8.9 Quake hits near Northeastern Coast of Japan

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

Sendai and surrounding area, February 26


Sendai and surrounding area, March 12

[Obstructed_View]

Stop panicking. Situation is worse than TMI, but far from Chernobyl level drama.

Building that blew up wasn't much more than a warehouse to keep the workers&equipment dry. Explosion was almost certainly either pressure release (steam) or ignition of hydrogen.

Reactor in question was built in 1970 (GE Mark I BWR) and is relatively small (440 MW of electrical power), so they simply didn't bother with pouring tons of concrete over it. Main containment for this type is under the now missing roof, hopefully (relatively) undamaged. While we're at it - there is no engineer in the world that would willingly design a square pressure vessel. Too much weak spots. They're usually either spherical or cylindrical.

Radioactivity monitoring data are online for both Fukushima installations, but the data for Daiichi site is not being updated since the earthquake (yup, unfortunate & a bit fishy)

Fukushima-Daiichi

Fukushima-Daini

There was a e this morning, they either vented the pressure or had some rainfall. Either way, radiation levels were in range of a solid rainstorm.

And general site with info:

http://www.nuctrans.org/Nuc_Trans/lo...apan/japan.htm

Update:

From BBC news-stream:

Noriyuki Shikata, deputy cabinet secretary for public relations for the Japanese prime minister tweets: "Blast was caused by ac ulated hydrogen combined with oxygen in the space between container and outer structure. No damage to container."

Best possible scenario, there is high possibility that cooling piping is still OK.

I heard them say earlier that they're putting sea water into the cooling pools, which means the pumps still aren't circulating water, which means that they're just buying time trying to keep the temperature down. Seems that if they can't get the generators back online we're going to see this same sequence happen over and over with all the other reactors as the batteries die.

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

Sendai airport, yesterday:

[MaNuMaNiAc]

It's not. The thing I looked up quickly said Japan's population was 300 million. It's still a load of people in a small space. Did you have a point or were you just going to be a because I made a mistake?

Just thought I'd be a about it, its been a while and I was starting to feel withdrawal symptoms.

Carry on

[MannyIsGod]

Just thought I'd be a about it, its been a while and I was starting to feel withdrawal symptoms.

Carry on

Don't feel bad about being a to OV. He's been known to be a himself and if your'e going to dish it out you'd better be able to take it without turning into a whining .

[MannyIsGod]

Stop panicking. Situation is worse than TMI, but far from Chernobyl level drama.

Building that blew up wasn't much more than a warehouse to keep the workers&equipment dry. Explosion was almost certainly either pressure release (steam) or ignition of hydrogen.

Reactor in question was built in 1970 (GE Mark I BWR) and is relatively small (440 MW of electrical power), so they simply didn't bother with pouring tons of concrete over it. Main containment for this type is under the now missing roof, hopefully (relatively) undamaged. While we're at it - there is no engineer in the world that would willingly design a square pressure vessel. Too much weak spots. They're usually either spherical or cylindrical.

Radioactivity monitoring data are online for both Fukushima installations, but the data for Daiichi site is not being updated since the earthquake (yup, unfortunate & a bit fishy)

Fukushima-Daiichi

Fukushima-Daini

There was a e this morning, they either vented the pressure or had some rainfall. Either way, radiation levels were in range of a solid rainstorm.

And general site with info:

http://www.nuctrans.org/Nuc_Trans/lo...apan/japan.htm

Update:

From BBC news-stream:

Noriyuki Shikata, deputy cabinet secretary for public relations for the Japanese prime minister tweets: "Blast was caused by ac ulated hydrogen combined with oxygen in the space between container and outer structure. No damage to container."

Best possible scenario, there is high possibility that cooling piping is still OK.

Good post.

Thanks for the stream links, and while I haven't watched it at all today so I don't know what the coverage has been like Al Jazera English has been much better than any US Network. NHK English was as well when I was watching the other night.

US News networks just really ing suck now. Its sad.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Don't feel bad about being a to OV. He's been known to be a himself and if your'e going to dish it out you'd better be able to take it without turning into a whining .

I don't much feel bad about it. Its just that, admittedly, I was being a

Its therapeutic really.

