China Syndrome

Ok, so we all know real life nuclear holocausts are bad things and happening right now, but OMG American Idol last night...

Seriously?

Are Americans (and everyone else not currently or up to three days ago residing in what is left of Japan) that fucking ignorant?

For the record and comparison sake:

Roentgen/hr at Dai-ichi (number stolen from MSNBC): 8217µSv = 0.82R/hr (8,127 mR)

Edit MSNBC is now saying 11900µSv = 1.19R/hr at about 9am local time.

Roentgen/hr at various parts of Chornobyl @ 20 years (god only knows at core release time):
vicinity of the reactor core 30,000
fuel fragments 15,000–20,000
debris heap at the place of circulation pumps 10,000
debris near the electrolyzers 5,000–15,000
water in the Level +25 feedwater room 5,000
level 0 of the turbine hall 500–15,000
area of the affected unit 1,000–1,500
water in Room 712 1,000
control room, shortly after explosion 3–5
Gidroelektromontazh depot 30
nearby concrete mixing unit 10–15


So 0.82R (1.19 depending) today, as of 9:10a local time @ Japan vs 30R (after 20yrs decay) at the Chornobyl vehicle depot, of course depending on how far 'outside' the UBS Japan is measuring. The dose a nuke tech in the US is allowed yearly is the equivalent of 5R/hr. 100R/hr (1000mSv, 1000000µSv) will kill a person in an hour - not that this is a good number, but it puts Dai-ichi in a bit of perspective.

RBMK model reactor = bad
light water reactor = not as bad, but still bad
30,000R/hr = bad
0.82R/hr (or 1.19R) = Eh, I wanted a new thyroid anyway.

So here we are, talking about the end of the world like it's some big science experiment. California needs a reboot anyway, nice way to clear out some of the riff-raff.

When they start seeing blue fireworks then the fun really starts. Won't be any fun without the flaming graphite. Didn't really know I was still such a science nerd.

Let me know when the bottom drops out.