Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (March 11, 2011)

[Kyero Fox]

damn it america needs to put up their statue of Megas XLR

[Jeffry2009]

Originally Posted by Tsuyoshi

As far as I know, they still have Kamen Rider

But it's true, it should stay as a symbol of their survival and resilience.

Even the statue of Akaranger from Himitsu Sentai Goranger still standing tall as well.

[sa547]

Having seen my share of disasters in my homeland in the past and in Japan, I feel I am obligated to tell this fogey to shut his trap about his recriminations (see comments):
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx...CategoryId=200

[Green²]

Originally Posted by NISA

<Common Spent Fuel Pool>

It was confirmed that the water level of Spent Fuel Pool was maintained
full at after 06:00 March 18th.

As of 11:19 March 18th, the water temperature in the pool is 55℃.
As of 09:00 March 19th, the water temperature in the pool is 57℃.
Water spray over the Common Spent Fuel Pool was started (10:37
March 21st

http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/f...110321-4-1.pdf
http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/f...110320-4-1.pdf
http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/f...20110318-3.pdf

Originally Posted by NISA

<Unit 2> White smoke generated from Unit 2. (18:22 March 21st

<Unit 3> Grayish smoke generated from Unit 3. (At around 15:55 March 21st)
<Unit 3> The smoke was confirmed to be died down. (17:55 March 21st


<Units 5 and 6>
Power supply to Unit 5 was switched from the Emergency Diesel
Generator to the External Power Supply. (11:36 March 21st)
http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/f...110322-1-1.pdf

Originally Posted by kyodonews

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the nuclear safety agency, said the causes of the smoke billowing from the No. 2 and No. 3 reactor buildings remain unknown and that the originally scheduled work to revive power and cooling systems at the troubled reactors will be delayed by one day.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80015.html

At this point, I'm sure that we can all guess what that white smoke is.

[Guardian Enzo]

Reactor 2 was believed to be steam, reactor 3 believed to be from an electrical short-circuit. Neither believed to be from nuclear fuel.

The key now is going to be: how much of the equipment will still work once the power is restored at all reactors? We already know cooling pumps at reactor 2 will need to be replaced. But there's also monitoring equipment (the most likely to be working) filters that would theoretically remove must of the radiation from steam releases, and all the other pump systems and pipes for the reactors and spent fuel ponds (the most likely to be damaged). If these are non-functional it won't represent a disaster - the reactors themselves appear to be stable - but it would mean a status quo situation in terms of the seawater pumping and spraying operations rather than a relatively quick (1-2 days if everything was working) transition to cold shutdown for R 1-4.

[RRW]

[Solafighter]

^Ok, i could analyze this by myself but do we have first hand comments and informations about these photos?

[RRW]

The 62C looks like the spent fuel pond.

The 128C looks like it's from the reactor core itself. I'd assume that would be much hotter

[Random32]

On the topic of mass buying of salt. fail. I wouldn't blame the Chinese people of stupidity, or their education system though, its the media hyping stuff up, just like everywhere else where there was panic.

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I would never tell anyone what to do or not to do when they're concerned for their own health

I would tell them not to take the pills since they will do much more harm than good considering the levels in the water are really really low and safe

[Kyero Fox]

I told my father "don't be surpised if we have new japanese resedents soon"

If things go REALLY! bad, We in america better do the right thing and welcome them with open arms.

[Guardian Enzo]

The only "Japanese residents" we're likely to see are fleeing French Nationals. The Japanese aren't going anywhere (they'll remember the gaijin who did) and even most other nations' visitors have stuck it out. Sweden sponsored two charter flights out of Tokyo for anyone who wanted to leave, and 13 people showed up.

[Lilithium]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Shut down the entire plant. Stop using Geiger counters, and take a thermal/IR photo of the tanks, pipes, etc. There may be hairline cracks that are causing this.

P.S Don't they have some sort of robot crew, like those used by bomb-disposal to scout for these kind of problems?

I get a feeling somebody watched Magnitude 8.0! To be completely frank, my buddies in Japan that have been there for a decade or two are nothing but skeptical of the Japanese government. Apparently their rescue teams and earthquake response teams are not as great as they're made to look.

These catastrophe in Japan are absolutely depressing. I was keeping track of the news coming out of Japan for a Japanese culture forum I frequently visit from when the earthquake & tsunami hit to the shit it is going through now. Whenever this sort of disaster hits, no matter what country is affected, it's intolerable to laugh about. Here are these people, as innocent as anybody else, and they're suffering so immensely. Their days were as business as usual as any other day until the afternoon the earthquake & tsunami hit. I can't imagine the shock. I hope anyone that is capable of donating to the Red Cross does so as soo as they can, but if you can't? Keep awareness of what is going on over there up among your friends and family. Get people who can donate to do so. Every little bit helps.

[Kyero Fox]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

The only "Japanese residents" we're likely to see are fleeing French Nationals. The Japanese aren't going anywhere (they'll remember the gaijin who did) and even most other nations' visitors have stuck it out. Sweden sponsored two charter flights out of Tokyo for anyone who wanted to leave, and 13 people showed up.

Thats pretty damn strong determination, well if they do or don't thats their choice but if things get really bad I hope they reconsider staying...

Also i read some where that yahoo users alone donated 5million to japan.

[Vexx]

Lets just say the reputation and credibility of the World Health Organization plummeted like a paralyzed falcon today:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011...es?ft=1&f=1001

two pounds of spinach a day for a year, or 160 years at one glass a milk a day? Do people start to grasp why this shrieking and fear-mongering is utter bullshit?
Do they wonder why the people who actually look things up are making fun of them?

Clarification: the NPR article is an on-target bit of "investigating the claims" -- it exposes the WHO spokesman as basically hitting the fear/panic button with no science to back his assertions up. The author of the NPR article also exposes the Reuters news reporter who "called some WHO spokesman in Manilla" to get the sort of half-ass answers needed to create scary articles. I'm laying a bet the HQ of WHO is going to be in damage control mode in a day or so, but meanwhile the besmirching is in progress.

[Lilithium]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Lets just say the reputation and credibility of the World Health Organization plummeted like a paralyzed falcon today:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011...es?ft=1&f=1001

What am I supposed to think of that? :>

[tetorapetora]

I barely make it to the end of the month and I still donated, I just stop buying food for a few days to make it up for it.

Great to see news like Hideaki Akaiwa type.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Lilithium

What am I supposed to think of that? :>

That the WHO is talking out of its ass without any science to back them up? I plan to buy Japanese export food as usual (unless the data changes dramatically). All this fear mongering by the WHO is going to do is make it even harder for the agricultural sector to recover without any justification.

[Lilithium]

Originally Posted by Vexx

That the WHO is talking out of its ass without any science to back them up?

Lordy lord, makes sense that I was confused and worried when I finished reading the article!

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Lilithium

What am I supposed to think of that? :>

That we have no competent, global health organization? Which I suppose is kinda worrying, now that I think of it. Kinda like the boy who cried wolf story, except in this case the wolf is some global super plague we'll never see coming.

[NameGoesHere]

Situation is more out of control than TEPCO wants to admit, but not as bad as MSM makes it seem. Worries me that there is so little official information besides the far-away readings.

General info:
http://allthingsnuclear.org/

Energy perspective:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7697

Radiation graphs:
http://public.tableausoftware.com/vi...evelsDashboard

Building pic:

Spoiler:

This image is being passed around, lots of debates to the validity.

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Reactor 2 was believed to be steam, reactor 3 believed to be from an electrical short-circuit. Neither believed to be from nuclear fuel.

The key now is going to be: how much of the equipment will still work once the power is restored at all reactors? We already know cooling pumps at reactor 2 will need to be replaced. But there's also monitoring equipment (the most likely to be working) filters that would theoretically remove must of the radiation from steam releases, and all the other pump systems and pipes for the reactors and spent fuel ponds (the most likely to be damaged). If these are non-functional it won't represent a disaster - the reactors themselves appear to be stable - but it would mean a status quo situation in terms of the seawater pumping and spraying operations rather than a relatively quick (1-2 days if everything was working) transition to cold shutdown for R 1-4.

I know they're hoping for the best from the redundant systems, but sea water + boric acid + pressure...highly concentrated...