get those "throw" out ladders you seen in those Sky Mall magazines. Just make sure the lenght is correct for your hieght. My Lesson Learned.

In your home - I like a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, master bedroom and each full bathroom. Teach your kids how to use them if they are latch key kids too.

With hurricane season coming here soon. This gets me thinking those lines again.

Nice Tread!! Thanks all.

[Irish]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

Roger that~Hope it helps.

TR

We interrupt your normally scheduled broadcast with an important message.... TR you never cease to amaze me. You're one knowledgeable dude. Thank you. We now return to your normally scheduled program.