8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

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Mu La Flaga
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

The thing which confuses me just a little lately during this whole thing.
Is the debate raging over the reactors, that some people reckon that video was of an explosion in the reactor or elsewhere in the plant.

Let alone if it was a steam release or not.
The simple thing is kind of silly to wonder why your backups don't work, well you had an 8.9 Quake and Tsunami hit the area, there is bound to be damage.

It could have been worse easily in that reguard.
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

I've just read in the papers that the earthquake had literally moved the country's coastline by 13 feet, and Earth's axis by 10 inches.
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Wingzero00
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

I was just wondering if anyone is donating to any organizations. And if so, what organizations.


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Deacon Blues
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

G-Slayer wrote:I've just read in the papers that the earthquake had literally moved the country's coastline by 13 feet, and Earth's axis by 10 inches.
Huh? They said 8 feet and 4". :/
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Areku
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

As someone trained in nuclear power, I'd say that this article is probably the best I've seen at quickly and concisely addressing concerns over the Fukushima reactors while still giving solid explanations as to why this is nowhere near the severity or scale of Chernobyl.
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The Big Zabowski
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

Areku wrote:As someone trained in nuclear power, I'd say that this article is probably the best I've seen at quickly and concisely addressing concerns over the Fukushima reactors while still giving solid explanations as to why this is nowhere near the severity or scale of Chernobyl.
Well not so much anymore. Until they get someone into Unit 2 to confirm the containment vessel actually survived that hydrogen gas blast; we're gonna be on eggshells. If that vessel is compromised, it's going to vent radiation like Chernobyl but not launch chunks of the reactor in the air like the old Soviet reactor did in '86.

Chernobyl was just a sh!t call on all fronts of management and Moscow. I agree though, this could probably max at a 5 on that 0-7 scale if the containment vessel is compromised. There's a good chance that the Fukushima plants were just under-engineered in this case as they are 40 some odd years old. At that time (1970) I'd bet you'd be hard pressed to find anyone at the IAEA that would think a 9.0 would unfold like this outside of Hollywood.

Off topic/On Topic: It's kinda funny how this is going all mecha with the discussion of how Nuclear reactors work. Like the argument as to why Zakus don't go mushroom.

And now AP/Twitter Feeds are saying that they've got a 4th Reactor at Fukushima I that could go critical due to fire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi

Google "Japanese Nuclear Reactor Fire". Twitter feeds are pouring in. It just keeps going.. like the Energizer Bunny from Hell. :(
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Zball
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

Nothing will happen. They're trying to save as many plants as possible because they need that electricity. But there's this handy element called boron that does a wonderful job of permanently killing a reactor. If it comes down to it, they will.
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Deacon Blues
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

Zabowski, have you even READ the news? All of the experts say this isn't going to be anywhere near the scale of Chernobyl. Chernobyl was poorly built, hence why it went up the way it did. There isn't going to be a massive explosion like that with this plant.
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SNT1
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

Deacon Blues wrote:Zabowski, have you even READ the news? All of the experts say this isn't going to be anywhere near the scale of Chernobyl. Chernobyl was poorly built, hence why it went up the way it did. There isn't going to be a massive explosion like that with this plant.
I'm pretty sure... that's what he said.

But seeing that they just announced that it just reached level 6, it's getting close to Chernobyl levels than previously thought...
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Deacon Blues
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

I'm referring to the radiation spilling. The plant, from what news reports said, has a special containment option to prevent that sort of thing from happening even if it were to happen.
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

That does, however, require this containment system to be undamaged and working to its listed capability. However...
BBC News wrote:Japan's nuclear safety agency said earlier it suspected the blast may have damaged reactor two's suppression chamber, which would have allowed radioactive steam to escape.
Taken from BBC News. If what you're referring to is the suppression chamber, then the one on Reactor #2 is already damaged, and looking at this table (and the remainder of the article, really) we're not 100% safe from serious radiation leakages, especially if pumping of seawater onto the cooling rods keeps failing.

Personally, I'd like to think the heroic efforts of the response teams in Japan are preventing another nuclear nightmare, but it's nowhere near over yet...
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Deacon Blues
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

Here is an interesting article:
Via Paul Atkinson
Japan Nuclear Update - British Embassy

I have just returned from a conference call held at the British Embassy in Tokyo. The call was concerning the nuclear issue in Japan. The chief spokesman was Sir. John Beddington, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government, and he was joined by a number of qualified nuclear experts based in the UK. Their assessment of the current situation in Japan is as follows:

* In case of a 'reasonable worst case scenario' (defined as total meltdown of one reactor with subsequent radioactive explosion) an exclusion zone of 30 miles (50km) would be the maximum required to avoid affecting peoples' health. Even in a worse situation (loss of two or more reactors) it is unlikely that the damage would be significantly more than that caused by the loss of a single reactor.

* The current 20km exclusion zone is appropriate for the levels of radiation/risk currently experienced, and if the pouring of sea water can be maintained to cool the reactors, the likelihood of a major incident should be avoided. A further large quake with tsunami could lead to the suspension of the current cooling operations, leading to the above scenario.

