"Stable" doesn't mean "Safe". Just that the previous clusterfark continues at the same rate. Which is reassurring in that it's not getting worse.

No. That would be hope and change.

Nurglitch: "Stable" doesn't mean "Safe". Just that the previous clusterfark continues at the same rate. Which is reassurring in that it's not getting worse.

Came here to say this. Chernobyl is stable. Doesn't make it safe.

I'm curious as to whether subby, or anyone else, has contraindicating information or just chooses to believe otherwise.

Approves

Nurglitch: "Stable" doesn't mean "Safe". Just that the previous clusterfark continues at the same rate. Which is reassurring in that it's not getting worse.

Also came here to say this. Jim Varney's medical condition is "stable".

Orgasmatron138: Nurglitch: "Stable" doesn't mean "Safe". Just that the previous clusterfark continues at the same rate. Which is reassurring in that it's not getting worse.

Came here to say this. Chernobyl is stable. Doesn't make it safe.

Actually Chernobyl's hastily erected sarcophagus is crumbling. They're presently constructing a more permanent cover:

How can you tell when a politician is lying?

FTFA: Mr Noda said: "We can now maintain radiation exposure at the periphery of the plant at sufficiently low levels even in the event of another accident."

Fukushima radiation 47 times higher than combined 45 prefectures (new window)

TheDirtyNacho: Actually Chernobyl's hastily erected sarcophagus is crumbling. They're presently constructing a more permanent cover:

That looks like the sort of plan Wyle E Coyote would come up with: a giant semi-cylinder on rails with a cartoonish cut-out of the building in the side so it can slide over it.

Subby seems to have forgotten this one: "No more ignoring the law when it's inconvenient. We will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers."

*cough* due process free murders and due process free detentions *cough*

A prime minister is a head of government. The head of state in parliamentary governments is the monarch or president. In Japan, it would be the Emperor. In the US, the head of state and the head of government are the same person, the president.

TheDirtyNacho: Orgasmatron138: Nurglitch: "Stable" doesn't mean "Safe". Just that the previous clusterfark continues at the same rate. Which is reassurring in that it's not getting worse.

Came here to say this. Chernobyl is stable. Doesn't make it safe.

Actually Chernobyl's hastily erected sarcophagus is crumbling. They're presently constructing a more permanent cover:

[newsimg.bbc.co.uk image 416x157]

Before he retired, my friend's dad helped work on that project. His company, Bechtel, designed the thing for the consortium.

We just called it CHERNOBYL-DOME and imagined two mutants entering and one mutant leaving.

/or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s

Uhh, didn't they have a melthrough?

Subby, you're a Hope n Changer, aren't you?

Orgasmatron138: Came here to say this. Chernobyl is stable. Doesn't make it safe.

It isn't decaying?

neversubmit: FTFA: Mr Noda said: "We can now maintain radiation exposure at the periphery of the plant at sufficiently low levels even in the event of another accident."

Background radiation is so ridiculously low that you could easily be within 47 times the background radiation and still be safe. Depending on how long they anticipate exposures to last the radiation level could easily be well above 47 times the background.

Nurglitch: "Stable" doesn't mean "Safe". Just that the previous clusterfark continues at the same rate. Which is reassurring in that it's not getting worse.

Exactly. The cores are cold which means there won't be any more radiation release. That doesn't mean the existing problems will magically vanish, though.

TimonC346: Uhh, didn't they have a melthrough?

No silly, they had a triple meltdown, you're one of those gloom and doomers aren't you?

But background radiation and the elevated levels you are exposed to on planes and ski resorts are totally natural and not anything like nuclear radiation.

Why yes, I've been a certified radiation worker.

Fubini: neversubmit: FTFA: Mr Noda said: "We can now maintain radiation exposure at the periphery of the plant at sufficiently low levels even in the event of another accident."

Background radiation is so ridiculously low that you could easily be within 47 times the background radiation and still be safe. Depending on how long they anticipate exposures to last the radiation level could easily be well above 47 times the background.

That's nice but no one is talking about background radiation.

I was assured by the resident Fark nuclear experts that there was never any problem to begin with, nor could there be a problem, so this really isn't news.

Flakeloaf: Also came here to say this. Jim Varney's medical condition is "stable."

So are just about all the people you'll find in a cemetary. Except, of course, those who are pining for the fiords.

neversubmit: How can you tell when a politician is lying?

FTFA: Mr Noda said: "We can now maintain radiation exposure at the periphery of the plant at sufficiently low levels even in the event of another accident."

Fukushima radiation 47 times higher than combined 45 prefectures (new window)

You might find this helpful.
Link (new window)

trappedspirit
Orgasmatron138: Came here to say this. Chernobyl is stable. Doesn't make it safe.

It isn't decaying?

I think decaying is more like a 1979 280z.

Chernobyl's sarcophagus is more succumbing to the effects of elevated radiation levels so yes in a number of words.

liquidpoo: neversubmit: How can you tell when a politician is lying?

