Fukushima and Radiation Leaks

As a person who has lived around nuclear reactors through his growing years and being the son of one of the scientists closely involved in the development of the Indian Nuclear program, I felt I should comment on the scare the media is generating about the Japanese reactors especially after the many discussions that I had with my father as well as the very low understanding that I see around me among my friends and colleagues.

First, there is no danger of a nuclear explosion. The control rods tripped in as soon as power was lost, and the nuclear reaction was shutdown. However, there is still considerable residual heat in the core, and that's what the operators are trying to deal with. There has been very little actual radiation release; only slightly above the UN allowed dose for the general public of a maximum of 100mRem which also states that the maximum safe radiation for an adult is 5000mRems (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1994/safe-0105.html) comparison, the average person receives around 350 mRem per year from background radiation, then you add to that the dental and medical x-rays. For people living on and near the beaches of Kerala get exposed to radiation levels in excess of 10 times that of the world average. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2317269.stm). This however is not NEWS! The Highest recorded radiation level at the Fukushima Daiichi site was 155.7 millirem. Radiation levels were subsequently reduced to 4.4 millirem after the after the containment was flooded.

The radiation concern for someone living near the plant would be to inhale any radioactive products that get released, but that would be a very very small concern for the releases they've had so far. As long as the operators can keep the primary containment pressures below the design pressure there is no major radiation risk even for people in the area. The operators have been doing this (without interactions with media)so far, and should be able to continue.

The worst case scenario is they can't control the pressure and the primary containment ruptures at some point and there would be uncontrolled release of radiation from the area of the rupture. The release would still be expected to be much less than say, Chernobyl . If they can continue to do what they've been doing, the danger will subside as the residual heat is removed. The reactors have already been injected with seawater. The most likely scenario is to just bottle it up, let it sit for a few years for the internal radiation to die down, then hire someone like Bechtel to come in and clean it up.

Most reactors in India are not this type, known as a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR). All the reactors in India are known as Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR). Each has it's proponents but many believe the PWR is safer because of it's massive containment structure and some additional safety features. The new generation PWR's are even more passive and safe. The design is understood by those on the inside, so it is surprising that not one of them have come forward on National TV or otherwise and stated these facts.

I will make one prediction.. ...the resurgent Indian nuclear industry will be strangled... ...again. The media will whip up the nuclear bogey and the projects under consideration will be shelved for several years. It is well established that the nuclear industry is safer than the oil and gas industry. About every year or two, we have some unit down on the ship channel blow up and kill people; But that's (oil and gas) pretty familiar to most folks, so it's accepted, like driving a car and knowing you could be killed in an accident.

What about the massive Shell oil spill in the gulf of Mexico? Shall we therefore stop all offshore oil exploration in India and increase our dependence on oil imports?

The result of the above is we'll continue to import oil and gas from unstable countries that don't like us. We'll continue the reliance on foreign oil, since we lack a national energy policy, and the backbone to create one. We’ll continue to pay a larger and larger share of our monthly paycheck for energy needs !



Vinod Mathews

Synchro - Destiny

 Everybody is connected to everyone else in some way or the other and no I am not talking about email or social networking. I am talking about physical connections. 

Think about it. How has Swine Flu reached 120 countries in a couple of months ?

Sitting in an aircraft for a few hours causes everyone to have breathed in the air that has gone through the lungs of most other people in the aircraft. There is now a little bit (few cells) of everyone in that aircraft in you !

The more time you spend with someone the more of that person you have in you (doesn't necessarily mean you have to like that person) but you are connected physically. It has also been shown that you still have some control over your own cells even after they have left your body.

If you think about this a little more you can understand why your destiny is entwined with that of others with or without your knowledge. It may be possible to synchronize your destiny with theirs by getting your part in others to influence them.  Synchro- Destiny!

Don't laugh, has it not happened to you ever?  

You were thinking of someone and they call you out of the blue! 

You make something special it turns out well, you hope you can share it with someone and the doorbell rings!

Someone completely unknown helps you in an impossible task !

Some of your Nightmares start coming true.....

Think about it.

Everybody's Looking for Something !

Anyone born in the 60's or early seventies would have heard this number by Eurythmics called "Sweet Dreams" in their teens. Listening to the song recently really got me thinking - 

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something.

Isn't this absolutely true ? The only thing that they did not say in the song is that most people don't find "it" - what they are looking for. I just realised that it gets much worse - most people don't know what they are looking for. 

