Fukushima Explosions, Crowd Sourcing Think Tanks, Arnie Gundersen, and our Tax Dollars

Previously, I had posted some analysis on the type of explosion at Fukushima Daiichi #3. Recently, Arnie Gundersen released another video on the subject where he calculated the distance a chunk of Plutonium flew in that explosion, and back calculated the velocity the chunk must have been traveling at to cover the required distance.

Mr Gundersen's data indicated the Plutonium was traveling at a supersonic velocity, and he extrapolated that the chunk must have been propelled by a supersonic shock wave, hence the explosion was a detonation. However, those extrapolations are faulty. The simplest example that shows the flaw is a firearm. Firearms propel bullets at supersonic speeds by deflagration (a detonation would likely destroy the firearm). An improved way to do the analysis is to postulate the force the Plutonium chunk was exposed and use F=MA to solve for the acceleration and so forth.

Of course, the matter of importance is not that Mr Gundersen might have made a better extrapolation. The matter of importance is that people like Mr Gundersen have stepped forward to take point as part of a crowd sourced Fukushima THINK TANK.

No one person can be expected to have all the knowledge to examine and understand the unprecedented experimental events that are on going as a result of Fukushima. But in the obvious and substantial absence of Government stepping forward and examining the totality of the Fukushima issue publicly, the only available solution is crowd sourced and internet driven; it is an ether devoid of the traditional media and one where academic institutions fear to tread.