Would Clingfilm Have Protected Fukushima?

Here is an idea I had 6 months ago but forgot to post. Clingfilm will not protect you against radiation, Gamma radiation (the biggest danger) has little trouble passing through concrete.
However…
It should protect you against radioactivity.

Radioactivity is different to radiation (radiation being an energy beam, rather like light).
In a nuclear accident, radioactivity is the particles that are radioactive. These consist of millions (if not billions) of atoms, that randomly decay. It is the ability of these particles to float in the wind; then land on people’s soil & property which causes long-term contamination.

However 99% of these particles cannot travel through anything material (because being millions or billions of atoms, they are millions or billions times too big). They will make a material radioactive, but only because when their atoms decay, the energy released by these atoms, is enough to cause the original particle to break down into smaller pieces. These smaller pieces then travel at high speeds, embedding themselves (rather like bullets) in anything solid they come into contact with. These smaller particles do themselves consists of millions-billions of radioactive atoms, which continue to randomly decay. That’s how radioactivity spreads.

However the smallest of physical barriers is enough to contain the radioactivity. Nuclear waste barrels are only lined with lead and concrete to protect the workers against radiation, and to stop Neutron Radiation making other nearby nuclear waste, more dangerous (through something called Transmutation, which is moving something up or down in the Periodic Table).
But neutron radiation (usually) only makes radioactive elements-isotope’s more radioactive by adding Neutrons to them (like when e.g. depletive uranium is converted into plutonium). Even then, special conditions (like a nuclear reactor where fuel is in high concentration) are required for much transmutation to take place. As naturally most neutrons travel either too quickly, or too slowly for much fission-transmutation to take place. Naturally most things are not radioactive, and if exposed to neutron radiation only short lived radioactive isotope’s (may) be generated.

How Clingfilm Would Help…
During a leak, a house covered with Clingfilm would be as dangerous to live in as one without it, as it’s the radiation that makes the place dangerous (at any given moment). BUT…
After the nuclear leak has been plugged, a house with Clingfilm over it will be easy to decontaminate. (Almost) none of the roof tiles will have radioactive particles on them. There will be some radioactive particles that were pushed through the Clingfilm, but 50% flew in the other direction, most of the other 50% are too big. Consequently...

Clingfilm would REALLY help.
What it would do is protect important-expensive things where people are also likely to be (like houses or roads) from radioactivity by moving it elsewhere (i.e. predominantly to wherever the Clingfilm was allowed to drain rain water, -which should be into a hole in the ground filled with gravel).

I can only think the Japanese government feared a shortage of plastic sheeting, and therefore did not use it. Either that or: Panic made them "stupid", and they would therefore now despise admitting, it should have been thought of before. Or: They feared people would take too long to setting up the clingfilm, and thereby harm themselves. However this would only be applicable to the worst affected areas (wherever they may be).
The point of this thread is that if there was an accident near you, and you want to protect your property, then covering it in something like plastic that can direct the nasty particles away from your property could make all the difference between barely contaminated, and severely contaminated. The further the distance they are drained, the less the contaminated. It reduces by the square root of the distance (i.e. double the distance, and receive 75% less radiation than had the distance not being doubled). And if you the drain the particles underground (so the soil acts as a barrier many hundreds of times more effective than air) then the drop-off will be even more dramatic.

I could see how that would work to a point, but it isn't just the radiation that's dangerous, cling film doesn't seem like the best at being heat resistant and if the rods are hot enough to melt concrete and earth it could contain the radiation but could cause a china syndrome type event, which is far more dangerous.

Good to see people thinking outside the box. It's too bad SOMETHING wasn't done sooner..

the problem with clingfilm would be its physical weakness sinceit wouldnt take much like a bird landing on the cling film to claw into the film and allow radiation to escape/enter and while it sounds good can you imagine the effort required to unroll that many rolls of film and ensuring that each sheet was tight etc

Maxatoria. Whilst the clingfilm would be easily damaged, the ineffectiveness the damage causes can only be in direct proportion to this damage. So for a roof of 100 meters, I would not be surprised if 1-2 meters are gone after 6 months. But the situation is still 98-99% more resolved with the clingfilm, than without it. The best thing would be to make it sticky one or both sides.

Sure it's an effort BUT...

Interesting Recycling Facts / Plastic
Enough plastic is produced in the United States each year to shrink wrap Texas. www.benefits-of-recycling.com...

This was the fact that prompted me to think of the idea. Of course this is only US shrink rap production. There will be every country in the world that can help, plus other types of plastic to use.

Monsatan The fuel is hot inside a nuclear reactor because there is (deliberately) lots of it together, within a confined space.

After a leak the radioactive particles will find it impossible to melt the cling film because the thinner any object is, the more rapidly it losses heat.
Because the radioactive particles are air borne, and because all the serious (long lasting ones) are all heavier than lead, they have to be very small to travel. Think dust size, and smaller. These will therefore lose their heat almost the same moment it is generated. Add to that, and it is never allowed to build up.

Did you know…
E.g. A centimetre thick sheet of copper, with a surface area of 1 meter, will lose for 400 joules a second for every 1 degree difference there exists between one side and another (which is why it has a standard thermal conductivity of 400). If the copper sheet is ten times thinner, then ten times the heat will be conducted. If the copper is the same thickness, but the temperature difference between one side and another is 10 degrees (rather than 1 degree), then 4000 joules rather than 400 will also be conducted. The same maths applies to all materials (even radioactive ones). All you need to do is look up the Thermal Conductivity, copper is 400, aluminum is 250, and then apply it.