Merged 8.8 quake in Sendai, Japan

[Travis]

Some idiot on MSNBC was pretty much guaranteeing a Chernobyl type event out of the Fukushima reactor. He seemed to be saying nothing can stop it now. But it didn't sound like he really knew what he was talking about. He didn't seem to be aware of the containment building for one thing.

 

[BenBurch]

BBC right now...

Oh ****

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

Oh ****

Anti-nuke kooks are going to have a field day.

 

[William Parcher]

Maybe better...

0548: The plant's operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, tells AFP: "We believe the reactor is not melting down or cracking. We are trying to raise the water level."

 

[BenBurch]

You know, the kooks are going to have the wrong message.

It won't be; look at all the industrial fatalities in Japan as a result of this cataclysm, and only one nuclear plant melted and nobody died.

It will be; OMG Armageddon!!! Nukes are Eeeeeevil.

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

Maybe better...

Or not so bad...

The Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, visited the plant for a briefing 12 March 2011.[22] During the afternoon of March 12, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced that part of a cesium rod appeared to have melted, but the NHK reported that the rest of the fuel had cooled and there was no reason for alarm.[23]

Wikipedia quote is translated from Japanese.

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

You know, the kooks are going to have the wrong message.

It won't be; look at all the industrial fatalities in Japan as a result of this cataclysm, and only one nuclear plant melted and nobody died.

It will be; OMG Armageddon!!! Nukes are Eeeeeevil.

One plant out of 55.

And of all the deaths, none of them were from the nuke.

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

You know, the kooks are going to have the wrong message.

Speaking of wrong message, I snapped these photos of my TV earlier today:

That's Gordon Edwards. A part time math teacher without a formal title (though he calls himself professor) President and only active member of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear responsibility. He's Canadas national disgrace. A professional liar who has already been succesfully sued by the Canadian Nuclear Association at least once and has a past history of pulling his nuclear expertise from his rectum (yes, he really said 15% of the 1600 ton steam generators from Bruce were plutonium).

And at no point in the Edwards interview did CTV specify that the bonfire pictured next to Edwards was from an oil refinery fire!

 

[Orphia Nay]

Wall Street Journal from 10 minutes ago:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703555404576195700301455480.html

TOKYO—Japanese nuclear authorities said Saturday afternoon the Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 nuclear reactor was experiencing the threat of a meltdown after Friday's massive earthquake damaged the cooling system and that outside water was being poured into the reactor to cool it down.

"If the water level remains at this level, the reactor core might be damaged, but we are now pouring water into the reactor to prevent it from happening," a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The company, known as Tepco, is the owner of the plant, which is located 150 miles, or 240 kilometers, away from Tokyo.

A portion of the reactor's fuel rods, which create heat through a nuclear reaction, have become exposed due to the cooling-system failure. The spokesman for Tepco said 1.5 meters of the 4.5 meter long fuel rods were potentially exposed.

 

[William Parcher]

Japan braces for N-reactor meltdown after tsunami

Adding to the worries was the damage at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, where two reactors had lost cooling ability. Because of the overheating, a meltdown was possible at one of the reactors, said Ryohei Shiomi, an official with Japan's nuclear safety commission.

But even if there was a meltdown, it wouldn't affect people outside a six-mile (10-kilometer) radius, he said. Most of the 51,000 residents living within the danger area had been evacuated, he said.

 

[Puppycow]

Glad to hear you got back, Puppycow. Your Friday night to Saturday morning was my Friday day, so all day I've been imagining you camping overnight in your office or some shopping center kept open with food and water available. (And hoped that was the case, rather than the alternate scenario of you walking along streets in the dark through the aftershocks with your map.) Recent news reports here said none of the trains were running yet -- obviously inaccurate. So, a blessed bit of good news to set against the horrific footage that started arriving, at dinnertime here, with the dawn there.

Best wishes,
Myriad

Thank you and thank everyone else who had me in their thoughts.

 

[Puppycow]

There's a town I'm seeing on my TV called Rikuzentakata that was just wiped off the face of the Earth by the tsunami.

Except for a couple large concrete buildings it's just wet rubble.

Oh good grief, that Wiki article says it had a population of over 23,000. How many of them are likely to have escaped? Or was it a dormitory town that might have been half-empty during the day? Even half-empty is bad.

Rolfe.

Can't get to view the clip I'm afraid. Keeps telling me that a plugin has crashed.

There's no adverse mention of Rikuzentakata on the BBC or indeed on Google at the moment. Seems not to have been picked up by the English-speaking media.

Rolfe.

Here, Rolfe;

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rown-sleepy-coast-town.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

BBC now has video of it up

ETA: Oops, forgot the link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12721492

Here's a clip from Puppycow's link that is incredible:

Wave knocking down mass of houses

Wow. That's another seaside town in Iwate. Miyako. Absolutely horrific.

 

[kitakaze]

Thanks, Ginger. The fear right now is on the nuclear reactor in Fukushima. If that thing goes, we're screwed. Fukushima was one of the first places I went to when I moved to Japan and I have many friends there. I was finally able to speak to my boy's grandparents on Skype. They have power back and the house is alright.

The Indonesian tsunami and earthquake in 2004 killed 1,230,000 people. Japan is faring far better. If the reactors are taken care of, I'll count us all lucky.

 

[manofthesea]

Five reactors at two power plants. http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/117843738.html

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Thanks, Ginger. The fear right now is on the nuclear reactor in Fukushima. If that thing goes, we're screwed. Fukushima was one of the first places I went to when I moved to Japan and I have many friends there. I was finally able to speak to my boy's grandparents on Skype. They have power back and the house is alright.

The Indonesian tsunami and earthquake in 2004 killed 1,230,000 people. Japan is faring far better. If the reactors are taken care of, I'll count us all lucky.

I think you may have added an extra million people to the death count there from 2004 unless you have news we didn't get here in the US.


Did the grandparents know if people were able to evacuate those low lying areas?

 

[GlennB]

BBC just reporting "an explosion" at one of the nuclear plants. A spokesman is explaining it could be from subsidiary equipment .......

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

This can't be good:

Japan earthquake: nuclear disaster feared after power plant 'explosion'

 

[HawaiiBigSis]

The metric system for length, volume and mass was deliberately related and based on water, hence why a mililitre (cubic centimeter) of water weighs a gram, a litre (cubic decimeter) weighs a kilogram, and a kilolitre (cubic meter) weighs a tonne.

...

This may come as a surprise to people who don't use the metric system, but in countries where the metric system is used this is quite common knowledge - something we learn in school as little kids.

It's actually quite useful for determining a very rough ballpark figure for all sorts of things that are predominantly made up of water such as bottles of milk, softdrink bottles, etc.

And this was why I was a strong proponent of our conversion to it. It's happening, little by slow, though. Look at your soda bottles. Odds are good that it's an whole number value of liters, and a portion of quarts.

Now if Americans would just learn the connection between the sizes and the weights and the volumes, they'd get it too!

[/end derail]

 

[a_unique_person]

And this was why I was a strong proponent of our conversion to it. It's happening, little by slow, though. Look at your soda bottles. Odds are good that it's an whole number value of liters, and a portion of quarts.

Now if Americans would just learn the connection between the sizes and the weights and the volumes, they'd get it too!

[/end derail]

I was around during "the change" and it's not that hard. We also did pounds, shillings and pence as part of the process. No one could get rid of that mess quick enough, so maybe it helped accepting everything else going to decimal.

Back to the reactor, it sounds bad.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...aster-feared-after-power-plant-explosion.html

But, given the usual ineptitude of the press reporting on technical matters, we don't have any real idea how bad.

An explosion causing injured workers can't be good.

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

This can't be good:

Japan earthquake: nuclear disaster feared after power plant 'explosion'

@#$%!

There's video: