# Japan Earthquake 2011



## valis

reckon there's going to be a slew of input on this, may as well get it started.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/11/134444531/major-tsunami-damage-in-northern-japan?ft=1&f=1001


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## ekim68

We have a tsunami alert for our coast that's expected to hit about 7:00 this am. Looks like Hawaii is getting hit too.


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## ekim68

Well nothing much happened on our coast. :up:


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## poochee

Ekim, that is good news.:up:

Heard it could also affect inland if rivers get flooded with water from the coast.


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## Blackmirror

Some striking images

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/11/world/asia/20110311_japan.html?ref=asia#20


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## Nekochanpurr

I'm praying for the families.  Had to go on a 'friend search' last night online.. I have friends teaching over there or in the military. Luckily found all but one.. Who never goes on. Hopefully hes okay.


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## Paquadez

The big concern now is that the affected nuclear power generating reactor has failed to respond to its control rods and the cooling system has failed.................

What this means in practical terms is the fuel rods then melt and fuse into the reactor core.

The reactor overheats and the previously controlled reaction, runs wild, as a chain reaction builds and becomes self-fuelling.

Not perhaps the brightest idea in the World to site nuclear reactors firstly on a flood plain and secondly in a putative earthquake zone.

Apparently, over 3,000 local residents have been evacuated.

Fukushima No 1 is a BWR (Boiling Water Reactor).

*See here:*


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## valis

eek, indeed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110311/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_quake_power_plant


> Japan's nuclear safety agency said pressure inside one of six boiling water reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal. Hours after the evacuation order, the government announced that the plant in northeastern Japan will *release slightly radioactive vapo*r from the unit to lower the pressure in an effort to protect it from a possible meltdown.


wasn't aware that 'slightly' could be used right next to 'radioactive'.


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## gypsygrace

valis said:


> eek, indeed.
> 
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110311/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_quake_power_plant
> 
> wasn't aware that 'slightly' could be used right next to 'radioactive'.


My thoughts exactly.


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## Paquadez

valis said:


> eek, indeed.
> 
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110311/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_quake_power_plant
> 
> wasn't aware that 'slightly' could be used right next to 'radioactive'.


"So solly Mrs Fujiwami youl husband regletabrry srighty eh dead flom ladiation sickness, ah so."

I feel so concerned for all the people living nearby: and after Chernobyl, the kids.


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## valis

Indeed. One would think that Chernobyl would have been a wake-up call; apparently, **** sap has a shorter memory than I had bargained for.


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## valis

huh. Actually damage in Santa Cruz......

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...cent-city-california-20110311,0,3043382.story


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## poochee

> The tsunami surges that have visited points along the California coast may have claimed its first victim.


http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/11/3467662/california-coast-braces-for-tsunami.html


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## valis

hearing reports now that radiation levels are 1000x greater than this time last week, and climbing like a rocket.


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## eggplant43

> Strong currents, not just waves, produced great damage along the California coast, ripping boats from moorings and undermining piers and docks.


http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_17595130


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## 1956brother

wow...what gets me is the film of the tsunami. the tsunami that hit sumatra and the indian ocean, you saw mostly the after affect. yes the destruction was incredible.

we are now seeing actual film of the tsunami as it happens. the size and the destructive power is unbelievable.
cargo ships floating down main street. how the water keeps going and going over the farm area. nothing stops it.


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## ekim68

I used to go fishing out of this harbor in Crescent City....

Tsunami: Much of Crescent City harbor destroyed; 4 people swept into sea, 1 feared dead


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## Littlefield

valis said:


> eek, indeed.
> 
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110311/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_quake_power_plant
> 
> wasn't aware that 'slightly' could be used right next to 'radioactive'.


Especially in Japan where they still have all the fear from WWII radiation from the big bombs.


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## bp936

and the reactors are getting hotter and after knowing about the problem, 8 hours later, still no solution.
Earthquake, Tsunami, bad enough, but a nuclear meltdown? That will be the worst.

I am just glad my relative in Hawaii is ok. 
Hard to imagine what will happen to Japan. We will never learn and believe in the powers of Mother Nature.


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## buffoon

There's been an explosion at Fukushima 1. Looks like the reactor coat (building) was affected.






