Workers at Japan's damaged nuclear plant have suspended operations

[Stan]

Looks like the worst is about to come upon them.

HOWEVER, they asked earlier for people to stay in the house. Will that give any protection at all??

[Dr. Shane]

This is from the news 1 hour ago.

Quote:

Radiation levels at the Japan plant appear to be nowhere near those of Chernobyl, which involved a fire in the reactor core and no containment zone to keep the radiation from contaminating the environment, say experts. Also, in Japan, the public is being notified of radiation risk and workers are being monitored.

I am still hopeful there will be minimum death caused by the nuclear facility. Staying in their homes should help if they don't have heating or air conditioning systems that pull outside air in. I don't know what kind of building material is used there, I would think it would be a lot of masonry but I don't know how much protection that gives. Lead, obvious provides the best protection.

[Bravus]

Just saw that they've gone back in, too.

[Dr. Shane]

OK, if they build their homes out of concrete masonry like what is done in the earthquake-prone area of Mexico City, the concrete will provide some protection. The more cells in the walls are filled, the more protection. One would think the homes that are left standing are built something like that.

However, I don't know how the typical roofs are in Japan. In Mexico, they often are a concrete-clay masonry hybrid which would provide some protection but the clay masonry units are not going to provide as much protection as concrete would. There are also concrete and slate tiles that are used in roofing but that provide little protection because they are so thin. 2.4" of concrete or 6.1 cm will reduce the radiation by 50%. The typical Mexican masonry wall is 6" so that would reduce radiation by about 80% if all the cells are filled with concrete. However the concrete roof tile is perhaps only about 1" thick so that would only reduce the radiation by 20% maybe? And then there are the windows which won't stop anything. They could be covered with wood but wood provides about 25% the protection as concrete does. So one would need to have 2' (48 sheets of plywood) of wood to provide what the 8" concrete wall is doing.

One has to think the houses left standing are the best built. In an earthquake area the homes have to be interlocking masonry or cast-in-place concrete. Metal structures would withstand an earthquake but are typically not affordable to homeowners. Those would provide the least protection against radiation because the building envelope is typically so thin.

In summery, before I go to bed, the only hope that the homes will provide much protection is if the radiation is very weak when it gets there. Homes could easily and affordability be designed to provide protection against a disaster like this but no one ever expects something like this to happen. If the rest of the country wasn't in shambles, I am sure they would just evacuate everyone from the area. But as it is, where would they put them?