Peak Oil News and Message Boards

Serial_Worrier wrote:
It's not like anyone lives near a coal-fired power plant. You don't have a god given right to have every acre of the earth in a pristine state. That is not a human right. It IS a human right not to freeze to death in winter.

Serial_Worrier wrote:It's not like anyone lives near a coal-fired power plant. You don't have a god given right to have every acre of the earth in a pristine state. That is not a human right. It IS a human right not to freeze to death in winter.

Ludi wrote:

Serial_Worrier wrote:It's not like anyone lives near a coal-fired power plant. You don't have a god given right to have every acre of the earth in a pristine state. That is not a human right. It IS a human right not to freeze to death in winter.

Who decides what is or isn't a human right?

You?

Recycled Island will be created from plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean (green.blorge.com)

Recycled Island is a great idea for getting rid of the floating plastic dump in the Pacific. The island would be built where the trash is located and would convert the waste onsite cutting down on cleanup and building costs. It would be between Hawaii and San Francisco in the heart of the Pacific Ocean’s currents.

...

Further aspects of the island would be: the creation of “fertile ground” from compost toilets.

Tanada wrote:My alternative is to win the lottery, buy an old cargo ship, head out there with a vacuum system and giant filter bags to suck up and capture the floating plastic, then compress it into the cargo hold in compact blocks. Once the old cargo ship is completely filled to capacity take it to shore and sell the plastic to a recycling center. Repeat until lottery money is all gone.

It would be my gift to help clean up the mess humans are making of God's green earth.

Keith_McClary wrote:Via Slashdot:

Recycled Island will be created from plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean (green.blorge.com)

Recycled Island is a great idea for getting rid of the floating plastic dump in the Pacific. The island would be built where the trash is located and would convert the waste onsite cutting down on cleanup and building costs. It would be between Hawaii and San Francisco in the heart of the Pacific Ocean’s currents.

...

Further aspects of the island would be: the creation of “fertile ground” from compost toilets.

Here's the Recycled Island website.

eXpat wrote:

Keith_McClary wrote:Via Slashdot:

Recycled Island will be created from plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean (green.blorge.com)

The wind direction may impact where the radiation goes both at a local level and even across the globe. The wind direction at both of these locations are similar since the Onagawa power plant is located just to the northeast of Fukushima power plant.

"The exact direction of the winds would have to be known at the time of the release of a large amount of radiation to understand exactly where the radiation would go," according to Expert Senior Global Meteorologist Jim Andrews.
It is unknown when a large release of radiation would occur, if at all, at this point.

"You can calculate how long the release of a radiation would take to cross the Pacific from Japan to the U.S. by choosing different speeds that the radioactive particles might be moving and using the direct distance between given locations- say Sendai, Japan, and Seattle, Wash.," Andrews added.

However, even that calculation may not reflect how long the particle would take to cross the Pacific, since it would not likely cross the ocean in a direct path. This is the case because the wind flow is often a complicated pattern.

A typical wind trajectory across the Pacific is westerly, since there is often a large dome of high pressure over the central Pacific and an area of low pressure in the Gulf of Alaska.

Any storm systems moving across the Pacific would add kinks in the westerly flow that would make the path of a particle crossing the Pacific longer.

"In other words, it would be a very intricate and difficult calculation," said Andrews.
On a local level, it is easier to break down the direction of the wind.

On Monday, the winds at the Fukushima power plant and the Onagawa power plant will generally be out of the north to northwest. So, the wind flow will still be directed offshore into the Pacific. This would be a protective wind that would blow most of the radiation out to sea.

The wind direction will switch to an onshore direction Monday night into Tuesday, threatening to send the radiation toward the population.

"We are getting into the time of year where onshore winds occur most often," said Andrews.
This is not good news, since an onshore direction would blow most of the radiation toward populated areas. An added threat is that with higher elevations just about 4 miles inland from the power plants, if a temperature inversion sets up in the atmosphere, radiation could be trapped.

Authorities have warned residents to keep windows and doors closed and air-conditioning fans switched off to eliminate the intake of air from outside.
http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/46940/winds-at-japan-power-plants-sh-1.asp

Calculated time for radioactive particles to cross the Pacific from the power plants in Japan to big West Coast cities if the particles take a direct path and move at a speed of 20 mph:
Cities Approx. Distance (miles) Approx. Time to Cross Pacific (days)
Anchorage 3,457 7
Honolulu 3,847 8
Seattle 4,792 10
Los Angeles5,477 11
http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/46940/winds-at-japan-power-plants-sh-1.asp

It is unknown when a large release of radiation would occur, if at all, at this point.

The crew of the San Diego-based aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan could have been exposed to far more radiation that initially reported by the US Navy.

The New York Times is reporting that, "The Pentagon was expected to announce that the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, which is sailing in the Pacific, passed through a radioactive cloud from stricken nuclear reactors in Japan, causing crew members on deck to receive a month’s worth of radiation in about an hour, government officials said Sunday.

"The officials added that American helicopters flying missions about 60 miles north of the damaged reactors became coated with particulate radiation that had to be washed off.