> Analysts say a meltdown would not necessarily lead to a major disaster because light-water reactors would not explode even if they overheated.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12720219


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## eggplant43

More on the explosion:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/11/AR2011031103673.html


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## bp936

there just isn't much, one can say, but watch with shock, what is happening. We are all helpless in preventing natural disasters


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## aka Brett

Its a bad one..I believe the death toll will be in the thousands as communications continue.
Some of the new footage looked pretty bad..hundreds of buildings and cars being pushed inland


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## poochee

*Japan quake: China sets aside disputes, offers help:up:*
By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service 
Saturday, March 12, 2011; 1:23 PM

BEIJING - The earthquake and tsunami that devastated northern Japan may help temporarily ease Japan's strained relations with China, allowing the two Asian rivals for the moment to look past lingering territorial, economic, military and historical disputes.

*When news of the disaster spread Friday, Chinese leaders were quick to offer condolences and support.* China is also earthquake-prone - a deadly 5.8-magnitude tremor just hit southwestern Yunnan province Thursday - and officials here immediately put a trained rescue team in place to dispatch to Japan if needed

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/12/AR2011031201428.html?hpid=topnews


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## valis

aka Brett said:


> Its a bad one..I believe the death toll will be in the thousands as communications continue.
> Some of the new footage looked pretty bad..hundreds of buildings and cars being pushed inland


Yup. I pegged it at over 50k yesterday morning; you generally don't have 1k dead from a quake of that size, regardless of how prepared you are.


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## valis

doesn't sound good.......dumping sea water in to assist in the cooling, and that's about as last-ditch as you get.


> To limit damage to the reactor core, Tokyo Electric Power Company began injecting sea water mixed with boron into the primary containment vessel in an operation that got under way Saturday night, IAEA said.
> The use of sea water and boron was described as a "Hail Mary pass" by Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies focused on energy policies and a former senior policy adviser to the U.S. secretary of energy.


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## buffoon

valis said:


> doesn't sound good.......dumping sea water in to assist in the cooling, and that's about as last-ditch as you get.


dumping seawater into the "primary" containment vessel means they're not putting it into the reactor vessel (it's going between the outer shell of which the roof blew off and the steel container inside which heat and pressure rose).

In plain English, they've given the reactor up. They've now reached a stage of having no idea what to do. If this works it'll be down to luck, if it doesn't it'll be down to bad fortune. "Hail Mary" is apt.

The information policy (if that's what it can be called) is, BTW, typical for Japan's nuclear PR policy. It all comes piecemeal, contradicts itself 5 times a day and the truth will establish itself first (not thru government).

The number of "occurrences" has become uncountable over the decades, there was an actual meltdown in the 70s which was never officially admitted until about 30 years later. Japan's energy giants (5, I believe) determine what the public needs to know and the government is totally enslaved to them. TEPCO is bad but the others are no better. It takes Japanese stoicism (hard to explain to a gai-jin) to live with this sort of prevarication. In our part of the world these buggers would long since have been shot.

I remember when criticism of the energy giants mounted once (wrt nuclear irresponsibility). The reply was that the average Tokyo dweller could then get used to having no air conditioning in summer and other power outages. Silence ensued.

I keep hearing on all news channels that a high tech (hi-security rules) country like Nippon failing to be able to sit on this one, should make all us other ones think. That's rubbish (not refuting that we should think heavily on nuclear at all). The security rules in Japan are some of the worst. Big energy either dictates them or, where government actually managed to put its foot down, circumvents them.

Seppuku time, I hope.


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## valis

yeah, even I gathered that much. My immediate thought on reading the headline was 'what in hades? Sea water is lacking in a few areas for being transmuted into the proper sort of water for nuclear coolant; then I read a bit further on and tripped over the boron additive, and then I pretty much shut it off. 

Nothing about that spells 'we are in control of this situation, and you don't have to worry'.

As for nuclear power, you know me; I'm all for it. The problem I have is that when **** sap begins to learn new technology, we tend to skip the walking part and instead move straight to the running part. In short, project A can do all this; go for it. 

However, project A will also cause all sorts of junk on the side, and we will discover that about 30 years after the fact.

Thalidomide and Agent Orange spring immediately to mind. 

In short, while the idea of nuclear power I'm ALL for, we need to further figure out how in the heck to deal with the plethora of undesirable side effects in dumping the stuff we no longer need for the nuclear reaction.


