Japanese earthquake / tsunami discussion

maquiladora

NEWS ADVISORY: Radiation too high for TEPCO personnel to stay in Fukushima nuke plant control rooms (20:49) Kyodo

Hmmm, going to be hard to monitor and control the situation with these troubled reactors if there is not going to be anybody in the control rooms.

alibabba

Mr. Anderson wrote: »

From BBC Breaking News on Twitter:

Accident at #Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant upgraded to level six crisis, on scale of seven, say French officials - AFP

:eek:

God i dont know how those workers are still there.
Id be gone when it reached level 1.
Brave souls.

maquiladora

Level 6: Serious accident

Impact on People and Environment
Significant release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of planned countermeasures.

Example

* Kyshtym disaster at Mayak, Soviet Union, 29 September 1957. A failed cooling system at a military nuclear waste reprocessing facility caused a steam explosion that released 70–80 tons of highly radioactive material into the environment. Impact on local population is not fully known.[2]
* Fukushima I nuclear accidents, Japan, 2011; ongoing. Thousands of residents were evacuated after earthquake and tsunami caused loss of coolant. Hydrogen explosions later destroyed reactor buildings, and two reactors entered a state of partial meltdown after fuel rods were exposed to air. Originally classified as a Level 4 incident, the International Atomic Energy Agency later upgraded it to a Level 6 event, describing it as the second-worst nuclear accident in history after Chernobyl.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Nuclear_Event_Scale#Level_6:_Serious_accident

Mr Benevolent

maquiladora wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Nuclear_Event_Scale#Level_6:_Serious_accident

Oh crap. And if the control room personnel has been evacuated, the reactor is now out of control.

maquiladora

Confab wrote: »

Oh crap. And if the control room personnel has been evacuated, the reactor is now out of control.

The Japanese PM was overheard by reporters pleading with TEPCO not to abandon the plant earlier today.

Chad ghostal

damoz wrote: »

So for the uneducated - what is a normal reading range - and what is a concern for human health.

I am still due in Japan in 2 weeks, so looking at this thread very closely. Obvioulsy an impending nuclear disaster is not something i want to see first hand.

around 20 is a normal everyday average, give or take a few. It spiked today around 70/80 today for a short while, but went down shortly after.

Two weeks is a long time really, the disaster is only 5 days old, so just keep an eye out..some foreigners have already left, but most are staying put until told to leave.

maquiladora

Fukushima Reactor Shell Breached: Watchdog Agency

March 15, 2011

PARIS

The concrete vessel around the No. 2 reactor at Japan’s Fukushima plant, designed to contain radioactive debris, is “no longer sealed,” Andre-Claude Lacoste, head of France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), said on Tuesday.

Lacoste was speaking at a press conference in which he also said the accident at Fukushima now rated six on a seven-point international scale of gravity, placing it second to Chernobyl as the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

The ASN is being briefed by the Japanese authorities and by a specialist from France’s Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), according to the agency.

http://www.thebalitimes.com/2011/03/15/fukushima-reactor-shell-breached-watchdog-agency/

opinion guy

Thrill wrote: »

Only France has upped it to 6. It's still recognized as a 4 by everyone else.

It would be ridiculous to still consider it a 4 don't you think ?

Fallschirmjager

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html


use the slide bar on the photo to move left and right to see before and after shots...

really shows you the power of that wave....

Captain_Generic

Posted this in another thread but this is probably a better place. Good article by an MIT Nuclear Engineer on the current status at Fukushima, with mention of the inaccurate media coverage so far:

http://tech.mit.edu/V131/N13/yost.html


Edit:

Also be careful where you're donating:

more than 1.7 million malware pages, 419 scams trading on the Japanese disasters, 50+ fake domains with "Japan tsunami" or "Japan earthquake" in their URLs

http://www.macworld.co.uk/digitallifestyle/news/index.cfm?newsid=3265109&olo=rss

CantPushThis

Please pass this on if you can! Ireland Japan Association - Earthquake Appeal http://www.ija.ie/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=79&cntnt01origid=15&cntnt01returnid=88
It would be really appreciated if people would help this cause.
Thank you.

Dempsey

Confab wrote: »

It's because all the reactor are built exactly indentical so they suffered the same damage and will fail in the same way. I won't be surprised if all four cores melt.

Thats not true at all, they are all unique.

Pompey Magnus

Saadyst wrote: »

From virtually every "news" outlet today:

More exaggeration and scaremongering



Comon look for and listen to the facts that are around people...

To be honest you can't criticise people for being confused.

When they look at the media and there is implications of meltdown and disaster and frequent references to Chernobyl, then they look at threads such as this and there are people who scoff at this and say it's not even going to get close to as bad as Three Mile Island, never mind Chernobyl, they also see the Japanese Government downplaying the significance of the event, then they look to the IAEA and it is classing it as a Level 6 event, which surpasses the Level 5 of Three Mile Island.

