basroil comments

Posted in: Thousands across Japan rally against nuclear power See in context

MoonrakerMar. 11, 2013 - 06:07PM JST

Back in the 1950s, nuclear power stations were sold to the public as producing electricity that was "too cheap to meter". Wonder what happened to that promise.

The russians made it so that people began to fear nuclear winter, then the hippies lied to everyone by saying it's no different than a bomb. The russian bomb factories called Chernobyl didn't help out, considering people had just started seeing it as a viable energy source again.

France on the other hand though, is 80% nuclear and because of that both exports to other counties and is cheaper than all the others in the area, including coal using Germany. Rates are half or less, so the cheap part still holds as promised.

-11 ( +1 / -12 )

Posted in: Thousands across Japan rally against nuclear power See in context

BertieWoosterMar. 11, 2013 - 02:56PM JST

There are, however, many ways power can be conserved without much sacrifice. And there are many ways renewable energy can replace nuclear power and coal/oil based systems.

I can bet you that you won't find a single engineering analysis that agrees with you (greenpeas and economists aren't engineering). The only renewable sources that make any economic and engineering sense in Japan are dams, but they are already at near capacity, and even with flooding thousands of sq. km of pristine forests you won't get past 15% of the total energy needs. Fossil fuels are here to stay at this rate, along with the millions of excess deaths per century they bring.

-12 ( +1 / -13 )

Posted in: Dust storm shrouds Tokyo in haze See in context

YongYangMar. 11, 2013 - 01:19AM JST

Resuspension of radioactive contamination. All those hotspots jumping into the air. Nice.

Not at all, came from the other side. What it does include are coal, car, cigarette, and farm particles, all of which are far worse in terms of lung cancer.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Posted in: Dust storm shrouds Tokyo in haze See in context

globalwatcherMar. 11, 2013 - 12:00AM JST

My masks are for medical professionals; surgeons, and they are very expensive

Still no good unless you mean a particulate respirator mask like the 3m 1860, regular surgical masks used in hospitals and clinics offer absolutely no protection. Even with a respirator that exceeds N95, you are still letting 15% or so of the particulates in, and almost all under 0.3 micron (with modern coal plants, most of the pollution is this smallest type anyway)

-4 ( +4 / -7 )

Posted in: Dust storm shrouds Tokyo in haze See in context

globalwatcherMar. 10, 2013 - 10:52PM JST

Well, after what I have read here on JT, I have just purchased a box of surgical masks

Guess you haven't been reading enough, those cheap masks do nothing against PM2.5

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Posted in: Dust storm shrouds Tokyo in haze See in context

rzadigiMar. 10, 2013 - 09:44PM JST

It is pm2.5. Check the charts down here in Miyazaki. http://www.miyazaki-taiki.jp/taiki/keijihenka.php

Nobody denies it's PM2.5, but that doesn't mean it's chinese sourced. Coal plants in the north and west of Tokyo would produce more than enough PM2.5 to cause smog, as would cars and other things too. The article had first stated "China [...] smog has been called PM2.5 in Japan", which is why the people above were quick to point out that it was ridiculous to state that. The new article reflects the correct information that states the smog did not come from china.

-12 ( +2 / -14 )

Posted in: Dust storm shrouds Tokyo in haze See in context

Meteorologists said the phenomenon was caused by a sudden cold front, and was not linked with the suffocating pollution that hung over the Chinese capital Beijing last winter.

Not from china, but still caused by the same thing, coal power and farms that are not properly maintained.

-10 ( +2 / -12 )

Posted in: Protesters in Tokyo demand end to nuclear power See in context

BertieWoosterMar. 10, 2013 - 02:51PM JST

But, there are two problems with it:

When disaster strikes, the damage can be huge and difficult to get rid of for a long time into the future.

Disposing of radioactive waste just gives future generations a problem.

Interesting, if you replace "radioactive" with toxic, you have described every power source except wind and hydro (first part still applies though).

