There go those “stupid hippies” again….

One of the things I like least about being a liberal is that there are many in our ranks that attempt to speak out about science and technical issues…and don’t know what they are talking about.

Here is a post from Alan Colmes’ Liberalland (a blog that I usually enjoy):

An explosion at the Fukushima Daiici nuclear plant in Okuma Japan seems to have caused a meltdown.

A meltdown occurs when the control rods fail to contain the neutron emission and the heat levels inside the reactor thus rise to a point that the fuel itself melts, generally temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, causing uncontrolled radiation-generating reactions and making approaching the reactor incredibly hazardous. A meltdown does not necessarily mean a nuclear disaster. As long as the reactor core, which is specifically designed to contain high levels of heat, pressure and radiation, remains intact, the melted fuel can be dealt with. If the core breaches but the containment facility built around the core remains intact, the melted fuel can still be dealt with — typically entombed within specialized concrete — but the cost and difficulty of such containment increases exponentially.

Emphasis mine.

Note: a problem with the control rods CAN lead to a meltdown, but that isn’t the case here. The rods are in and the fissions are not the problem. The problem is that the remaining fission products (atoms that are left over from a split uranium atom) are radioactively unstable and therefore decay; they emit gamma radiation (like an x-ray but stronger) which can generate a substantial amount of heat; depending on the design of the reactor this can be over 10 percent of a reactor’s power. I don’t know what the potential is in this type of design.

The bottom line is that if a reactor, once it has been started up, needs coolant even if fissions aren’t occurring above a background level.

The rest of the above post is ok.

But please, if you are a liberal and you have a concern about a technical issue, find an engineer or scientist to talk to.

New Rule: Television Networks Have to Quit Trying to Put a Happy Ending on America’s Wealth Disparity | Video Cafe

As irritated as I can get with Bill Maher at times and tonight was no exception with him putting one of the embarrassments to my city on his show that rates right in there with The Gateway Pundit for making St. Louisians look like fools — Dana …

New Rule: Television Networks Have to Quit Tryi…, posted with vodpod

Science Smackdown of the Republicans…

Note: a Republican is honest: they don’t want liberals to vote:

12 March 2011 post run

I did my 4.2 mile course in 40:21; I was at 9:48 entering into the park and 30:50 leaving it.
The day was dry, cool (40′s) and very windy.

About 2.6 miles into it a smaller, younger woman with black spandex tights and visible panty lines just blew past me (I was startled) and I didn’t even try to keep up. Sad, I know.

But the running is getting easier and when I finished, NOTHING hurt.

This course features 3 climbs totaling 207 feet.

Update: in the afternoon, I went for a 7 mile walk with Lynn (in just over 2 hours; we stopped for lights, to see the sights, etc. She really made fun of me when I had trouble bending over to pick up loose change on the road; I was as stiff as a board.

12 March 2011: Women, Japan, Nuclear Reactors

I am drinking my coffee and will go for a short “before breakfast” run soon. I am a bit stiff from yesterday’s afternoon 8 mile walk.

Japan’s nuclear plant trouble

Here is a relevant article

My take: disclaimer: I haven’t worked with nuclear power plants since 1984 and I worked on a different type of plant. So, I am no expert.
The plant in question is the Fukushima reactor plant; this plant has several “boiling water reactors”. These reactors use water which goes through a reactor and boils; this steam (which is radioactive) turns the blades of a turbine which generates electricity. The steam is then condensed into water and pumped through the core again.

The problem: while the reactor has been shut down (no more fissions) by the control rods, there is a significant amount of heat that comes from the radioactive decay of the so-called “fission products” (the newly formed atoms that are left after the uranium atoms split); depending on reactor design this can amount to well over 10 percent of full power. I don’t know what percent of full power that decay heat makes up in this particular design.

A lack of cooling water could cause the reactor to overheat thereby causing the fuel pellets to melt down, at least partially. Of course there are other issues: steam pressure in the primary circuit (the steam-water circuit that normally runs between the reactor and the turbines), radioactive gasses in the steam that are released, etc.

Of course many things could have caused the explosion that you just saw, and many of the possible causes are not-nuclear related.
So we’ll have to wait and see.

11 March 2011 pm

Workout notes Slept in. then I did 8 miles of walking on the East Peoria Trail: 57:30 out, 54:24 back. Medium effort; nice day, but still slow.

Yes, I did squats yesterday.

The shoulder hurt just a tiny bit.

Humor: no, this isn’t Sarah Palin, but it should be.

see more funny videos, and check out our Foul Bachelor Frog lols!

Japan Earthquake: here is an article on it. The article describes some of the trouble at a nuclear plant. Of course, restoring cooling water to the reactor is crucial; the idea is that even when the reactor is shut down, there is quite of bit of “decay heat” from the radioactive decay of the fission products. So there is no fission to worry about but we do need to transfer the heat out.

A word from the education trenches: back in Texas, the state finances were no where near as good as their governor said that they were. Budget cuts disproportional harm Texas education, which wasn’t doing so great to begin with. Hence, conservatives started to make the “oh, we have all of those idiot minority students” excuse. Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub takes that on.

msnbc video: Reich: Walker will pay a huge political price

msnbc video: Reich: Walker will pay a huge poli…, posted with vodpod