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## Fidelista

valis said:


> yeah, even I gathered that much. My immediate thought on reading the headline was 'what in hades? Sea water is lacking in a few areas for being transmuted into the proper sort of water for nuclear coolant; then I read a bit further on and tripped over the boron additive, and then I pretty much shut it off.
> 
> Nothing about that spells 'we are in control of this situation, and you don't have to worry'.
> 
> As for nuclear power, you know me; I'm all for it. The problem I have is that when **** sap begins to learn new technology, we tend to skip the walking part and instead move straight to the running part. In short, project A can do all this; go for it.
> 
> However, project A will also cause all sorts of junk on the side, and we will discover that about 30 years after the fact.
> 
> Thalidomide and Agent Orange spring immediately to mind.
> 
> In short, while the idea of nuclear power I'm ALL for, we need to further figure out how in the heck to deal with the plethora of undesirable side effects in dumping the stuff we no longer need for the nuclear reaction.


Good thought and I agree . I also believe the construction of these plants needs to be examined . I remember disputes about building these on fault zones in Calif --years ago . Since all of Japan is active -- this has to looked at .
Not saying N-power should not be used , but only that they must plan on major earthquakes . 
I imagine there are other things they have not planned for as well --now is good time to do it . >f


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## valis

indeed. I overlooked that in my response; maybe, just maybe, putting multiple nuclear reactors on THE major fault line on the planet may not have been such a good idea.

But then you run into the cultural issue; anyone remember the Kobe earthquake, and Japan quite calmly stating 'no thanks, we got this' to the offers of outside help?

Pride is very high indeed over there.


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## valis

el buffo or paq, got a question for you:

last night me and the missus were up late thinking about the (non-radioactive) fallout from this, sort of a deep thought thing. The consensus was that this could be a chance for USA to, shall we say, reclaim, some of our debts from Japan. The question, however, was whether or not the USA would choose this opportunity to step on the throat of Japan to enforce it. 

It's an abstract thought currently, but I see enough moves going forward to realize that I am hopelessly out of my depth on the theatre of global economics. I see an opportunity (as Japan is quite literally in the worst economic crisis of their long and storied history), but while I can see the possible moves down the board, I've no clue what the ramifications of those will be. I do know that Japan owns an unholy amount of the foreign debt owed by the USA, and the loan shark in me states that this would be a pretty good opportunity to erase a bit of that.

That said, I've absolutely zero faith in the leaders of the USA to either acknowledge this, or to act upon it, but it's something that has come up in discussions, so I thought I would get the input of the financial geniuses here.

Namely, you two.

regardless, something to think about.


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## buffoon

Fidelista said:


> Good thought and I agree . I also believe the construction of these plants needs to be examined . I remember disputes about building these on fault zones in Calif --years ago . Since all of Japan is active -- this has to looked at .
> Not saying N-power should not be used , but only that they must plan on major earthquakes .
> I imagine there are other things they have not planned for as well --now is good time to do it . >f





valis said:


> indeed. I overlooked that in my response; maybe, just maybe, putting multiple nuclear reactors on THE major fault line on the planet may not have been such a good idea.
> 
> But then you run into the cultural issue; anyone remember the Kobe earthquake, and Japan quite calmly stating 'no thanks, we got this' to the offers of outside help?
> 
> Pride is very high indeed over there.


The main issue being that Japan is starved (as we all) for energy, yet has no resources of its own.

And it can't build the darn things anywhere without hitting a fault line.

But contingency plans turned out to be, well............not contingency plans. They'd considered quakes up to 8.5 and even the current 8.8 might have been weathered. The automatic shut off worked.

What didn't work was the auxiliary power needed to maintain the cooling process afterwards (cycle pumping of cooling water thru a heat exchanger). Because this hitherto unheard of silly wave came in from the sea, and flooded generators annoyingly tend to quit (or not even start). So they ran her on batteries

I guess when you're in nuclear you've long since forgotten the lesser technologies. Like batteries don't last forever so you better have a coupla thousand of them for back up (since the wave that drowned your jennies is probably due to the quake that shut your reactor and if it was strong enough to do that it's probably corrugated your surrounding countryside which is also very wet so THEY'RE NOT LIKELY TO BRING YOU A NEW BATTERY AT THE DROP OF A HAT WHEN THESE ONES RUNS OUT).

bakayarō


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## Fidelista

valis said:


> indeed. I overlooked that in my response; maybe, just maybe, putting multiple nuclear reactors on THE major fault line on the planet may not have been such a good idea.
> 
> But then you run into the cultural issue; anyone remember the Kobe earthquake, and Japan quite calmly stating 'no thanks, we got this' to the offers of outside help?
> 
> Pride is very high indeed over there.


