Page 19 - Gamma Rays News Today

A respirator like this, john. they may have certain devices to help record how much radiation that theyre getting. but, you know, that type of protective equipment does little in protecting against the most dangerous forms of radiation, the gamma rays that were talking about. these guys know the deal. they probably have a good idea of how much radiation theyre getting. and you heard about the 50 workers being evacuated and then brought back in. that may have been done to decrease the amount of t...

X-rays and they cause the damage and they go right through. >>shepard: it looks like it would be difficult to get anything done. this is a lot of stuff you deal with. >>guest: and it causes heat, intense heat, and it is uncomfortable. when the guys go in they have these and when it beeps a lot, and i am doing this for a demonstration, this means there is a tremendous source of radioactive material and as i pull away we are getting that reading but this indicates this is a large source of radiati...

>> right. this is a sort of -- not quite what theyre wearing, im sure the type of suit theyre wearing is more of a permanent thing. this is essentially designed to reduce the amount of radiation thats absorbed. specifically were talking about gamma. the gamma rays. this is a type of breathing apparatus. we were talking about the fact that its probably dark inside and theyre using flashlights and then having to breathe through something like this, its trying to eliminate the amount of air that ha...

>> the other saying the sheet is too small for the bed. they pull it to one corner and another corner is exposed. 300 people cant do everything needed. theyre on the most critical point. then something else does suddenly. those are the single biggest problems on site. when they dry, the water is in the pools for two reasons. one is to cool the fuel. but the other was to act as a radiation shield. when the water is gone, the fuel is hot, and thats bad because its releasing radiation, airborne rad...

>> it really can. not with standing this potential new information, if the levels dont go higher than the levels than weve seen, that starts to disburse as you get outside the gates of the reactor, as you get further and further away from it. 20 kilometers is the evacuation zone. another 10 kilometers after that. especially people are shielding themselves. theyre turning off the ventilation from the outside and theyre shielding from those gamma rays, that gamma radiation were talking about here....

Further and further away from it. 20 kilometers is the evacuation zone. another 10 kilometers after that. especially people are shielding themselves. theyre turning off the ventilation from the outside and theyre shielding from those gamma rays, that gamma radiation were talking about here. >> theyre also telling people to wear long sleeves, to not have too much skin exposed. >> right. theres concern that this can penetrate the skin. to cover your skin in that way can be helpful and to wash thos...

Dont go higher than the levels than weve seen, that starts to disburse as you get outside the gates, as you get further and further away. 20 kilometers is the evacuation zone. another ten kilometers after that. especially people are shielding themselves. theyre turning off the ventilation from the outside and theyre shielding from those gamma rays that were talking about here. >> theyre also telling people to wear long sleeves, to not have too much skin exposed. >> theres certain this can penetr...

Being emitted. that water used to shield those gamma rays so essentially theres a gamma ray field on the site thats going to affect how well the people can do their work onsite. it wasnt bad enough to be in the suit and all that, now theyre going to be exposed to a lot more gamma rays. its compounded the problem a lot. >> compounded the problem a lot. sharon, you have visited nuclear facilities in japan. not this one but i think we can show people what a spent fuel rod pool looks like and it is ...

Officials in the united states government saying at reactor number 4, the pool where the spent fuel rods are kept completely drained. those rods at least one point were dry and exposed and talk about two possible ruptures of two of the other reactors, number 2 and number 3, weve had these conversations for the last couple of nights about the severe weath severity. what is your sense today based on yesterday. >> i think the united states made the right choice it getting it out to 50 miles at leas...

When the fuel rods burn or become volatile like dr. von hippel said, when that happens, now particles are released. the particles are affecting people off site in the rain and falling on their clothing and things. my guess is the biggest problem is direct gamma rays, x-rays coming out of the fuel pool. >> those would be the things of most concern to the people on site at the nuclear facility, gamma radiation. >> thats correct. >> okay. let me just ask you to restate what you just said about radi...