Google Street View Goes into Fukushima Dead Zone

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
It’s been two years since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the deserted streets of Namie in the Fukushima Dead Zone once again has motor traffic. As a public service, Google has sent a Street View car into the radioactive streets to get a panoramic view of the deserted city.
 
Would hope this is one of their robotic driven cars. Hate to know that Google has decided to send some poor soul into radiation on purpose.
 
Chunder said:
Would hope this is one of their robotic driven cars. Hate to know that Google has decided to send some poor soul into radiation on purpose.
Click to expand...

az_max said:
Yeah, who drew the short straw on that one?
Click to expand...

Yeah, would have been a great way to test one of Google's autonomous vehicles. But, no, some poor sap risked his family jewels and health to do this.
 
How bad is the radiation? If it's high enough for concern still, I would say that Google has acted pretty horribly from a moral standpoint, sending a human into a "hot zone"....
 
sean53154 said:
How bad is the radiation? If it's high enough for concern still, I would say that Google has acted pretty horribly from a moral standpoint, sending a human into a "hot zone"....
Click to expand...

Namie, Fukushima doesn't look like it's all too hot in terms of radiation. Here's a listing of readings from the city that are updated regularly:

http://radioactivity.mext.go.jp/html/07B/07547.html

XKCD Radiation chart for comparison: http://xkcd.com/radiation/

Actual map portion doesn't provide a way to link to it, but here's a screen cap of the city that Google went to:
Mssqf6U.png


If you can read Japanese you can check out the readings at the main site here:
http://radioactivity.mext.go.jp/map/ja/area2.html

You can see that the relative hot spots are mainly outside of the main city. If they stuck to the main portions of the city they would've received a minimal amount of radiation.

Readings last updated 3/10/2013 14:40 JST.
 
Can we get a reading from a non Jap based company.. considering the reports thrown out for months claimed everything was fine and dandy! meanwhile "crap" was hitting the fan and crap leaking into the ocean....
 
They just posted some results from the WHO study. The people in the area were exposed to the equivalent of 2 cat scans. I've always found it sad how frightened and uninformed people are when it comes to radiation. its not the boogeyman its made out to be. Sure it can be dangerous, but it's not nearly deserving of the fear it generates. An atomic bomb, this was not.

Article Here
 
The readings are provided by automated sensors that were installed nationwide and are provided by the Japanese government. Not sure if you can find a non-Japanese based company doing something similar.
 
The whole thing is an over exaggeration anyways. The difference is that living in the exclusion zone only gets you 3.5 microsieverts per day. You get more microsieverts from a CAT scan. Has anyone flown lately? You get bombarded a shitload more microsieverts than living there per day. So the driver is perfectly fine.

Compare the Chernobyl exclusion zone to Fukishima exclusion zone. If you spent an entire day in Chernobyl, you get bombarded with 144 MILLIsieverts compared to 3.5 extra microsieverts. That is a difference of 40,000 times more exposure. Ohh, you are okay with iodine pills if you stood next to the Fukishima core because the exposure is only 150 microsieverts in the highest hot zone.
 
Chunder said:
Would hope this is one of their robotic driven cars. Hate to know that Google has decided to send some poor soul into radiation on purpose.
Click to expand...

Namie is currently around 20 microsieverts a day or around double what the average person gets during their normal day. The driver is perfectly fine and for what it's worth the levels have dropped around 40% every year since. The government/TEPCO does not want anyone there because it's more of a liability issue then health. If anyone who lived there gets any type of cancer over the next 10 years while living there the lawsuits and settlements with everyone would be insane. FWIW allegedly around 5 people still live there and never left. It will be interesting to see if they stay until it's considered habitable again.
 
Kaitian said:
The whole thing is an over exaggeration anyways. The difference is that living in the exclusion zone only gets you 3.5 microsieverts per day. You get more microsieverts from a CAT scan. Has anyone flown lately? You get bombarded a shitload more microsieverts than living there per day. So the driver is perfectly fine.

