Japanese earthquake / tsunami discussion

daelight

500 people are being evacuated from 20km radius of the plant. They are advised to stay indoors. This mornings incident is same type of incident that occurred at No.1 reactor and so far very little chance of any large radiation release.

On the news they announce no power cuts in Tokyo yet - but just now they announce in my local area of powercut for 3.5 hrs today.

It is hard to have respect for Sky News. Before they go to an ad, they play silly music and what looks like a promo video for an upcoming disaster.

Then they follow up with "JAPAN DISASTER: On your Mobile, TV, PC" or some ****e like that.

You'd think a station dedicated to news would have a more professional and serious approach to thousands of people being killed in a horrible natural disaster.

maquiladora

Toyota having to halt all production for at least the next few days.

MissJustice

MissJustice wrote: »

Between this

and this http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/03/13/2011-03-13_hundreds_flee_in_japan_after_shinmoedake_volcano_begins_spewing_ash_boulders.html

where it states that the volcano has been more active over the past few weeks. Japan spends E100 million a year on assessing earthquakes, and with all this investment plus the information above, surely there were enough tell tale signs/technology to give them some indictation this disaster was on its way? Can someone clarify this for me?

MissJustice wrote: »

"Eruptions and quakes are common in Japan's "ring of fire."
The volcano erupted in January - the first major seismic activity on the mountain in 52 years. Scientists say lava had been building up in recent weeks"

This says alot to me.....

Read more: http://society.ezinemark.com/relationship-between-earthquakes-and-volcanoes-31fa4aa9107.html#ixzz1GXgZmL6W
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution No Derivatives


From this above article "Earthquakes and volcanos have a close relationship and usually exhibit their activity simultaneously"

With the volcano been active since January, it would make you wonder about it all..

That username is already in use.

Thrill wrote: »

Video of that explosion at reactor 3...........

Sounds like 3 explosions.. why would that be.

andyseadog

Deleted User wrote: »

It is hard to have respect for Sky News. Before they go to an ad, they play silly music and what looks like a promo video for an upcoming disaster.

Then they follow up with "JAPAN DISASTER: On your Mobile, TV, PC" or some ****e like that.

You'd think a station dedicated to news would have a more professional and serious approach to thousands of people being killed in a horrible natural disaster.

glad i'm not alone in thinking that. i'm looking for reliable info on people lives, not catchy tv.

andyseadog

That username is already in use. wrote: »

Sounds like 3 explosions.. why would that be.

an echo?

Turtwig

That username is already in use. wrote: »

Sounds like 3 explosions.. why would that be.

That's actually just Sky News's "promo" or "ad" for continous Japanese Tsunami coverage in the background. Each "explosion" you hear is the flashing image effect. If you listen closely you can even hear that signature silly eerie music crap.

JONJO THE MISER

Off to bed, hopefully things dont get worse.

Overheal

Yakult wrote: »

Im hoping that they will have enough time so that America can bring them coolant.

thats not coming. Japan refused the offer. The coolant isnt the problem, the cooling system is the problem at these plants.

If they managed to keep the conditions similar to the No. 1 reactor they should be fine. Radiation readings need to be taken though.

Thrill

0414: So what was the origin of those reports about a 3-metre (10-foot) tsunami? It seems the crew of a fire department helicopter reported spotting the wave off Fukushima Prefecture

TheUsual

Deleted User wrote: »

You'd think a station dedicated to news would have a more professional and serious approach to thousands of people being killed in a horrible natural disaster.

Sky News love a natural disaster. They keep replaying the worst scenes to get their audience figures up.

I haven't watched them in years. Same kind of people that go and watch accidents and fires for fun.

mgmt

Reactor 3 is using MOX fuel, reprocessed nuclear fuel/weapons, which is far more difficult to cool and control than the other reactors.

Chad ghostal

daelight wrote: »

On the news they announce no power cuts in Tokyo yet - but just now they announce in my local area of powercut for 3.5 hrs today.

There's no power cuts (yet) but trains are almost all stopped, most people still coming in on bikes or working from home though. They've stopped the trains to try and avoid power cuts, but afaik there will still be some anyway.. Minato + chuo won't be affected because of the gov/banks. Facebook has train links if anyone is wondering what's available in Tokyo (very little atm) ** just log in and they give you links

gary223

mgmt wrote: »

Reactor 3 is using MOX fuel, reprocessed nuclear fuel/weapons, which is far more difficult to cool and control than the other reactors.