I have no answers as far as construction , or whether or not Japan should use N-power . 
All I know is that we know enough about what the natural risks are , and where they are . 
Fault zones cannot be ignored . I worry about California always . 
Pride may be high over there , but is there not a saying "pride goes before fall" .
>f


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## valis

nice catch, >f......a LOT of folks don't realize the biggest fault line in the US is in Arkansas......


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## Fidelista

9 people exposed to radiation so far . . >f

Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant faces new reactor problem
(Reuters) - A quake-hit Japanese nuclear plant reeling from an explosion at one of its reactors has also lost its emergency cooling system at another reactor, Japan's nuclear power safety agency said on Sunday.

The emergency cooling system is no longer functioning at* the No.3 reactor* at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, requiring the facility to urgently secure a means to supply water to the reactor, an official of the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told a news conference.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/12/us-japan-quake-nuclear-cooling-idUSTRE72B3GI20110312


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## buffoon

valis said:


> el buffo or paq, got a question for you:
> 
> last night me and the missus were up late thinking about the (non-radioactive) fallout from this, sort of a deep thought thing. The consensus was that this could be a chance for USA to, shall we say, reclaim, some of our debts from Japan. The question, however, was whether or not the USA would choose this opportunity to step on the throat of Japan to enforce it.
> 
> It's an abstract thought currently, but I see enough moves going forward to realize that I am hopelessly out of my depth on the theatre of global economics. I see an opportunity (as Japan is quite literally in the worst economic crisis of their long and storied history), but while I can see the possible moves down the board, I've no clue what the ramifications of those will be. I do know that Japan owns an unholy amount of the foreign debt owed by the USA, and the loan shark in me states that this would be a pretty good opportunity to erase a bit of that.
> 
> That said, I've absolutely zero faith in the leaders of the USA to either acknowledge this, or to act upon it, but it's something that has come up in discussions, so I thought I would get the input of the financial geniuses here.
> 
> Namely, you two.
> 
> regardless, something to think about.


The one thing you (or the US) don't want, is Japan in such dire straits that they'll be forced to call (all) the debt(s).

There was a scenario (theoretical of course) some time ago, when Nippon was in its creditor heydays, about the whole world economy going into utter meltdown, should "The Big One" hit Tokyo (like in 1923).

Theoretical it may have been but it had many sweating (still does/has).

As for the loan shark in you putting its foot on someone's neck, remember that your'e actually not the loan shark, you're the guy whose arm gets broken. Physically impossible in this case but default internationally and and nobody's ever going to take even a piece of mouldy bread from you, let alone give you some. And then who's gonna finance the profligate spending needed to maintain the American way of life?

It might have educational merits though. Like teaching the entitlement crowd to firstly tend their fields and

THEN harvest

THEN eat.

Or, in the words of a Tibetan that I know of, "what we can't buy, we earn. What we can't earn, we make. What we can neither earn nor make, we do without."

I think it's called frugality but I'll have to look it up.


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## buffoon

valis said:


> nice catch, >f......a LOT of folks don't realize the biggest fault line in the US is in Arkansas......


I'm not surprised


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## valis

on the phone right now, buff, but give me a few and I'll digest your input.......


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## aka Brett

valis said:


> Yup. I pegged it at over 50k yesterday morning; you generally don't have 1k dead from a quake of that size, regardless of how prepared you are.


Know how far inland the water went?


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## Fidelista

aka Brett said:


> Know how far inland the water went?


Sat images >f
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381865,00.asp


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## valis

aka Brett said:


> Know how far inland the water went?


6 miles, last I heard....and that's an enormous surge, no matter what caused it.


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## buffoon

aka Brett said:


> Know how far inland the water went?


Some of it up to 10 km


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## valis

okey doke, here I go...and mind you, this is NOT my forte.......



buffoon said:


> The one thing you (or the US) don't want, is Japan in such dire straits that they'll be forced to call (all) the debt(s).
> 
> There was a scenario (theoretical of course) some time ago, when Nippon was in its creditor heydays, about the whole world economy going into utter meltdown, should "The Big One" hit Tokyo (like in 1923).
> 
> Theoretical it may have been but it had many sweating (still does/has).


question: how 'legitimate' is the threat of pulling in debts on the global economy? Wouldn't that actually cause more loss of international face? Again, please excuse my stupidity on these matters, but my kneejerk reaction is that this would not be a good thing, globally or economically, for Japan to actually do.


> As for the loan shark in you putting its foot on someone's neck, remember that your'e actually not the loan shark, you're the guy whose arm gets broken. Physically impossible in this case but default internationally and and nobody's ever going to take even a piece of mouldy bread from you, let alone give you some. And then who's gonna finance the profligate spending needed to maintain the American way of life?


Indeed. We peons have the luxury of armchair quarterbacking this, but I treat it more as a learning experience than anything (primarily due to my woeful lack of knowledge in this front).



> let alone give you some.


Okay, swap the stick a bit. Let's say that the Arkansas fault cut loose and wiped out most of the US heartland. Would I be presumptuous to think that other countries would be reaching out their financial arms, and would I be even MORE presumptuous to think that there wouldn't be strings attached?

I guess that's what I'm getting at; is this, or is this not, an economic opportunity for the USA? I realize I'm breaking it down to the absolute lowest common denominator, and I apologize for that. I understand that I'm oversimplifying this, but that's what you get when dealing with a neophyte. Stupid questions to obvious answers.

Inquisitive, nonetheless.


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## aka Brett

Fidelista said:


> Sat images >f
> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381865,00.asp


Thanks
Looks bad..thats quite bit of area damged


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## valis

buffoon said:


> Some of it up to 10 km


or even 6 miles.......

yup, learning myself the metric system. Sick of having to compute miles to hectares, easier just to learn the damn system and go from there.


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## ekim68

But Tim, we owe them the money. Do we write them more iou's?


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## buffoon

valis said:


> question: how 'legitimate' is the threat of pulling in debts on the global economy? Wouldn't that actually cause more loss of international face? Again, please excuse my stupidity on these matters, but my kneejerk reaction is that this would not be a good thing, globally or economically, for Japan to actually do.


Well, it wouldn't be particularly prudent, economically speaking. After all, one country's debt is another's investment. At an agreeable interest rate. I was just raising the (highly hypothetical) case of Japan being so busted by catastrophe that they would *have* to (if all else fails).


> Okay, swap the stick a bit. Let's say that the Arkansas fault cut loose and wiped out most of the US heartland. Would I be presumptuous to think that other countries would be reaching out their financial arms, and would I be even MORE presumptuous to think that there wouldn't be strings attached?


Now, that latter bit would be most unchristian, wouldn't it?

But yes, going beyond disaster aid, financial aid would have the character of loaning. Only thing is that in this scenario it's a bit difficult lending to somebody that you already owe. Put another way, if I lend you money (at a certain rate) and you lend it onwards (presumably at a better rate) that's ok if we have no agreement to the contrary. But if, should I fall on hard times, you try to lend it (my money) back to me, I'd be inclined to break more than just your arm. And I reckon my stance wouldn't meet much outrage from others.



> I guess that's what I'm getting at; is this, or is this not, an economic opportunity for the USA?


Not.



> *Inquisitive*, nonetheless.


Always good (to be).


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## buffoon

valis said:


> or even 6 miles.......
> 
> yup, learning myself the metric system. Sick of having to compute miles to hectares, easier just to learn the damn system and go from there.





> 6 miles


rounded downwards

divide or multiply by 1.6. Or, for those who don't like decimals, divide miles by 5, then multiply by 8 or divide kms by 8 and multiply by 5.

Any which way, it currently gets you a heck of a lot of wetlands.


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## Fidelista

ekim68 said:


> I used to go fishing out of this harbor in Crescent City....
> 
> Tsunami: Much of Crescent City harbor destroyed; 4 people swept into sea, 1 feared dead


I flew to airport in Crescent city once -- I knew someone who lived there . 
One thing is plain --they have some tricky weather ! . Fog --winds gusting to 300 mph ! , just kidding { kind of } 
In addition , I have heard the entering the harbor is dangerous at times --without tsnamis -- just heavy surf . 
I suppose Coast Guard is busy in Northwest under normal conditions, esp Crescent . . 
I know they have been stuck with this stuff several times in past years , and town was wiped out in the 60's . 
Only been there once . >f 
--------------------------------------------------------
Crescent City 
The city is located on on the Pacific coast in the upper northwestern part of California, about 20 miles (32 km) from the Oregon border. Crescent City's offshore geography makes it unusually susceptible to tsunamis. For example, much of the city was destroyed by one generated by the Good Friday Earthquake off Anchorage, Alaska in 1964.
The topography of the sea floor surrounding Crescent City makes it particularly susceptible to tsunamis. According to researchers at Humboldt State University and the University of Southern California, the *city experienced tsunami conditions 31 times between the years 1933 and 2008.[6] Although many of these incidents were barely perceptible, eleven events included wave measurements exceeding one meter, four events caused damage, and one event in particular is commonly cited as "the largest and most destructive recorded tsunami to ever strike the United States Pacific Coast.*"[7]

On March 27, 1964, the Good Friday Earthquake off Anchorage, Alaska, set in motion local landslide tsunamis, as well as a trans-Pacific one that sped in three hours down the U.S. West Coast to the state of Washington. Destroying docks, boats, cars, coastal dwellings and surging up rivers with the same result, the tsunami continued down the coast.

Within another 1½ hours, four waves struck over a two-hour period at Crescent City. When they had finished, 289 buildings and businesses had been destroyed; 1000 cars and 25 large fishing vessels crushed; 12 people were confirmed dead, over 100 were injured, and numbers were missing; 60 blocks had been inundated with 30 city blocks destroyed in total. Although most of the missing were later accounted for, not all were tracked down. Insurance adjusters estimated that the city received more damage from the tsunami on a block-by-block basis than did Anchorage from the initial earthquake.[8]

The tsunami raced down the U.S. West Coast with more deaths and destruction, but no location was hit as hard as this small town was. Crescent City bore the brunt, due to its offshore geography, position relative to the earthquakes strike-line, *underwater contours such as the Cobb Seamount, and the position of rivers near the city.*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_City,_California


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## valis

ekim68 said:


> But Tim, we owe them the money. Do we write them more iou's?


or do we begin to work off those debts?


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## valis

> I guess that's what I'm getting at; is this, or is this not, an economic opportunity for the USA?





> Not.


and that, my friend, is why I continue to turn to you for these matters. Cut to the chase, simple answer to a rather nebulous question.

danke, mon ami.


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## aka Brett

valis said:


> 6 miles, last I heard....and that's an enormous surge, no matter what caused it.





buffoon said:


> Some of it up to 10 km


I bet you guys went out to the car and looked at your speedometers


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## ekim68

And the quakes continue:

Aftershocks and nuclear threat keep Japan's residents in fear



> The island nation had experienced more than 275 aftershocks of magnitude 5 or greater as of Sunday morning, according to the United States Geological Survey. Of those aftershocks, 27 have been magnitude 6 or greater, USGS records show.
> 
> "And that could change. We have more every hour," said Dale Grant, a geophysicist at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.


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## ekim68

One thing about the wired world right now, it's real time:

A wired world sees the horror as it happens



> After the quake, it took 45 minutes for the tsunami to reach the coast of Japan - 45 minutes of knowing, of waiting, of bracing.
> 
> When it came, they were all glued to their televisions - a Jesuit priest in New York, an engineering professor in rural Oregon, a geophysicist in San Diego. What unfolded had never been broadcast live before: a 13-foot wall of mud that belittled human achievement, folding houses inside out, propelling yachts across miles of rice fields, rupturing oil refineries, sweeping trains from their tracks and killing hundreds.


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## Frank4d

A meltdown isn't the same thing as what happened 65 years ago in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I can inderstand why the Japanese people would be very concerned about the nuclear power plants.


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## Littlefield

valis said:


> nice catch, >f......a LOT of folks don't realize the biggest fault line in the US is in Arkansas......


South Carolina has a tsunami zone sign near Isle of Palms .
One of the most massive earthquakes in US history struck Charleston in 1886.
Although conditions in the Canary Islands or Puerto Rico Trench would likely cause them more then off the SC coast .


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## ekim68

As I understand it, they have 55 of them in reference to Frank's thoughts...But this:

Japan Earthquake: Google launches Japanese Quake Person Finder



> Anyone searching for information about the earthquake or tsunami in Japan will see static links about the response to the natural disasters. Google has made it easy to report or find news about a missing person.


Update:



> Update: People in Japan are being asked to stay off the phone lines to allow emergency calls to go through. As a result, many are taking to Twitter and Facebook to let family and friends know their status. On Mashable, the site reported that tweets in Tokyo had topped 1,200 per minute.


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## eggplant43

Another strange phenomena, perhaps connected?:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...warms-fish-coast-Acapulco-caused-tsunami.html


----------



## Nekochanpurr

Yep, thank GOD for facebook. That is how i found out all my friends are okay.


----------



## xgerryx

We have had a rough ride here in New Zealand as well, September 4th: http://forums.techguy.org/photo-album/948417-new-zealand-earthquake.html
Then the 22nd Feb quake wiped out half the city, "Christchurch" that I lived in for most of my life as well.

Quite frightening times


----------



## xgerryx

Comparered to Japan we have been so lucky, we have only lost about 200 people.