Compare the Chernobyl exclusion zone to Fukishima exclusion zone. If you spent an entire day in Chernobyl, you get bombarded with 144 MILLIsieverts compared to 3.5 extra microsieverts. That is a difference of 40,000 times more exposure. Ohh, you are okay with iodine pills if you stood next to the Fukishima core because the exposure is only 150 microsieverts in the highest hot zone.
Click to expand...

Yeah going there for a while is not really a danger. Living there for a long time, probably would be. It's all about exposure over time.

This is actually pretty neat as I've been curious to see what it looks like there. Would be cool if they did a walk through of the actual nuke plant too. In fact I'm surprised there is none for Chernobyl, or is there one? Would probably need a robot for that though.
 
Neb said:
Namie, Fukushima doesn't look like it's all too hot in terms of radiation...

Actual map portion doesn't provide a way to link to it, but here's a screen cap of the city that Google went to:
Mssqf6U.png
Click to expand...

Radiation levels? What I want to know is what the Nazi camp is doing in the upper left of that image! :eek:
 
It's a Buddhist temple. The swastika was used in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism for thousands of years before Hitler.
 
Ryokurin said:
It's a Buddhist temple. The swastika was used in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism for thousands of years before Hitler.
Click to expand...

The Asian Swastika is also backwards from the Nazi one (which is based on Teutonic cross symbols)
 
I knew it was a symbol used by other groups prior to the 'nazification' of it but thought that one on the map looked funny.

Now I know why! :cool:
 
We went through this discussion with employees who need to audit a factory about 30 km from the reactor (outside the hot zones) ... we reviewed the risk and turns out they would receive more radiation from the flight over there then in the 1 week audit (it was also comparable to a couple of dental x-rays) ... we did offer them the ability to refuse, the purchase of radiation badges, and the ability to stay further away from the site and bring in their own food and water from outside the city

The Google activity is a little more problematic since they are apparently entering areas where people are not yet permitted to live, but as long as they are taking proper precautions and the drivers are volunteers, I see nothing wrong with this
 
ここから出て行け、ストーカー！
 
Red Squirrel said:
Yeah going there for a while is not really a danger. Living there for a long time, probably would be. It's all about exposure over time.

This is actually pretty neat as I've been curious to see what it looks like there. Would be cool if they did a walk through of the actual nuke plant too. In fact I'm surprised there is none for Chernobyl, or is there one? Would probably need a robot for that though.
Click to expand...

Meh. There are people living in and around Chernobyl, and they are doing just fine. As is the wildlife. Radiation is a part of nature, and we unjustly fear it. You are more likely to die from getting in an automobile accident that you are radiation exposure, but nobody talks about that.

Yes, there is a mathematically provable link between exposure to radiation and cancer, but you're much more likely to die from something else, even in a nuclear accident zone.
 
Google just wants to make sure there's nobody in there with a shoulder they haven't peeked over lately. Squatters of radioactive wastelands are not allowed to escape the all-seeing Eye of Google.
 
kbrickley said:
We went through this discussion with employees who need to audit a factory about 30 km from the reactor (outside the hot zones) ... we reviewed the risk and turns out they would receive more radiation from the flight over there then in the 1 week audit (it was also comparable to a couple of dental x-rays) ... we did offer them the ability to refuse, the purchase of radiation badges, and the ability to stay further away from the site and bring in their own food and water from outside the city

The Google activity is a little more problematic since they are apparently entering areas where people are not yet permitted to live, but as long as they are taking proper precautions and the drivers are volunteers, I see nothing wrong with this
Click to expand...

It's a CYA thing done by TEPCO for any future deformities and other issues that happens as a result of the disaster. It's not problematic at all. They just want to avoid the possibility of extremely heavy lawsuits in the future more than what they're exposed to now. People are living in Hiroshima just fine. Chernobyl was just fucked up because of the graphite method they used for the reaction process.