* The bottom line is that these experts do not see there being a possibility of a health problem for residents in Tokyo. The radiation levels would need to be hundreds of times higher than current to cause the possibility for health issues, and that, in their opinion, is not going to happen (they were talking minimum levels affecting pregnant women and children - for normal adults the levels would need to be much higher still).

* The experts do not consider the wind direction to be material. They say Tokyo is too far away to be materially affected.

* If the pouring of water can be maintained the situation should be much improved after ten days, as the reactors' cores cool down.

* Information being provided by Japanese authorities is being independently monitored by a number of organizations and is deemed to be accurate, as far as measures of radioactivity levels are concerned.

* This is a very different situation from Chernobyl, where the reactor went into meltdown and the encasement, which exploded, was left to burn for weeks without any control. Even with Chernobyl, an exclusion zone of 30 miles would have been adequate to protect human health. The problem was that most people became sick from eating contaminated food, crops, milk and water in the region for years afterward, as no attempt was made to measure radioactivity levels in the food supply at that time or warn people of the dangers. The secrecy over the Chernobyl explosion is in contrast to the very public coverage of the Fukushima crisis.

* The Head of the British School asked if the school should remain closed. The answer was there is no need to close the school due to fears of radiation. There may well be other reasons - structural damage or possible new quakes - but the radiation fear is not supported by scientific measures, even for children.

* Regarding Iodine supplementation, the experts said this was only necessary for those who had inhaled quantities of radiation (those in the exclusion zone or workers on the site) or through consumption of contaminated food/water supplies. Long term consumption of iodine is, in any case, not healthy.

The discussion was surprisingly frank and to the point. The conclusion of the experts is that the damage caused by the earthquake and tsunami, as well as the subsequent aftershocks, was much more of an issue than the fear of radiation sickness from the nuclear plants.

Let's hope the experts are right!
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bluemax151
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

if anyone is interested the International Atomic Energy Agency/IAEA has a facebook
http://www.facebook.com/iaeaorg

They have a recent update video via youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZB8Br3T2Sk
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Kyuzo Aoi
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

For other things....

I've found this picture of Gundam, by Kunio Okawara himself.

http://img862.imageshack.us/i/ganbarejapangundam.jpg/

It's says "Ganbare! Japan!" Any Gundam fan in this time of disaster would be proud.

I do hope they fix that meltdown in Fukushima, though. The US and the Russians need to help to curtail the leak or else a good part of Fukushima would be like Pripyat in the Ukraine where it was still a ghost town due to Chernobyl.

But then, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuked and yet still inhabited today so there is a chance that the coasts of Fukushima won't suffer a worse fate.
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Sume Gai
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

yeesh... seems to be that there's a ton of confusion and misinformation about Fukushima Daiichi. Not surprising, since it seems like not even people on site would be able to know for sure whats happening. (since it's not a very intelligent idea to walk up to an active source of radioactivity)

If you want updated info the best place to look appears to be the Intenational Atomic Energy Agency website. I also point you to this very good graphic summary of events provided by BBC. Currently It seems a power has been partially restored to the plant which is probably the best news out of the site all week since it means that they can keep their electric pumps running.

Worry seems to have shifted partially from reactors to spent fuel pools which are getting hotter and would leave fuel rods exposed if The water were to evaporate. Fully Restoring the power to the site would allow the water to be circulated to these pools (as well as within the reactors) and enable cooling.

Just recently, the incident has been upgraded to a level five nuclear accident (whichever newsgroup reported it was a level 6 was grossly misinformed). Honestly Unless the Shit really hits the fan, I can't see things getting worse especially if power can be fully restored to the plant. I also believe the likelihood of long term radiation based effects on the area are low from what I've read. For now Let us send our best wishes to the 50 brave workers who are working feverishly to keep the plant under control.
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

Sume Gai wrote: Worry seems to have shifted partially from reactors to spent fuel pools which are getting hotter and would leave fuel rods exposed if The water were to evaporate. Fully Restoring the power to the site would allow the water to be circulated to these pools (as well as within the reactors) and enable cooling.
The pumps could, more likely than not, have been damaged by the tsunami even if full power is restored, which they are still currently working on The second danger is that some of the "spent" fuel rods inside reactor 4 are not spent fuel. Some of the in-use fuel rods were removed from the reactor a few months ago when the reactor was taken down for maintenance. This could make keeping the the pool from drying even harder and the radiation more lethal. It's still too early to call it safe yet. Although the worst case would probably still be confined to areas around the plant.
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

Meltdown confirmed.
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ShadowCell
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

uh, source please?
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

Plutonium is found in the soil around the powerplant,and the continuing heating of the fuel rods means that reaction is going on without cooling water. Thought the government admited it yesterday. No news in english?
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Wingnut
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Re: 8.9 Earthquake/Tsunami Hits Japan

By source he meant, provide an actual link to a story that reports this, not something you heard someone say on the internet. Even if it's in Japanese.
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