If you ask, people are going to give you very generic answers - Money, Fame, Love, Happiness, Peace (mostly in that order). But seriously, what are you looking for ? Do you know what it is? Do you hope to find it ? 

The problem in knowing what you are looking for is that it leads to the more fundamental question of , why are we here ?

This is why, what we are looking for ranges from God and  saving the Earth to procreation and ensuring a better future for the next generation. The minority find what they are looking for and are truly happy. These people know this because some wiring in their brain  falls into place giving them a clear picture of what they want and why they are here.

A good many settle on something that they presume they were looking for either because of they've got tired searching or like the proverbial ostrich its better not to worry too much of what's happening around you.

There's a third set of people who simply do not give up looking for something and then looking for something to look for. They end up either creating something truly exceptional or killing themselves (not necessarily physically).

Starting to think like your spouse ?

It is true that opposites attract, so if one is a left brainer one tends to get attracted to a right brainer and vice versa but never the twain shall meet. For example if you were brought up in a very disciplined environment it is more likely that you will choose a spouse who is more spontaneous or disorganized if you can call it that.

With the passage of time the very things that initially attracted one to one's spouse slowly turns to become the source of one's irritation. However if fundamentally the marraige is going well then one tends to accept these irritations in order to continue to have a "happy married life".

With the passage of more time the acceptance becomes a part of oneself and one slowly starts to think like one's spouse. So the right brainer starts thinking with the left also and the left brainer starts using the right- meaning both self and spouse become similar in thinking. Also even though one may or may not agree with one's spouse's point of view it definitely makes one see another point of view - again and again and again - until albeit in a small way one starts thinking like one's spouse.

This can have one of three results on oneself - more whole or complete self as one now has multiple points of view, completely changed self who now thinks exactly like his/her spouse or the most undesirable completely unsure self causing complete lack of self belief.

Question Everything

As innocuous and cliched that this may sound in reality it is quite difficult to practice.

All around us, we have been told from early in life how things are, how they work, why things happen and why they don't. By the time one reaches one's teens, opinions have been formed on things that directly effect our daily life and we create a surreal bubble around us that explains to oneself what works and what doesn't. In one's twenties many of the created theories come crashing down by the weight of reality and one tends to substitute these with stronger theories (walls?) that explain the new phenomenon.

This soon gets extended to things that do not effect us directly like politics, movies, cricket, management etc. Of course we do get influenced by things that happen around us, people whom we interact with, books we read and TV shows that we watch, however we tend to gravitate towards those that have some connection with our earlier created theories thereby strengthening the walls.

Now re-look at the title "Question Everything". When we do, we come up with the same answer that we are trying to change by the questioning. As that's what we know and understand. So how can we question everything by keeping an open mind. One way that I have found effective is to have discussion with someone with a completely contrasting point of view without pre-judging that person or his/her point of view.

Take for example Hepatitis A (Jaundice) we have been told time and again this is a disease that effects the liver and since there is no known allopathic cure for this, there are a 100 local cures for this. The fact is that it is caused by a virus which infects the liver and can take anywhere between 3 weeks to 3 months for the patient to completely recover from it. This depends on a host of factors including but not limited to age, previous health of the patient, condition of the liver prior to the disease etc. As the symptoms of the disease include nausea and lack of appetite the patient reduces intake of food and tends to get weaker.

The Traditional cure includes having a no salt, no protein, no fat diet which especially in patients in which it lasts for a month creates further complications like Vitamin E deficiency (Vitamin E is only fat soluble and thus cannot be absorbed into the body without having some fat in the diet). Whereas the right diet includes small quantities of both protein and fat. But how can we question everything (remember the allopathic doctor says take rest have lot of fluids and there is no cure) when everyone around you are saying and truly believing what they say.

Another common example is the age old idiom "Feed the cold and starve the fever". While fighting the fever the body automatically loses its appetite but there is absolutely no gain in starving the fever one should take enough nutrients to fight both the fever and the cold.

The above examples though medical in nature just gives one the thought process that goes in one's mind before questioning conventional wisdom. One automatically assumes that some things that have been done in a particular way because of a reason and there must be some truth or logic to it. Thus we never really "Question Everything" let's try throwing conventional wisdom out (unless proven) before Questioning. Never assume anything in the questioning process.