YOU CAN DO IT, KRISTIN!

I have officially entered the Land of Questionable Grading: the 50 3 to 5 page essay portfolios I collected Thursday and Friday will get read, and then get a letter grade. I will add comments later this week. Otherwise, they will not get graded and entered by the midnight deadline.

I'M GOIN BACK IN!! COVER ME!!

::ducks and runs back into the line of fire::

One day, I really hope to see Liese's place. And Liese.

Me too, Cass.

Yeah, I was just going to say how much I love Liese's house.

I'm beginning to see some exposure numbers. The highest recorded radiation level at the Fukushima Daiichi site was 155.7 millirem at 1:52 p.m. March 13 and exposure was down to 4.4 millirem by evening in Japan. For perspective, the typical X-ray is 10 mrems per shot and you'll get 2-5 mrems on a round trip cross-country flight. The average annual exposure from natural sources is 300 mrem. In the U.S., the occupational limit is 5,000 mrem, but the average is more like 150. Radiation effects are cumulative, but there is debate about the whether getting the exposure in a short period of time is more damaging.

The exposure at the plant boundary would be considerably less, since many of the isotopes involved have half-lives measured in seconds.

In short, not much radiation. They haven't said, but I suppose some workers may have used up a good chunk of their annual limit.

The evacuation area was very conservative, mostly, I'd guess, to have options to do more venting. Checking people as they leave the area is textbook, because you don't want civilians wandering around with hot particles (known as zoomies in the trade) on their shoe or something. One of the Russians many sins at Chernobyl was not doing this.

They lost part of the cooling system in Unit 3 and dumped seawater and boron on it too. It's a little more iffy.

Several news reports I've seen seem to think that the seawater and boron injection is something they're making up as they go along, but that's textbook "if all else fails" and they've drilled on it. It's one reason nukes are located by large bodies of water.

Obviously the situation is fluid and I would never say never, but it looks like we can go back to the real problems, the tens of thousands of people without homes, jobs, food or clean water.

Curry om nom nom. Glad it tastes really good, because I'll be eating it for at least the next 3 days.

Liese, your kitchen is gawjus!

Ginger, I gotta say, thank you for what you've been posting here--it's helped me keep much calmer with everyone on FB and the news all "OMG! RADIATION! NUCLEAR MELTDOWN! ZOMG IT"S GOING TO GET US!"

Ginger, I really can't thank you enough for that lucid analysis.

I have been avoiding the news because I don't want to get freaked over something I cannot do anything about...but I have to confess that I have been flashing back to the many conversations I have had with Hibakusha I had while working for nuclear disarmament. (Hibakusha are survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki)

Also, the incredible conversations after Chernobyl saying something roughly along the lines of 'wow, must suck to be Russian.' Yes, well. There is only one air. Ergo, it sucks to be all of us when this sort of thing happens.

I'm grateful to know that, at least for now, the Japanese can work on the issues you mentioned, without the added burden or irradiation.

Oh my. This weighed heavier on my heart than I realized. So, thanks again.

Thanks, Ginger.

Why did the cat decide it was time to snuggle into my lap for a nap when the washer and dryer need my attention? She's cuter than laundry.