Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (March 11, 2011)

[Jeffry2009]

[RRW]

Tsunami dolphin rescued from rice paddy 1 mile inland

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by RRW

Tsunami dolphin rescued from rice paddy 1 mile inland

That's really cool, and thankfully shows that japanese are beginnning to get over the original devastation, and behave normally, caring about less critical issues.

I remember after a large earthquake we had back home a decade ago, it took forever to overcome the media sensationalism, that like vicious circle fuelled panic in masses.

[Tri-ring]

For anyone who has doubts of Japan's resiliency to rebuild back from this disaster you should look at prior examples.

Here is Project X, a NHK series concerning past accomplishments, that picks up the reconstruction of Roko Station and Tokaido line destroyed in the Hanshin earthquake 15 years ago.

They got the line back in service after only 3 months with construction workers working non stop for 24 hours in two shifts sleeping on site.

[Alchemist007]

I have no doubt they'd bounce back fast, but this radiation bs has a whole load of potential lasting effects. Unless they actually invent radiation scrubbers like in Ghost in the Shell (SAC).

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

I have no doubt they'd bounce back fast, but this radiation bs has a whole load of potential lasting effects. Unless they actually invent radiation scrubbers like in Ghost in the Shell (SAC).

In case you forget, the original sites of the nuclear bomb blasts have been cleaned up and is now safe to visit. I should know, I went there myself.

Sometimes I wonder if people still thinks of radiation as some demonic force or alien plague.

[Alchemist007]

The atomic weapons used different isotopes. The Chernobyl area wont be safely habitable for hundreds of years, and all the radiation wont be gone for like 48,000.

[Decagon]

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

I have no doubt they'd bounce back fast, but this radiation bs has a whole load of potential lasting effects. Unless they actually invent radiation scrubbers like in Ghost in the Shell (SAC).

The effect of contamination on areas far from the power plant is almost entirely fear right now. The difficulty to articulate any level of greater than background radiation as being "safe" is a big contributor to this, but I strongly believe people trust TEPCO as much as a delinquent holding a spiked bat right now. If by radiation you mean the particulate that is being carried on wind and raining down around areas, sticking to or being taken up by produce, or entering the water table, so far it has mainly been iodine-131 which has a half life of 8 days which decays to fractions of a percent of the initial quantity in just a few months.

Right now, the fear is causing less fish consumption in Japan; the fear is causing significantly less demand for Japanese food products in foreign countries; the fear is causing other nuclear reactors around Japan that shut down during the earthquake from coming back online as communities and governments have become sensitive to nuclear power--further exacerbating power issues.

[Alchemist007]

Can you really blame people? They kept telling us that 'it's alright' and the news regarding the plant just kept getting worse and worse and worse and they keep trying to reassure us.

[WanderingKnight]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

In case you forget, the original sites of the nuclear bomb blasts have been cleaned up and is now safe to visit. I should know, I went there myself.

Sometimes I wonder if people still thinks of radiation as some demonic force or alien plague.

Well, AFAIK the amount of radioactive material in nuclear bombs is several orders of magnitude less than in nuclear reactors. After all, the idea of a reactor is to manage a slow but steady release of a LOT of energy... A bomb requires a much faster release but comparatively smaller amount of energy, and thus material. And the hibakusha do exist, too.

That's AFAIK. I might be wrong though.

In other news, radiation peaked at 1 Sv/hour at the plants. That's lethal in a short amount of time. So, it's getting pretty bad -- a core leak is very likely though they don't know which reactor it is yet.

[Decagon]

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

Can you really blame people? They kept telling us that 'it's alright' and the news regarding the plant just kept getting worse and worse and worse and they keep trying to reassure us.

The temperature and pressures of the four problem reactors have been stabilized, nothing has blown up in almost two weeks, and they have people inside the buildings trying to find and rectify problems. I don't see how this is is a case of things getting worse as opposed to becoming more aware of the situation.

[Alchemist007]

Radiation is still being released. Just because it's not blowing up daily doesn't mean the damage hasn't already been done and is not serious.

[Guardian Enzo]

The situation is still serious. It is categorically not getting worse and worse. All of the reactors have external power, and fresh water has replaced seawater in cooling the reactors. All of the reactors have lower core temperature and pressure than they did at the height of the crisis. The surface radiation throughout Northeast Japan has been steadily declining for the last week.

As long as there's radiation being emitted and the main cooling systems are not functional, it's still a crisis. And even once we get to that point, the cleanup of the plant is going to be a long, difficult process. But it doesn't help to misstate what's happening on the ground. It's not Chernobyl - it was never going to be Chernobyl - and things are definitely better on-site now than they were a few days or a week ago. The IAEA itself has said so. Could there be major setbacks? Yes - but given that the more time we put between the reactors being shut down and the present the less heat they generate and the less radiation they emit, every day that passes means a major setback is less likely. Thing may not get better as fast as we'd all like, but they're not too likely to get significantly worse at any time.

[Cloudy]

Originally Posted by Tri-ring

For anyone who has doubts of Japan's resiliency to rebuild back from this disaster you should look at prior examples.

Here is Project X, a NHK series concerning past accomplishments, that picks up the reconstruction of Roko Station and Tokaido line destroyed in the Hanshin earthquake 15 years ago.

They got the line back in service after only 3 months with construction workers working non stop for 24 hours in two shifts sleeping on site.

Well I knew that the Japanese economy had a V shape recovery after the Kobe earthquake. But I wondered if the economic recovery this time would reach a point as if the Japanese economic reccesion never happened, considering that some scholars see this disater as a chance for the Japanese to regain their prestige just like the post WW2 era.

[Jeffry2009]

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2011/0...ly-terrifying/

I can't watch these over & over again anymore.

[haegar]

Radioactivity in water at reactor 2 at the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant has reached 10 million times the usual level, company officials say.

Workers trying to cool the reactor core to avoid a meltdown have been evacuated.

Earlier, Japan's nuclear agency said that levels of radioactive iodine in the sea near the plant had risen to 1,850 times the usual level.

The UN's nuclear agency has warned the crisis could go on for months.

It is believed the radiation at Fukushima is coming from one of the reactors, but a specific leak has not been identified.

Leaking water at reactor 2 has been measured at 1,000 millisieverts/hour - 10 million times higher than when the plant is operating normally.

"We are examining the cause of this, but no work is being done there because of the high level of radiation," said a spokesman for the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco).
Continue reading the main story

"High levels of caesium and other substances are being detected, which usually should not be found in reactor water. There is a high possibility that fuel rods are being damaged," the spokesman added.

Tepco has been criticised for a lack of transparency and failing to provide information more promptly.

The nation's nuclear agency said the operator of the Fukushima plant had made a number of mistakes, including worker clothing.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government said that airbone radiation around the plant was decreasing.

source bbc world

[Random32]

Originally Posted by Alchemist007

I have no doubt they'd bounce back fast, but this radiation bs has a whole load of potential lasting effects. Unless they actually invent radiation scrubbers like in Ghost in the Shell (SAC).

radiation isn't some magical alien force that kills things. there will probably be long lasting effects, but none that severe.

The atomic weapons used different isotopes. The Chernobyl area wont be safely habitable for hundreds of years, and all the radiation wont be gone for like 48,000.

Chernobyl is safely habitable as of now. I'm willing to walk to the actual power plant and back out if you pay my travel costs there and back. Chernobyl was actually operational until around 2000 (which is a really scary fact considering any one of them could have become another Chernobyl accident)

the radiation won't be completely gone for a long time, and the effects of radiation still continue to show in some areas, but saying the area around Chernobyl isn't safely habitable isn't true

[Alchemist007]

Then why is Pripyat still a ghost city? It's because there's still radiation pockets that will mess you up. It's not as safe as you think, people do visit there and doing so means going past a security checkpoint that will clean you if they find you're irradiated on the way out. To actually live there is not an option.

[RRW]

because people scare to go there.

technically you CAN live there safely. but it's still more dangerous compare to other area.

plus with current infrastructure, it pretty much ghost town

[thevil1]

I haven't been following this thread, but I've been following NHK almost every day since the quake. I don't trust the local news sources in my area.
This is from a vlogger who's an American living in Shizuoka (south of Tokyo). I'm an avid follower of him. It's worth following him IMO.

Spoiler: