jagdriver wrote:Not! They don't have their heads beneath the desks. We all know that that is the required procedure to be safe from nuclear attack. 

 DaveInVA wrote: 
Just nightmarish. The beginning with the sirens and loudspeaker in the background is especially chilling.

Toyko passengers set off radiation detectors at O’Hare

Passengers arriving this week on a flight from earthquake-and tsunami-ravaged Tokyo set off radiation detectors at O’Hare Airport, city officials acknowledged Thursday.

“We are aware that occurred . We are working with Customs and Border Protection on this issue,” Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino said, referring all questions to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Andolino refused to say how the incident was handled or what happened to the Tokyo passengers in question.

“The protection of the person coming off the plane is very important in regards to any radiation — especially within their families and anything else,” Mayor Daley said.

The mayor was asked to explain the city’s general policy when it comes to contaminated passengers arriving at O’Hare.

“That will be up to the federal government. Every city can’t have a policy. One says yes. One says no. You can’t do that. You have to have a federal policy dealing with anyone entering the country in regards to situations like that,” he said.

“They handled it very professionally. And it will be up to Homeland Security. We’ve been working with them. They have the primary responsibility. I can’t change policies. I can’t say, ‘Yes’ or say ‘No,’ pick one or the other. That will be up to the health and safety of everyone on the plane and those who have been detected.”

Daley said Homeland Security would “have a press conference very shortly — not only here in Chicago, but throughout various international airports: L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, New York.”

O’Hare was apparently not the only city where arriving Tokyo passengers set off radiation detectors because of an impending nuclear disaster in Japan.

The New York Post has reported that the same thing happened in Dallas.

We're protected

 DaveInVA wrote: 
That is amazing and horrifying. The amount of water that just keeps coming is hard to imagine.

 hippiechick wrote: 
seriously.

Thoughts and prayers to the Japanese workers who are putting their lives at risk to battle the meltdown. They are real heroes.

Raw footage... 

 jagdriver wrote:
  The Future's So Bright...

 oldslabsides wrote: 
Official Gubmint Policy: Don't Worry, Be Happy

 beamends wrote: 

We've been told that the stored, spent fuel rods' cooling pools are comprimised and the cooling water system for them is non-functional.  That alone will lead to increasing radiation as the water remaining in the pools boils off.

Radiation levels at the plant remained high, with readings of nearly 3.8 millisieverts per hour reported at 9:30 a.m., TEPCO said. A typical person receives about 3 millisieverts per year.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
I think this might be to do with deliberate releases of pressure, but it's hard to say since FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) has kicked in.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
Understanding a little about what has happened to the containments and the cooling systems, it's difficult to imagine how radiation levels could be dropping.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 

Though it is interesting to see that wildlife even at ground zero is thriving already. Gives hope for the planet, but we as humans are deservedly and by our own hand royally screwed!

 beamends wrote: 

Yes, I salute them, I think people who do this sort of thing are braver than soldiers who fight in wars. I can think of no more insidious, horrible opponent than radiation. God Bless them all!

and by way of comparison, the radiation levels at Chernobyl:

According to (cough) Tepco, the radiation at Fukushima is at around 0.004 Sieverts per hour.

long, but staggering documentary about Chernobyl

 beamends wrote: 

 kysmet wrote: 
As did many at Chernobyl, in full knowledge of what they were doing. That's true bravery.