FTFA: Mr Noda said: "We can now maintain radiation exposure at the periphery of the plant at sufficiently low levels even in the event of another accident."

Fukushima radiation 47 times higher than combined 45 prefectures (new window)

You might find this helpful.
Link (new window)

guess fark doesn't like my link. http://xkcd.com/radiation/

Because of course, submitter has several advanced degrees in nuclear physics.

liquidpoo: liquidpoo: neversubmit: How can you tell when a politician is lying?

FTFA: Mr Noda said: "We can now maintain radiation exposure at the periphery of the plant at sufficiently low levels even in the event of another accident."

Fukushima radiation 47 times higher than combined 45 prefectures (new window)

You might find this helpful.
Link (new window)

guess fark doesn't like my link. http://xkcd.com/radiation/

That is so hilarious. Not a single one of those has the same exposure period, he just picked whatever was smaller to prove his "point".

/Surprised someone hasn't popped up with the ol' "we got either coal or nukes" false dichotomy yet

Random Anonymous Blackmail: trappedspirit
Orgasmatron138: Came here to say this. Chernobyl is stable. Doesn't make it safe.

It isn't decaying?

I think decaying is more like a 1979 280z.

Chernobyl's sarcophagus is more succumbing to the effects of elevated radiation levels so yes in a number of words.

I was talking about the radiation. Can I get a half-life up in here?

Remember fellow farkers this is Japan we are talking about. They have real world experience with nuclear problems. They also have a pragmatic view of these things. If this were to happen here in the states, lawyers would be passing ownership of the lawsuits to their kids in their wills. There, everyone does his part and then moves on. Until we fix the bankage I mean breakage in our government we will never be able to deal with anything on this scale.

On a related note didn't I read a couple of years ago that the french have a laser technology to neutralize radioactive contamination? Why is this not in use?

What head of state said "Mission Accomplished"?

natazha: But background radiation and the elevated levels you are exposed to on planes and ski resorts are totally natural and not anything like nuclear radiation.

Why yes, I've been a certified radiation worker.

Was that before it was revealed to your employer that you have no sense of quantity or proportion?

natazha: But background radiation and the elevated levels you are exposed to on planes and ski resorts are totally natural and not anything like nuclear radiation.

Why yes, I've been a certified radiation worker.

I'm a retired US Navy nuclear electrician. From back when we had REMs. And we LIKED it. No silly sieverts, good ol' REMs that you could hold in your hand. No imaginary, froggy, metric crap. real REMs.

/got a bottle of them on the mantle
//a retirement gift
///no damn gold watch for me.
////virgules to the max!

I agree with the others - 'stable' in this case refers more to the fact that the situation isn't getting worse, that active emergency efforts are done.

It's like how a gunshot victim is 'stable' once he's moved out of the operating theater and into recovery. Doesn't mean that he can't still die from an unexpected blood clot or something.

simon_bar_sinister: On a related note didn't I read a couple of years ago that the french have a laser technology to neutralize radioactive contamination? Why is this not in use?

You're probably thinking of 'neutron bombardment', and it's still in development and is really only designed to be used to speed up the decay of high level waste, stuff from things like spent fuel rods.

Random Anonymous Blackmail: Chernobyl's sarcophagus is more succumbing to the effects of elevated radiation levels so yes in a number of words.

By my understanding, it's more 99% weather and the fact that it was so quickly constructed in the first place.

We're waiting for the first load of nucleated flotsam to hit here next summer. Rumors have the stuff in Alaska already. I'm gonna collect up some for my fireplace and bask in the glow....

Well there's your problem, you let some 12 year old boy design your reactor.

So far, no one has been able to explain to me exactly which part of the aircraft carrier's mission had not yet been accomplished.

simon_bar_sinister: didn't I read a couple of years ago that the french have a laser technology to neutralize radioactive contamination?

Unlikely. Radioactivity is a characteristic of a nucleus. Light, short of gamma rays, interacts with the electron shell.

There has been much speculation that thorium reactors might consume radioactive waste (example). I don't think this is proven technology, though.

Stable doesn't even mean safe or not likely to get worse.

It means the reactors have finally cooled below the boiling point of water. Which is a good thing because it means the damn thing is no longer actively producing radiation, and they can go about cleaning up decontaminating and dismantling the plant.

They have reached cold shutdown. "Stable" is probably a translation error, or government wharrrgarbl.

/I want good photos of the whole site soon. The damage is incredible. For those containment structures to blow up like they did while being made of reinforced concrete and brick AND a steel support structure... damn.

Fark Me Runnin: So far, no one has been able to explain to me exactly which part of the aircraft carrier's mission had not yet been accomplished.

Um....The war We've been fighting until up until now?

/The nuclear reactor's mission in the aircraft carrier wasn't finished either
//It has a lifespan of like 30 years without refueling or something.

Quick, everyone form uneducated opinions about radiation!

Oh, that's already been done here?

/my work is finished

For the millionth time: The banner referred to that ship's mission... which was accomplished. It didn't mean that everything in Iraq was unicorns and carebears. Stop being partisan sheep.