Merged 8.8 quake in Sendai, Japan

AdMan said:
Server is too busy at your link. So you're saying the situation at unit 2 is not as bad as reported? I've seen there has been subsantial damage during an explosion at no. 2 earlier today.
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There is lag because, hopefully, more people are hitting the server for info. Just wait - it'll load after a couple of minutes.
 
MattusMaximus said:
I had read about the fire at unit 4 from the World Nuclear News, but they don't say anything about a leak from unit 4.

"Dangerous levels" is pretty damned vague. Could they get someone to make an announcement who knows what they're talking about?
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.8 REM/Hr is a large dose for the site boundary.

An upper GI X-ray is .25 REM. And you don't have them on a constant basis.

Average annual dose from natural sources is around .24 REM.
 
blobru said:
No TV for blobru! :wide-eyed (the scope of the disaster continues to widen)

CNN and other outlets' reporting of this convinces me there's a niche for something like an "Expert-TV", where events like this, and the reporting of them, could be commented on by individuals with less hairspray but more expertise than your typical news-anchor/talking-head in real-time.
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PBS did that earlier this evening.
 
dudalb said:
I think the amount of bad science given by the media over the past few days has given the gang at The Skeptic's guide to the Universe enough material for two or three shows. I am looking forward to see them rip into the bad reporting we have seen this weekend.
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Yes, Anderson Cooper saying "I don't know about that... I flunked Science." A guy I used to trust almost as much as Walter Cronkite.

And now idiot Wolf Blitzer -- not able to comprehend what the nuclear engineer at San Onofre (CA) was saying and spouting "Well, we'll see if it's just spin or not."

CNN is really in the toilet now.
 
BenBurch said:
.8 REM/Hr is a large dose for the site boundary. An upper GI X-ray is .25 REM. And you don't have them on a constant basis.

Average annual dose from natural sources is around .24 REM.
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Is the 0.8 REM/Hour reading consistent, or was it just a spike? From what I've read, it was just a temporary spike. If that's wrong and it is a consistent reading, then we may have a more serious situation on our hands than I'd previously thought.

ETA: Anyone got more info on this particular point?
 
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alfaniner said:
Yes, Anderson Cooper saying "I don't know about that... I flunked Science." A guy I used to trust almost as much as Walter Cronkite.

And now idiot Wolf Blitzer -- not able to comprehend what the nuclear engineer at San Onofre (CA) was saying and spouting "Well, we'll see if it's just spin or not."

CNN is really in the toilet now.
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I want to punch both of those morons in the head :mad:
 
Kestrel said:
PBS did that earlier this evening.
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On their News Hour? Will watch for the rebroadcast. (I'd love to see an ExpertNN, though: round-the-clock commentary, debate and background from invited experts on news as it happens).
 
I tried watching Anderson Cooper on CNN, but got disgusted in short order. Like so many others in the press, he doesn't understand technical subjects, and thus can't sort any new item he is told in terms of importance; and, being set to breathless-hype mode like most of the media, reports everything as Chernobyl-about-to-happen.

What I think they may have gotten right is that the utility and apparently elements of the Japanese government seem to be issuing releases willy-nilly with context-free and often speculative or contradictory data. If this is the case, they need to take a deep breath, organize their information and put it in context, and in general get out of "Twitter" mode (i.e., blurting out every neural firing). That won't stop the press (including blogs, etc.) from getting it wrong, but it would slow down the rapid-fire sequence of "breaking news" items that get the talking heads all hyperventilatory.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
That's just not the case. Data is electronic, it isn't carried by the pony express. Now there are plenty of places on the planet that are not monitored for low level quakes. But large quakes are registered on seismographs around the globe, even when local monitoring is not set up. And Japan has plenty of monitoring online.
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Japan has a vast array of seismographs covering their country. The USGS network has one station in Japan.

The days of reading helicoders by hand and telexing the picks to a seismologist that plots the earthquake on a 4 foot globe using a large compass are long past. But it still takes exactly the same time for the seismic waves to travel from the epicenter to the seismographs.


The grid is set up to also register tidal waves across the Pacific, so all the Pacific is monitored and the reports go to the USGS.
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Actually, that is a different grid.
 
Dan O. said:
Japan has a vast array of seismographs covering their country. The USGS network has one station in Japan.

The days of reading helicoders by hand and telexing the picks to a seismologist that plots the earthquake on a 4 foot globe using a large compass are long past. But it still takes exactly the same time for the seismic waves to travel from the epicenter to the seismographs.


Actually, that is a different grid.
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Did you read your own USGS link?
The Global Seismographic Network is a cooperative partnership between IRIS and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), coordinated with the international community, to install and operate a global, multi-use scientific facility as a societal resource for Earth observations, monitoring, research, and education. GSN instrumentation is capable of measuring and recording with high fidelity all seismic vibrations from high-frequency, strong ground motions near an earthquake to the slowest global Earth oscillations excited by great earthquakes.
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(emphasis mine)
 
Dan O. said:
Keep in mind that the USGS monitors earthquakes in the whole world. Their network is too sparse to give the kind of instant notification that Japan's local network provides. The seismic waves would have to travel to the detectors before they are picked up and the epicenter can be triangulated. For the Japan area this will be about 20 minutes.
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Correct.
 
WTF:

Ishihara: Tsunami is 'Divine Punishment'

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said the following about the March 11 earthquake (Tōhoku Chihō Taiheiyō-oki Jishin) and tsunami to the press in the metropolis on Monday:

The identity of the Japanese people is selfishness. The Japanese people must take advantage of this tsunami as means of washing away their selfish greed. I really do think this is divine punishment.​

Ishihara was contrasting the "selfishness and greed" that he perceived in Japan with the identity of the United States with "liberty" and the identity of France with "liberty, philanthropy, and equality [sic]."
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:eye-poppi

Ishihara has a long history of saying incredibly stupid things. But he keeps getting reelected anyway.
 
I don't think anyone does. (Ishihara's Shinto / Buddhist, fwiw. In addition to being stupid.)
 
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Dan O. said:
...
The days of reading helicoders by hand and telexing the picks to a seismologist that plots the earthquake on a 4 foot globe using a large compass are long past. But it still takes exactly the same time for the seismic waves to travel from the epicenter to the seismographs. ....
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I don't think you understand the monitoring system.

About Seismic Monitor
Seismic Monitor allows you to monitor global earthquakes in near real-time, visit seismic stations around the world, and search the web for earthquake or region-related information.
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MattusMaximus said:
Is the 0.8 REM/Hour reading consistent, or was it just a spike? From what I've read, it was just a temporary spike. If that's wrong and it is a consistent reading, then we may have a more serious situation on our hands than I'd previously thought.

ETA: Anyone got more info on this particular point?
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Here's a quite reasonable summary that cuts through a lot of the hype we're seeing on MSNBC/CNN/etc.

Snippet:

I am writing this text (Mar 12) to give you some peace of mind regarding some of the troubles in Japan, that is the safety of Japan’s nuclear reactors.

Up front, the situation is serious, but under control. And this text is long! But you will know more about nuclear power plants after reading it than all journalists on this planet put together.

There was and will *not* be any significant release of radioactivity.

...
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