Spraying synthetic resin - How effective is such a measure going to be containing the Fukushima nuclear reactors?

Is there anything that absorbs radiation?

Well, I’d expect that alpha particles unlike gamma rays can’t penetrate the resin cover.

Those sound like a couple of ideas that might have come out of a brainstorming session, and for all I know they may be fairly effective at stopping the spread of non-liquid radioactive materials from the plant (and maybe even somewhat effective at stopping the liquid spread, too).

It’s not a defense against “radiation”; only time, distance and shielding (with materials such as lead, concrete or water, for some of the more effective ones commonly available), but the main concern internationally is the spread of “radioactive contamination” which this idea addresses. The problem with “radiation” from the plants is going to be a local one (and pretty much only a local one) for many years.

It appears that the media are not doing a particularly effective job at educating its consumers on the difference between “radiation” and “radioactive contamination”.

So idea is that steam full of radioactive isotopes such as iodine-131 is being withheld?

Exactly. Steam and other gaseous emissions (even air), and any particulate matter that would tend to leak from a breached containment.

No one should want to blanket the area with lead, which would leach its own poisons into the local environment.

They’ll probably fill those suckers with cement first and then spray that resin cover over the top. The idea is to place as dense and non-porous and non reactive a substance on it as possible.

I’m just glad they’ve finally given up on trying to preserve the bastards in hope of fixing and restarting them at a later date!

Can we fight fire with fire? Can we nuke the area?

@Ltryptophan I can’t even begin to tell you how flawed scientifically that is as an idea. Pull your head in.

The resin is designed to stop radioactive dirt and debris from blowing around and is supposed to make it easier for workers to operate in the plant. It seems to be a temporary measure.

@cazzie I resin that…

@cazzie – It seems that it was decided to call off a plan to scatter synthetic resin due to bad weather. But the idea is to do this before using cement.

@Ltryptophan – Well, a hydrogen bomb would trigger transmutation events. Seriously, the idea to use some kind of fusion-based ITER tokamak reactor to “destroy” the most dangerous isotopes does exist.

@mattbrowne That sounds like a plan. I can’t believe they were trying to preserve them. The cement at Chernobyl is crumbling. Not a good thing. Crumbling cement turns to dust. Dust blows around. They should resin Chernobyl’s surface somehow.

@cazzie – Well, the ITER tokamak is still in an early stage. As long as transmutation is not an option we should be careful creating too much plutonium. As mentioned in the other thread, inhaling a few atoms of plutonium already has serious consequences. But we are looking at grams or kilograms or even tons of plutonium here. If human beings colonized the entire galaxy, terrorists could still use all this plutonium to kill trillions and trillions of people.

@mattbrowne Hey, I’m one of the kids of the ‘Handford Project’. When my father was asked about any deformities his kids may have been born with, he thought of me immediately. LOL…. Just kidding. But we all had to learn pretty quickly about Iodine 131.