Thank whatever God you believe in, we do not have nuclear power stations


----------



## xgerryx

Its given us all a huge wake up call for whatever mother nature has in store for us


----------



## eggplant43

One of the things that has struck me about this earthquake, and it's repercussions is the arrogance of man. Building power plants to withstand an 8.5 earthquake, is like building structures on a 100 year flood plain. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does..............


----------



## valis

aka Brett said:


> I bet you guys went out to the car and looked at your speedometers


nope.  I'm seriously trying to convert to metric.......the reason?










see if you can guess which countries dont........


----------



## poochee

valis said:


> nope.  I'm seriously trying to convert to metric.......the reason?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> see if you can guess which countries dont........


Wow! I get your point.


----------



## buffoon

valis said:


> nope.  I'm seriously trying to convert to metric.......the reason?
> see if you can guess which countries dont........


Well, the UK has rulings that things be metric, but in real life people stick to old customs. Quite some shops price per kilo but signify per pound as well.

Petrol (gas to you ) is meanwhile sold per liter but speed limits are in mph.

The lady credits me with 6 ft 3 but is wrong in both cases since I only have 2


----------



## eggplant43

_Should you want up to the minute news:_



> Listen to Live Coverage from Japan In English from YokosoNewsMuch of the world's attention is turned towards Japan and other areas affected by the earthquake. At times like these, the more immediate news we can get, the better. YokosoNews has been providing real-time English translation of Japanese-language network NHK on Ustream.


http://lifehacker.com/#!5781316/listen-to-live-coverage-from-japan-in-english-from-yokosonews


----------



## lotuseclat79

Why Japan's Massive Earthquake Surprised Scientists.



> *While seismologists expected Japan's next big earthquake to strike near Tokyo, today's major tsunami-creating quake happened out at sea and on a different fault line. Here's why scientists didn't see it coming.*


-- Tom


----------



## Nekochanpurr

My friend lives a few doors away from this guy on CNN. Hes in the same apartment building they were in. o.o;

http://vodpod.com/watch/5747257-eyewitness-accounts-from-the-earthquake-in-japan

My friends fiancee' i think will also be on BBC because of him. :3 If i get the link i'll post.


----------



## ekim68

Japanese nuclear plants' operator scrambles to avert meltdowns



> TOKYO - Japanese authorities said Sunday that efforts to restart the cooling system at one of the reactors damaged by Friday's earthquake had failed, even as officials struggled to bring several other damaged reactors under control.
> 
> Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have not found a way to stabilize overheated reactors and feared the possibility of partial nuclear meltdown, which could potentially cause a further release of radioactive material, Japan's top government spokesman said Sunday. Engineers were having trouble, in particular, with two units at the nuclear facility - one of which lost its outer containment wall Saturday in an explosion.
> 
> Meanwhile, officials declared a state of emergency at a nuclear power plant in Onagawa, where excessive radiation levels were reported.


----------



## eggplant43

> The massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that shook Japan and triggered a powerful tsunami on Friday has had a profound effect on both the surrounding terrain and the planet as a whole.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/12/japan-earthquake-axis-shift-climate-change_n_834985.html


----------



## ekim68

Yeah, I heard that the Earth's axis shifted a bit..


----------



## Nekochanpurr

ekim68 said:


> Yeah, I heard that the Earth's axis shifted a bit..


I heard it took like a millimeter of a second off of Friday, making it shorter. Or thats what i half heard through the news..


----------



## lotuseclat79

Scientists already making discoveries in wake of Japan's temblor.



> *Friday's 8.9-magnitude temblor off the east coast of Japan ranks as one of the 10-largest earthquakes ever recorded. Though scientists have just begun to pore over the data, they have already made some surprising discoveries about one of the most quake-prone regions on Earth.*


Take away for Californians along the San Andreas fault:


> The San Andreas fault is not a subduction fault. It's a strike-slip fault, where one plate moves sideways relative to the other, that is broken into two segments. Hough said that a rupture over the length of the entire 800-mile-long fault, which she believes would result in a magnitude 8.3 quake, is unlikely because there's a stretch in the middle where the fault is able to creep, releasing energy. A full break of either section of the San Andreas would result in a quake of about a magnitude 8, she estimates. The events in Japan don't alter those estimates.
> 
> Comparisons to faults in the Pacific Northwest may be more apt. There, as in Japan, the plate boundary is a subduction zone.


Translation: Washington and Oregon are more likely to get the big one than California.