Death toll during disaster wise, hydroelectric is the most hazardous, as large dams like kurobe are built upstream of towns and cities, as well as contain enough water to wipe out nearly everything downstream for a few dozen kilometers at least. Banqiao demonstrated that it's possible, and during 3/11 several dams failed (luckily that area has few large dams). Floods and tsunamis can wipe out coal and oil plants (as well as gas boilers), and several were damaged directly by the 3/11 earthquakes, not just tsunami. Solar is the weakest of all in disasters, with large capacities of solar production capable of being destroyed in high wind alone, worse when it starts snowing after a disaster (like it did for 3/11).

As for toxic waste, coal and oil (which make up half of the fossil fuel use now) can produce acid rain, PM2.5, dioxins (carcinogen) , and methyl mercury (minamata disease) in large quantities, and ALL of that has a lifetime of forever, it doesn't decay naturally and will be here forever, not just a few generations. Natural gas causes massive global warming, and the high energy density magnets and cables used in wind poison rivers with various chemicals used to mine and refine the rare earth metals used. Solar too is horrible, since silicon production is one of the dirtiest things on the planet, using chemicals strong enough to kill the entire population of the earth several times over.

There's issues with any power source, and the entire set of safety considerations must be taken into account for each one.

-2 ( +5 / -6 )

Posted in: Solar batteries could be utilities' next headache See in context

Kimokekahuna HawaiiMar. 10, 2013 - 10:17AM JST

I power my entire farming operation from solar panels and batteries. I have for 5 years been off the grid and pay nothing for power. One panel is enough to run a large freezer/fridge. I have enough power from only a few panels to power a digital video studio. I was first in Hawaii to also use daily an electric car in 2000... and I believe that this is key to freedom for Japanese consumers to get off the grid when possible and also to make money from selling power back into the grid.

Well, Japan has about half the solar energy of Hawaii, so you would need twice as many panels to get the same amount of energy. Add in the fact that it gets hotter in summer and much colder in winter and then you have a need for much more panels and batteries.

With larger numbers comes issues in recycling. Solar panels are incredibly energy intensive to make, even from recycling, and all the energy produced by them would end up going to making more, at least until half of Japan is covered in panels. And then's the issue of toxic waste that stays forever (not just a few hundred years), and large amounts of sulfuric acid and lead (both highly dangerous to life), and even worse things like hydrogen cyanide for other parts. Hawaii doesn't manufacture or recycle solar panels and batteries, but Japan does and it ends up taking the brunt of the ecological disaster that is solar panel and battery manufacturing.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Posted in: Dust storm shrouds Tokyo in haze See in context

gokai_wo_manekuMar. 10, 2013 - 04:03PM JST

And don't forget. PM2.5 chemically interacts with the surface of the yellow sand to produce NPAH, which is a carcinogen. So we are actually getting a double punch from China. You can't breath easier. Just don't breath.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/health/healthup/may02.pdf From here you can see that it's not just a "carcinogen", it's a floating death machine. 10microgram increase causes 8% increase in lung cancer and 4% increase in death, which is equivalent to 1000mSv/year in terms of cancer!

People need to start treating this stuff correctly, since it is incredibly dangerous, and unlike larger particles can't be stopped by even the best masks they sell in stores.

-10 ( +3 / -13 )

Posted in: Protesters in Tokyo demand end to nuclear power See in context

BertieWoosterMar. 10, 2013 - 11:54AM JST

Here's another excellent suggestion for renewable energy in Asia.

It can be done:

http://www.japanfocus.org/-JohnA-Mathews/3858

This guy left out two very important pieces which prove it's impossible at the current time:

1) This requires that all the countries provide at least all of their base load, and a good deal of their peak, as well as having different peaks. India, Mongolia, and southeast asian countries don't have enough for base load, let alone cover their peaks. China isn't much better, not having much left over power due to a high need for redundancy (in case another Banqiao happens and wipes out 30GW worth of production). Not to mention all of those countries use coal as primary power sources, with all that pollution going straight to Japan.