[CuckingFunt]

Breaking New Chris Brown has friends in Hawaii!!

ing KCRA. For ten years I lived with that station.

[MannyIsGod]

The Sumatra tsunami hit a lot of sparsely populated places that were hundreds of miles away. This one hit a number of densely populated areas within seconds, many of which still are inaccessible by rescue teams. If the death toll is less than 100,000 it'll be miraculous. Don't be surprised if it's more than Sumatra.

They're not going to lose 100,000 people.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Isn't it eerie that the USA TV news coverage has been almost entirely focused on the facebook/twitter/social network aspect of this story?

[IronMaxipad]

Sunday, March 13, 2011
Meltdown Caused Nuke Plant Explosion: Safety Body

TOKYO (Nikkei)--The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said Saturday afternoon the explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of the reactor core.

The same day, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501), which runs the plant, began to flood the damaged reactor with seawater to cool it down, resorting to measures that could rust the reactor and force the utility to scrap it.

Cesium and iodine, by-products of nuclear fission, were detected around the plant, which would make the explosion the worst accident in the roughly 50-year history of Japanese nuclear power generation.

An explosion was heard near the plant's No. 1 reactor about 3:30 p.m. and plumes of white smoke went up 10 minutes later. The ceiling of the building housing the reactor collapsed, according to information obtained by Fukushima prefectural authorities.

At a news conference Saturday night, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano discounted the possibility of a significant leak of radioactive material from the accident. "The walls of the building containing the reactor were destroyed, meaning that the metal container encasing the reactor did not explode," Edano said.

The amount of radiation detected inside the plant after 4:00 p.m. slightly exceeded the dose people can safely receive in a year, according to information obtained by the Fukushima prefectural government.

The No. 1 reactor shut down automatically soon after a massive earthquake hit the area Friday, but its emergency core cooling system failed to cool the reactor's core sufficiently.

NISA is affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

(The Nikkei March 13 edition)

http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/
http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110312D12JFF03.htm

[mingus]

I wouldn't be surprised if the death toll reached half a million by the end of it.

[IronMaxipad]

It won't

[mingus]

one city, just one city, of 77,000 people (i can't remember the name) is completely destroyed. the tsunami covered 1300 miles of the coast. i don't know the layout of the Japan, but i have a feeling that that is just one of many cities along the coast that is completely leveled.

[BlackSwordsMan]

How ty is it if you're waiting for a package to come from japan right now

[IronMaxipad]

one city, just one city, of 77,000 people (i can't remember the name) is completely destroyed. the tsunami covered 1300 miles of the coast. i don't know the layout of the Japan, but i have a feeling that that is just one of many cities along the coast that is completely leveled.

Yeah but they had tsunami warnings ahead of time. And they haven't even reached 1000 confirmed deaths yet.. Yes it's still early but a death toll of half a million is highly unlikely.

[MannyIsGod]

Half a million? SMH.

Some of you really need a better concept of the numbers your spewing.

[mingus]

Half a million? SMH.

Some of you really need a better concept of the numbers your spewing.

spewing? lol, okay.

hey i never claimed i knew the numbers, or that the numbers i gave were accurate or close to accurate.

i'd like to know what you think the numbers are and how you're getting them, though, seeing as how you are the expert.

[mouse]

I still don't understand why Japan doesn't turn to Manny for weather predictions?

[The Reckoning]

what sucks is i doubt all those people will be covered for their losses

[The Reckoning]

does anybody know if its true that five reactors are now on watch for potential meltdowns, or is that CNN talking heads being re ed?

[Chomag]

CNN reporting breaking news that one of the reactors meltdown might be underway. They still seem very dodgy about everything but who knows. Hopefully it's nothing though, but either way we will probably know soon.

[The Reckoning]

Isn't it eerie that the USA TV news coverage has been almost entirely focused on the facebook/twitter/social network aspect of this story?

its funny because i posted this all over my facebook and noone cares. everyones talking about their spring break or how many BMs theyve taken today.

[Das Texan]

Half a million? SMH.

Some of you really need a better concept of the numbers your spewing.

well if there is a nuclear meltdown....

[mouse]

Anyone who is naive enough to believe what a nuclear safety officer tells them deserves what they get.