With the exaggeration going on from both sides its only to be expected that people fear the worse.

drdeadlift

Jack Sheehan wrote: »

Someone (not me) has made an excellent megapost in the SA forums, so I'm just going to quote it all here. It clears up a lot of the issues surrounding the nuclear accident, and frankly, is hella reassuring:




Original post, with proper links and photos: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3396817&pagenumber=1

After reading this thread yesterday i thought the situation would have been resolved without massive crisis.


What happens when this hot nuclear waste touches the earth?

Cionád

Captain_Generic wrote: »

Posted this in another thread but this is probably a better place. Good article by an MIT Nuclear Engineer on the current status at Fukushima, with mention of the inaccurate media coverage so far:

http://tech.mit.edu/V131/N13/yost.html

Why does he only mention one explosion on Saturday? It seems to be the most recent detail in the article. What about the other 2 explosions, and the fire?

old hippy

According to Kyodo; radiation levels where my wife's family live are 10 times above normal

Captain_Generic

Cionád wrote: »

Why does he only mention one explosion on Saturday? It seems to be the most recent detail in the article. What about the other 2 explosions, and the fire?

Good point, as far as I know it was posted 5 hours ago, but there's clearly a gap between writing and publishing

steamengine

Sardonicat wrote: »

NHK saying this is an hydrogen explosion. Anyone know what that means?

Steam is a chemical compound (H2O) and if super-heated to extremely high temperatures disassociates into its two elements hydrogen and oxygen, which is a highly explosive gas mix.

maquiladora

Its pointless to say "everything is grand" or "everything is fcuked" at this stage.

Even the contractors at the plant dont fully understand exactly whats going on. A lot of their measuring instruments are broken because of the explosions and theyve said they can only estimate what exactly is happening at some of the reactors.

Talking heads on Fox News and bloggers half the world away arent going to know any more.

PeakOutput

old hippy wrote: »

According to Kyodo; radiation levels where my wife's family live are 10 times above normal

If it brings you any comfort that is still far far below any harmful levels

Run_to_da_hills

Fake texts and emails are causing panic in other Asian countries.

BBC Flash news : Japan Government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24 hours. Close doors and windows. Swab neck skin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Philippine at around 4 pm today. If it rains today or in the next few days in Hong Kong. Do not go under the rain. If you get caught out, use an umbrella or raincoat, even if it is only a drizzle. Radioactive particles, which may cause burns, alopecia or even cancer, may be in the rain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12745128

seamus

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

then they look to the IAEA and it is classing it as a Level 6 event, which surpasses the Level 5 of Three Mile Island.

I don't think the IAEA have classed it at all, only the French Authority has (and the Japanese).

Considering that there have yet to be any radiation-related deaths or release of radioactive material, I think the French are overstating it.

In reality though it's too early to class it at all.

Thrill

opinion guy wrote: »

It would be ridiculous to still consider it a 4 don't you think ?

I was only clarifying what was announced because some of the media have gone with "fukushima now classed as level 6", leaving out the fact that it is only France that does so.

As far as I'm aware, the IAEA has not upped it from 4 as of yet.

Brain Stroking

The Franch say it is a Level 6 when all else say Level 4. The French came out last week and said that they recognised the Libyan rebels as the new Libyan government. Jump the gun much?

old hippy

PeakOutput wrote: »

If it brings you any comfort that is still far far below any harmful levels

Thanks man, it's hard to know what to think; there's so much information whizzing around at the moment.

maquiladora

seamus wrote: »

Considering that there have yet to be any radiation-related deaths or release of radioactive material, I think the French are overstating it.

IAEA said that earlier "radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere". Is that not a release of radioactive material?

Japan Earthquake Update (15 March 2011, 05:15 UTC)

Japanese authorities also today informed the IAEA at 04:50 CET that the spent fuel storage pond at the Unit 4 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is on fire and radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere.

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html

maquiladora

Kyodo - TEPCO unable to pour water into No. 4 reactor's storage pool for spent fuel.

Chad ghostal

This seems to be the current situation..
https://www.facebook.com/notes/paul-atkinson/japan-nuclear-update-british-embassy/10150111611771235

Also from NHK and verified by the various geigers around Tokyo, the max radiation experienced today in Tokyo was around 1/8th of a normal chest x-ray, which was for about an hour in total.. In iwaki (prefecture between Miyagi and Kanto) it was about half a chest x-ray for a short whole (.23~).

Topper Harley01

Chad ghostal wrote: »

This seems to be the current situation..
https://www.facebook.com/notes/paul-atkinson/japan-nuclear-update-british-embassy/10150111611771235

Also from NHK and verified by the various geigers around Tokyo, the max radiation experienced today in Tokyo was around 1/8th of a normal chest x-ray, which was for about an hour in total.. In iwaki (prefecture between Miyagi and Kanto) it was about half a chest x-ray for a short whole (.23~).

He says worst case scenario is that there would have to be a 30 mile exclusion zone to avoid serious health risks.

Under the circumstances, that isn't so bad.

Edit: Helpful chart here to understand radiation exposure. It's simple to understand-

http://twitpic.com/49mm4l/full

maquiladora

Reports of fairly big aftershock.