Pop an iodine pill and they'll be fine.
 
kbrickley said:
We went through this discussion with employees who need to audit a factory about 30 km from the reactor (outside the hot zones) ... we reviewed the risk and turns out they would receive more radiation from the flight over there then in the 1 week audit (it was also comparable to a couple of dental x-rays) ... we did offer them the ability to refuse, the purchase of radiation badges, and the ability to stay further away from the site and bring in their own food and water from outside the city

The Google activity is a little more problematic since they are apparently entering areas where people are not yet permitted to live, but as long as they are taking proper precautions and the drivers are volunteers, I see nothing wrong with this
Click to expand...

I just don't know what to say there -- as long as the drivers are volunteers, this is OK?

The whole thing is kind of still larger than life to me - who in the hell built these reactors where they did?

And my suspicious side thinks these readings are more than just "rounding down" by their government.
 
sean53154 said:
I just don't know what to say there -- as long as the drivers are volunteers, this is OK?

The whole thing is kind of still larger than life to me - who in the hell built these reactors where they did?

And my suspicious side thinks these readings are more than just "rounding down" by their government.
Click to expand...

Situating a reactor on a coast line allows for easier transport of materials in and out of the plant. Second, a lot of nuclear reactors are situated on coastlines in order to draw in cooling water. Also seawater is used in emergency situations to kill the reaction in order to prevent meltdown. TEPCO delayed using seawater until the government ordered them to do it however it was too late. Almost all of Japan's reactors are on coastlines.

Another added bonus of situating a nuclear reactor on a coastline is that desalination plants can be built alongside them and draw their power from the reactor to distribute clean water to the population. You cut down the amount of pipelines & wiring to make the operation work.
 
sean53154 said:
I just don't know what to say there -- as long as the drivers are volunteers, this is OK?

The whole thing is kind of still larger than life to me - who in the hell built these reactors where they did?

And my suspicious side thinks these readings are more than just "rounding down" by their government.
Click to expand...

Your attitude is why newer, safer and more efficient reactors don't get built.
 
Kranium said:
They just posted some results from the WHO study. The people in the area were exposed to the equivalent of 2 cat scans. I've always found it sad how frightened and uninformed people are when it comes to radiation. its not the boogeyman its made out to be. Sure it can be dangerous, but it's not nearly deserving of the fear it generates. An atomic bomb, this was not.

Article Here
Click to expand...

Dude, in Japan they are a little more sensitive to radiation due to the Hiroshima and Nagaski bomb drops. I've always found it sad how insensitive and uninformed people are when it comes to another's situation.
 
I think building a reactor away from a coast line would be a much bigger risk. Imagine how much worse it had been if they could not have put any extra water into it at all? While they did wait too long, imagine if they could not have done it at all? Even if there was pipelines, they would have been destroyed in the earthquake and tsunami.

And think of a melt down situation, if it's smack in the middle of a city it's going to destroy much more population, and still be an environmental disaster. While if it's next to the sea it will destroy half the population it would, while still be an environmental disaster. Unfortunately it's a risk to have nuclear plants at all, but overall they have a much smaller environmental impact than fossil fuels. Look at the BP oil spill, that is bigger than any nuclear disaster that has ever happened and will continue to impact the environment for a long time.
 
spamhunter said:
Dude, in Japan they are a little more sensitive to radiation due to the Hiroshima and Nagaski bomb drops. I've always found it sad how insensitive and uninformed people are when it comes to another's situation.
Click to expand...

Still too soon?
 
spamhunter said:
Dude, in Japan they are a little more sensitive to radiation due to the Hiroshima and Nagaski bomb drops. I've always found it sad how insensitive and uninformed people are when it comes to another's situation.
Click to expand...

It's not just the Japanese. Heck when this was going down overall they were downplaying it as much as possible. It was the rest of the world that went "OMFG Radiation. Send them some help."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top