2) The cost would be ridiculous. Lets forget for a moment the bribes and lobbying you would need, and focus on engineering cost. From the look of the map, the cost would be in the 100 trillion yen range in cable costs, and then you can add about 100 billion yen per extra GW of production needed. Given that most other countries would expand significantly with electrical grid stability, you would be looking at another hundred trillion yen. And all of these assume huge discounts over the rates Europe is paying for their links.

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Posted in: Protesters in Tokyo demand end to nuclear power See in context

And I think we finally have the proof of "doublespeak" 's real identity. Mods, you have forbidden his primary account from directly addressing me, and this has clearly become unacceptable stalking. Now 7 out of 7 of this troll's posts are directly quoting me asking the same thing over and over again. Please remove him.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

Posted in: Protesters in Tokyo demand end to nuclear power See in context

sleepy dogMar. 09, 2013 - 11:41PM JST

The solar power on my house produces 75% of our energy. It can certainly take a chunk out of our footprint.

40-80 square meters of panel (depending on 1-4 person house) is quite a large amount of money, not everyone is rich enough to drop 2 million yen or more on something like that.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

Posted in: Protesters in Tokyo demand end to nuclear power See in context

BertieWoosterMar. 10, 2013 - 12:05AM JST

Luckily the only alternative to Nuclear Power is not burning fossil fuels.

That's like saying the alternative to paying your mortgage is not paying any of your bills. One of the worst ideas ever spoken, considering that Japan has already proved it wrong by increasing fossil fuels use by 30%.

There are other, renewable ways that we know now.

I have not seen Japan implement any of these. In fact, nowhere in the world has a reduction in nuclear power not meant a sharp increase in fossil fuels use. And more interestingly, renewable energy production actually decreased in Japan since the nuclear plants went offline. Most people forget to include natural and pumped hydro into their "renewables" section.

There should be planning to move away from nuclear and fossil fuel power and toward renewable energy sources.

This takes decades at minimum, the protesters are demanding it be stopped tomorrow. While eventually nuclear fission and fossil fuels will be gone, you will likely not be alive when the last powerplants go offline. Hell, you'll probably be gone before the last plants are built! (generalized "you", since we are talking about 40-50 years out)

Especially considering that energy required for industry has dropped considerably over the last few years.

That's actually only since 2011, so while you are right, you are confusing symptoms for causes. Japan has mandated that industry cut back production due to power shortages, initially after the quake industrial output dropped to almost nothing. As more powerplants, especially mothballed killer coal plants and their less so but still dangerous oil plants, came online, the output increased, but it is still held back due to energy considerations.

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Posted in: Protesters in Tokyo demand end to nuclear power See in context

Open MindedMar. 09, 2013 - 10:26PM JST

Wrong! Boiling water remotely (could it be with gas, coil or nuke) to produce electricity that will be converted back into individual heating system is totally inefficient.

Looks like someone clearly didn't read... I said electrical efficiency, NOT overall efficiency. People in Japan use very little electrical energy when you remove industry from the equation.

Central heating generated with gas and/or trash would be much more efficient.

More efficient at creating CO2, and, especially with trash burning, efficient at killing people with pollution. Health wise, it is still better to just use electricity than burning anything other than pure hydrogen. People aren't against nuclear because it has a lower efficiency (in Gen 1/2) than coal, they are against it because they fear health issues. Likewise, they should fear all these "energy saving" techniques that actually have statistically significant impacts on health.

Many places in the world use power plant based residential and office heating, including NYC and Beznau. But that has nothing to do with the topic at hand now does it?

-3 ( +6 / -10 )

Posted in: Protesters in Tokyo demand end to nuclear power See in context

With some scientific minds working on this and money invested on it, rather than the astronomical figures spent "defending Japan" against some imaginary foe, alternative and far more efficient forms of energy could be found.

Unscientific minds always propose this, despite not knowing a single thing about what it actually means. You need energy to produce energy, you need energy to manufacture energy saving devices, and you need energy just to plan these things. Believe it or not, Japan has one of the most energy efficient industrial sectors around, and housing electrical energy is equally efficient.