How do you know so much about this kind of stuff?

Overheal

gary223 wrote: »

How do you know so much about this kind of stuff?

Its easy enough to look up. Press releases already tell us it's MOX fuel. All just a matter of googling for information after that.

mgmt

gary223 wrote: »

How do you know so much about this kind of stuff?

Read this article, its very informative.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/japan-fukushima-nuclear-reactor.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Overheal

mgmt wrote: »

Read this article, its very informative.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/japan-fukushima-nuclear-reactor.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Wasnt aware they'd have to release steam for that long. I hope thats inaccurate or assuming they wont be able to restore external power.

Turtwig

The radiation levels after the second hydrogen blast were 50 m Sv / hr. Far from any lethal levels.

bradlente

So is getting power back the main objective?To get the cooling mechanism working again?Or is that impossible now?

Overheal

Malty_T wrote: »

The radiation levels after the second hydrogen blast were 50 m Sv / hr. Far from any lethal levels.

Still higher than after first explosion which registered less than 1 mSV

If my math is loosely correct that would mean lethal exposure (2+ SV) in just 400 hours.

correction: 40 hours.

Thats, thats bad.

Turtwig

Overheal wrote: »

Still higher than after first explosion which registered less than 1 mSV

My guess would be that that's because of the different fuels used. This reactor has more hazardous material to human health so the Sievert level would be higher. There would also be radiation present from the issues with Unit I too.

Overheal

Malty_T wrote: »

My guess would be that that's because of the different fuels used. This reactor has more hazardous material to human health so the Sievert level would be higher. There would radiation present from the issues with Unit I too.

The levels after the No. 1 explosion were like 800 something µSV. I worked out the lethal exposure to be something like 27 years. This is a considerably higher reading.

My math was wrong by a lot. ~3 years. But still, a jump from 3 years to 40 hours.

So is getting power back the main objective?To get the cooling mechanism working again?Or is that impossible now?

I don't know really.

Turtwig

Overheal wrote: »

This is a considerably higher reading.I don't know really.

Yup it is and time is becoming a crucial factor here now for some of the workers at the plant.:(

Overheal

Malty_T wrote: »

Yup it is and time is becoming a crucial factor here now for some of the workers at the plant.:(

Some reports say that 3 workers already display clear symptoms of radiation sickness.

That 50 mSV reading, where was it taken from?

Turtwig

bradlente wrote: »

So is getting power back the main objective?To get the cooling mechanism working again?Or is that impossible now?

I remember reading yesterday that AC Power was restored but I dunno has anyone else seen confirmation of this? Getting the power back is a big priority because it will make operation of everything much more convenient. Not that conditions are anywhere near convenient in the plant at the moment.

Unit I is effectively being mothballed in sea water.Unit III's status is a little bit more hazy it is not clear if sea water injection is being effective enough and they don't have an accurate gauge of level of water immersion. IF the core is not being fully immersed then that situation is quite bad.:(

@Overheal :Service hall. Levels at the entrance are 20 mSv /hr.

Overheal

William Broad reports in the New York Times that crew members on the US aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, sailing in the Pacific, "passed through a radioactive cloud from stricken nuclear reactors in Japan." Crew members got a month's worth of radiation in about an hour. US helicopters flying missions about 60 miles away from the stricken nuclear reactors "became coated with particulate radiation that had to be washed off." Officials say the radioactive plume currently poses no risk to the US.


...

Now I'm not saying anyone should panic, but I'll be grabbing some iodine tablets tomorrow. You know, for my bad thyroid.

In all saneness though "A months worth" probably refers to regular background levels.

full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14plume.html

Turtwig

Overheal wrote: »

Now I'm not saying anyone should panic, but I'll be grabbing some iodine tablets tomorrow. You know, for my bad thyroid.

I wouldn't be getting too worried yet mate. This is still looking like a TMI the level of radiation that reaches the West Coast should be minimal. I hate the way news reporters are using terms like " a thousand times" " a months worth" " twice the normal" etc. This is really just useless info , a months worth of what and what unit are you using? :mad:

bradlente

Fair dues to the lads updating this thread,it's been better than any news coverage I've been watching.

Overheal

i figure. they probably mean a month of natural background radiation. still, watch the number reports.