Topic: Japanese Quake and Pacific Tsunami

[Michael]

Potentially there could be a meltdown, and on the ground they are have excluded people at 60 km, although officially it says 20 km. But all the reports from the PR people are saying a meltdown is unlikely. I certainly hope so, else it could be quite nasty. Nonetheless this is a 'light reactor' whatever that means, and thus they don't believe the worst case would be too bad.

[Nichi]

Meltdown?

[Nichi]

Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet, shifted Earth's axis
Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet, shifted Earth's axis

[Nichi]

I keep reading that multiple reactors are at the crisis point: can you imagine how the people there must feel? Dizzy from one devastation, needing to flee the next ... which will ruin their homeland indefinitely. 

[Michael]

Yes, it sounds like the authorities are trying to put a good spin on a very nasty situation.

[Nichi]

Bracing for next quake; 10,000 feared dead

Also, the wind is expected to change and to move the radiation to the Pacific.

Unconfirmed - 2 meltdowns are in progress.

[Builder]

13.03.2011, Midday GMT:

A partial meltdown is likely under way at one nuclear reactor, a senior Japanese official has said, as operators
frantically tried to keep temperatures down at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant's other units following a devastating earthquake and tsunami that may have killed as many as 10,000 people.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters on Sunday that a partial meltdown in Unit 3 of the Fukushima facility was "highly possible".

"Because it's inside the reactor, we cannot directly check it but we are taking measures on the assumption of the possible partial meltdown," he said.

About 170,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the area covering a radius of 20km around the plant.

They say reactor No. 3 is undergoing partial meltdown. Even if full meltdown occurs, it would not be like a detonation of a nuclear warhead. There will be release of energy and radiation, and radioactive contamination, but no shock-wave that is a main destructive factor during the nuclear explosion.

[Nichi]

Talk about the moment when, as buildings and cars go sailing down the street, you only have each other! "Each other" being whoever is in voice-shot!

(Copy and paste this url into your browser to pull it up)


http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1605260179420&comments

The man who posted it said this:
I want to show everyone the news media we are being presented with here in Japan. I think it's quite different from what you see on CNN and other Western news outlets. One thing about Japan--there are professional cameramen EVERYWHERE! It reminds me of the Vietnam war, and how it was the first time the US got real-time, color footage of a war zone. Since the quake, we've had lots of steady, HD video playing non-stop, showing you exactly what it would be like to witness the disaster first hand. Watch it in full-screen, and please share on your wall!!
Length: ‎6:21

[Builder]

By Taiga Uranaka and Ki Joon Kwon

FUKUSHIMA, Japan | Sun Mar 13, 2011 1:06pm EDT

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Japan struggled on Monday to avert a nuclear disaster and care for millions of people without power or water, three days after an earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 10,000 people or more in the nation's darkest hour since World War Two.

The world's third-largest economy opens for business later on Monday, a badly wounded nation that has seen whole villages and towns wiped off the map by a wall of water, leaving in its wake an international humanitarian effort of epic proportion.

A grim-faced Prime Minister Naoto Kan described the crisis at Japan's worst since 1945, as officials confirmed that three nuclear reactors were at risk of overheating, raising fears of an uncontrolled radiation leak.

"The earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear incident have been the biggest crisis Japan has encountered in the 65 years since the end of World War II," Kan told a news conference.

"We're under scrutiny on whether we, the Japanese people, can overcome this crisis."

As he spoke, officials worked desperately to stop fuel rods in the damaged reactors from overheating. If they fail, the containers that house the core could melt, or even explode, releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere.

The most urgent crisis centers on the Fukushima Daiichi complex, where all three reactors are threatening to overheat, and where authorities say they have been forced to release radioactive steam into the air to relieve reactor pressure.

The complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was rocked by an explosion on Saturday, which blew the roof off a reactor building. The government did not rule out further blasts there but said this would not necessarily damage the reactor vessels.

Authorities have poured sea water in all three of the complex's reactor to cool them down.

FEARS OVER OTHER REACTORS

The complex, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co, is the biggest nuclear concern but not the only one: on Monday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Japanese authorities had notified it of an emergency at another plant further north, at Onagawa.

But Japan's nuclear safety agency denied problems at the Onagawa plant, run by Tohoku Electric Power Co, noting that radioactive releases from the Fukushima Daiichi complex had been detected at Onagawa, but that these were within safe levels at a tiny fraction of the radiation received in an x-ray.

Shortly later, a cooling-system problem was reported at another nuclear plant closer to Tokyo, in Ibaraki prefecture.

Fukushima's No. 1 reactor, where the roof was ripped off, is 40 years old and was originally set to go out of commission in February but had its operating license extended by 10 years.

Prime Minister Kan said the crisis was not another Chernobyl, referring to the nuclear disaster of 1986 in Soviet Ukraine.

[Taimyr]

The whole thing is so powerful

[Builder]

The whole thing i so powerful

A good lesson on how fragile and vulnerable our civilisation is. A quake, a wave, and world's third largest economy is shattered.

Now they are going to have to ration electricity - there will be two-hour blackouts around Japan on rotation.

[Taimyr]

I'm thinking more like in personal terms. The most important thing would be to stay alive. The downfall of economy wont kill anyone...most likely. I'm always imagining what would i do in a real catastrophic situation, where would i run or hide, what if i was stuck in that car...

A good lesson on how fragile and vulnerable our civilisation is. A quake, a wave, and world's third largest economy is shattered.

Now they are going to have to ration electricity - there will be two-hour blackouts around Japan on rotation.

[Nichi]

I'm thinking more like in personal terms. The most important thing would be to stay alive. The downfall of economy wont kill anyone...most likely. I'm always imagining what would i do in a real catastrophic situation, where would i run or hide, what if i was stuck in that car...

I thought about that too, Taimi -- what would it be like watching my car and my house sail off? Would I have the stuff to hang onto my life and my sanity?

[Taimyr]

I haven't thought that far, like my car and house sailing off. The most precious thing I can imagine, would be my life. Then later if you have food and water, then your ok.

I thought about that too, Taimi -- what would it be like watching my car and my house sail off? Would I have the stuff to hang onto my life and my sanity?

[Nichi]

I haven't thought that far, like my car and house sailing off. The most precious thing I can imagine, would be my life. Then later if you have food and water, then your ok.

I was thinking of that video - watching everything floating by - wondering if the building I was standing on was going to get washed away, too.  But yes, what then? Where to rest one's head?

Supposedly, the folks in the devastated regions are without food and water. What they have to deal with per the radiation is on top of it all - it's a nightmare.