Japan has zero chance of making any progress, political, economic, and health wise, without energy at the levels they had in 2010. There's only two ways, either sacrifice a thousand lives a year to keep fossil fuels at current levels, or possibly risk a thousand a century with nuclear. People can chose what they want, but they better understand the real consequences, not just the one sided pictures painted by politically active people.

-3 ( +5 / -9 )

Posted in: China calls on Japan, U.S., EU to avoid devaluation See in context

bannedacctsamMar. 09, 2013 - 07:31AM JST

Very interesting points by the commerce minister of China. I wonder what would happened to the global money supply, prices of good, and trade if China devalued the RmB in response the devaluation of the yen, dollar, euro, etc.

They already did, that's why the actual value of the RmB/yuan is three times what they now use. This act from china is like them calling on Europe to reduce air pollution, a pathetic attempt to drive attention away from themselves

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Posted in: Android rises to top -- in malware threats: survey See in context

BertieWoosterMar. 09, 2013 - 12:20PM JST

The first link you post is a) advertising for anti-virus software, b) totally unreal - if MacOS X behaved like that Apple would be in BIG trouble - and c) the 10 "viruses" the article lists are not viruses but Trojans. There is a world of difference.

By your incorrect logic this entire article is false then. Almost all infections for everything are trojans, including the android phone infections.

And no, the OSX affecting viruses that attack through safari are NOT trojans, since they require no user interaction to be installed.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

Posted in: Google to photograph street views of evacuated town in Fukushima See in context

badsey3Mar. 09, 2013 - 12:46AM JST

You really need a meter and a badge when you get into these radioactive areas. And what about foods you eat?

=people should just buy a meter and support the collective data monitoring. I like the cellphone data monitoring like http://www.radiation-watch.org/p/english.html

You proved my point by entirely missing the point. People don't know how to use counters (they aren't meters, since there's no flow measured), and they have no idea about the 1 meter rule for measurements, which means to measure from one meter away, not to use one counter. Too many people ignore the rule and create "hotspots" where none exist. Standards exist to ensure the data is useful, but the average cellphone toting activist won't actually follow procedure, and those devices make no effort to ensure the measurements follow protocol (easy enough to include an ultrasonic sensor or similar)

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Posted in: Google to photograph street views of evacuated town in Fukushima See in context

uznekoMar. 09, 2013 - 12:20AM JST

Really? Cause I have the app, and the damn numbers change around once a week

Just double checked by downloading their 1gb file of data points, nothing within a five kilometer radius of Namie station according to the GPS coordinates. Perhaps they are pooling random other sources, but without knowing if those sources follow standard protocol it would be counter-productive to believe those points. I would suggest sticking to data that has followed proper procedures when measuring radiation, especially the 1 meter rule.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Posted in: Google to photograph street views of evacuated town in Fukushima See in context

uznekoMar. 08, 2013 - 11:30PM JST

safecast has a smartphone app that is updated quite frequently and is amazingly useful.

Apps for toys mean nothing without the data. Safecast hasn't taken new readings in the area since December 2011.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Posted in: Google to photograph street views of evacuated town in Fukushima See in context

Extra Virgin Palm OilMar. 08, 2013 - 04:43PM JST

So it's OK to drive around town in Namie? The cesium won't contaminate the driver or the vehicle?

You get caesium contamination just being on earth, due to nuclear weapons tests, refining accidents, and a dozen other reasons. If you mean significant contamination, not unless they spend two or three years there. The rates are generally below 40mSv/yr (aside from some isolated outliers), and this is using only information from 2011 (now it should be in the range of 30mSv/yr in peak places).

That does bring up a good point, since safecast data (http://map.safecast.org/map:full/140.98907738589918,37.49730089828988,15) is horribly outdated and sparse. They might as well do something productive like independently verifying radiation readings while they are there to profit off of people's losses.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

Posted in: Japan's 'long war' to shut down Fukushima nuclear plant See in context

SquidBertMar. 08, 2013 - 08:31AM JST

Nuclear vs. CO2 is a false dilemma

And talking about burning straw is a pointless unless the mods like fanning the flames.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Posted in: Japan's 'long war' to shut down Fukushima nuclear plant See in context

sighclopsMar. 08, 2013 - 12:16AM JST

$400.. billion?!

oh dear...

That's mistaken, should be 60 billion according to JCER, and even the mistaken number is still chump change compared to the $1 trillion in fossil fuel costs over the next 10 years (not to mention another $500 billion in power plant production)... And lets not forget that's all assuming the 80 yen/dollar rate, which now gives the cleanup and compensation a nearly 20% discount and fuel prices a 15% increase (when also including decreases in fuel prices with the assumption of shale gas)

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

Posted in: Japan's 'long war' to shut down Fukushima nuclear plant See in context

Star-vikingMar. 07, 2013 - 11:46PM JST

If I have the time over the weekend I will have a look. From his wiki page though, I guess Rifkin is one of those who boost renewables without taking into consideration the costs, and denigrates nukes without acknowledging the advantages.

Don't bother, the guy is completely unqualified to discuss the scientific, engineering, and even economic (despite his economist background) aspects of energy policy. S.J. Gould, "Integrity and Mr. Rifkin", Discover Magazine, January 1985 should be enough to rest the issue, where a Harvard scholar pokes holes in Rifkin's credentials large enough to fit a power plant in.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

Posted in: Japan's 'long war' to shut down Fukushima nuclear plant See in context

SquidBertMar. 07, 2013 - 04:00PM JST

Clean, Cheap, Reliable - Myth Busted.

Yes, the natural gas and oil now being used are none of those. Not to mention that they are expected to kill an extra thousand people a year through their pollution.

-7 ( +5 / -12 )

Posted in: Fukushima lags in recovery from disaster See in context

DoublespeakMar. 06, 2013 - 09:44PM JST

Would you be so kind as to further comment on that statement, please? Thank you.

I will give you one link that shows it:

http://map.safecast.org/map:full/141.00876949985587,37.3038679650829,15

If you look at just the newest data (only valid one, need to zoom in a pick at points that aren't averaged over the first two years or less), you will see that only a small area around the plant is still significantly above legal limits, and almost all is significantly below. Even the "highly contaminated" iidate is now entirely within legal limits. This is an unbiased fact.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Posted in: ANA says it had Dreamliner power distribution panel trouble 3 times See in context

And they only say that now? Sounds like politically motivated attacks against Boeing now.

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Posted in: Japan's 'long war' to shut down Fukushima nuclear plant See in context

The reactors were declared to be in a stable state called cold-shut down in December 2011. But now Japan faces an unprecedented clean-up that experts say could cost at least $100 billion for decommissioning the reactors and another $400 billion for compensating victims and decontaminating areas outside the plant.

TEPCO said in November the costs of compensation to residents and decontamination of their neighborhoods might double to 10 trillion yen ($107 billion) from a previous estimate. That did not include a forecast for decommissioning.

The Japan Center for Economic Research, a Tokyo-based think tank, has estimated that decontamination costs alone in the Fukushima residential area could balloon to as much as $600 billion.

Interesting, since JCER said nothing of the sort, unless people are ignorant enough to add an extra zero. They state 6 trillion yen in cleanup, which comes out to 65 billion dollars, not 600 billion (http://www.jcer.or.jp/eng/research/pdf/pe%28iwata20110425%29e.pdf). TEPCO's payouts are currently almost entirely as compensation, not cleanup. The only places stating over a 200 billion dollars are from a single political activist that is demanding TEPCO buy all "contaminated" lands even if they are legally habitable and viable for cultivation, at nearly ten times the actual value of the land.

The article focused on length rather than quality I am guessing.

-8 ( +5 / -13 )

Posted in: Rubella infections hit 5-year high See in context

Steve FabricantMar. 07, 2013 - 09:23AM JST

Matt and David are both correct. It's a scary disease and the vaccination is readily available, but a lot of stupid people refuse to have it for reasons that may have some tiny medical validity but are insignificant in respect to the risks of not getting it.

Yes, people are irrational, and the media loves to attack vaccines despite the fact that they are far safer than the alternative! Ignorant people can't get scientifically valid assessments through the media and end up causing cases like this.

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

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