Tag: Michio Kaku

Two articles tonight point to the exponentially growing catastrophe in Japan.  The first is an NHK report of radiation levels 10 million times greater than normal.  In the second, Michio Kaku discusses the increasing evidence for a possible [probable?-dsyd] breach of containment.  Even if it is still only “possible,” it seems to be becoming more and more “probable.”  This is a tragic catastrophe.  

The only possible positive result would be for the people of the world to now rise up and say “NO” to all things nuclear — at least until such time, perhaps 1K years from now, when humans might have learned how to handle it in a respectful, humble manner.  

UPDATE, 11:30 AM PST, 3/27/11:  I found the correction upon arising this morning.  TMC and Mishima both pointed out that Tepco officials had retracted the 10 million report, calling it a math error.  Instead of 10 million, the specified radioctivity was 100,000 times normal.  See the discussion and link to AP article in the comments below.

The article“Extreme radiation detected at No.2 reactor” is below the fold:

The link vid & print here

Well known CUNY Physics Professor Michio Kaku appeared on NBC’s Today Show with some disturbing comments.

RawStory reports:

After six methods for stopping the [Deepwater Horizon] leak failed, BP is now trying a seventh method: “cut and cap.”

[snip]

If this seventh attempt fails, the next option will be to wait on one of two relief wells to intercept and block the original well. This is considered the best hope for permanently stopping the flow, but those wells won’t be in place until August at the soonest. Some predict that it could take until Christmas.

But Kaku thinks that even those predictions could be too optimistic.

“You would have to win the lottery to get on the first try an exact, an exact meeting at the bottom of the well in order to pump cement to shut it off,” Kaku told NBC’s Matt Lauer Wednesday.

If the attempt fails, the drill will be reversed, the hole will be filled with cement and they will try again.

“You have to do this over and over again until you get it just right,” Kaku said. “It takes many tries. So August is optimistic.”

“So this could be spewing oil for months. Could it last for a year?” asked Lauer.

“It could last for years, plural. Okay? If everything fails and all these different kinds of relief wells don’t work, it could be spewing stuff into the Gulf until we have dead zones, entire dead zones in the Gulf. For years,” Kaku said.

This video is from NBC’s Today Show, broadcast June 2, 2010.