-- Tom


----------



## buffoon

ekim68 said:


> Yeah, I heard that the Earth's axis shifted a bit..


10 cm from what I heard. No wonder I'm dizzy

Japan as a whole also moved 2 meters, forget in which direction though.


----------



## Littlefield

Japan earthquake: Footage of moment tsunami hit.
Wow , check out the force of this wall of water !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12725646


----------



## pyritechips

buffoon said:


> 10 cm from what I heard. No wonder I'm dizzy
> 
> Japan as a whole also moved 2 meters, *forget in which direction though*.


Towards disaster. Devastating. Anybody not shocked by this event has failed to comprehend the magnitude of it all. It gladdens the heart to see so many nations offering so much help. They are a good people in a fine nation. I see even China is sending aid. :up:


----------



## Littlefield

buffoon said:


> 10 cm from what I heard. No wonder I'm dizzy
> 
> Japan as a whole also moved 2 meters, forget in which direction though.


Hopefully away from Korea


----------



## pyritechips

If anybody wished to explore the geology behind the earthquakes try this site: http://geology.com/news/category/japan.shtml


----------



## buffoon

....and, since money makes the world go round......
.


> ..... will have taken note of the 24 per cent fall in the shares of Toyko Electric Power, which owns the Fukushima plant, after the disaster, and some demands among the Japanese people to abandon nuclear power altogether ....


http://www.gtglobaltrader.com/news/japanese-earthquake-shockwaves-hit-stock-markets-and-insurers

....which is understandable for the Japanese company behind Fukushima, but it's not all of it.


> Australian investors have dumped uranium stocks as Japan scrambles to contain meltdowns


http://www.climatespectator.com.au/news/investors-dump-australian-uranium-stocks

What's more:


> Germanys government on Monday temporarily halted plans to extend the life of its nuclear power plants





> Neighboring Switzerland suspended its plans to build and replace nuclear plants


http://www.japantoday.com/category/...ountries-relook-at-plans-for-nuclear-reactors

....but others, especially Eastern bloc countries, remain gung-ho.

Nevertheless this has sent ripples thru European nuclear energy papers as well and......


> U.S. stocks fell in the aftermath of Japan's devastating earthquake on Monday, *but other than specific industries such as nuclear power*, the broad impact on equities was expected to be short-lived.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/14/us-markets-stocks-idUSTRE72C3WN20110314


----------



## pyritechips

I think it's a knee-jerk reaction. I don't think Europe is in danger of many reactor-erupting earthquakes.


----------



## xgerryx

Third blast just now


----------



## pyritechips

xgerryx said:


> Third blast just now


Story here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/03/14/japan-nuclear-031411.html


----------



## buffoon

pyritechips said:


> I think it's a knee-jerk reaction. I don't think Europe is in danger of many reactor-erupting earthquakes.


Not too argue (far be it from me) but in Germany, Austria and Switzerland it goes a lot deeper than that. The population doesn't trust the darn things. What's more, they don't trust the operators. They *did* have some of the Chernobyl fallout.

Japans reactors were designed to withstand up to 8.4. They actually withstood up to what's now been upgraded to 9.0 (automatic shutoff worked beautifully).

Then this silly wave comes along and bang. Now who would have thought of such a possibility in a land where that is such an uncommon phenomena, that they actually coined the name for it that is since being used world wide? Before we all finally adopted the Japanese "tsunami" (big wave in harbor) to indicate a sea quake induced gigantic wave, we erroneously kept calling it "tidal" wave.

The general consensus is that man is so equally stupid everywhere that he can't think of all possibilities anywhere. Even leaving aside improbability of quakes. Which incidentally are not that improbable (down here, for instance, we get quite a few).


----------



## buffoon

xgerryx said:


> Third blast just now


....took longer than I reckoned. Never questioned that it would.


----------



## Littlefield

You don't hear Ukraine saying they are gonna stop their nuclear reactors .


----------



## buffoon

Littlefield said:


> You don't hear Ukraine saying they are gonna stop their nuclear reactors .


addressed Eastern Bloc in my post earlier. No need to attempt to argue in here (or seeming to be) just because CD is closed.

Let's remember that, eh?


----------



## ekim68

As an aside, this sentence caught my eye tonight on the news....



> Many residents find themselves cut off from conveniences they took for granted.


(I wonder how many of us rely on such conveniences..)


----------



## poochee

ekim68 said:


> As an aside, this sentence caught my eye tonight on the news....
> 
> (I wonder how many of us rely on such conveniences..)


Something to think about!


----------



## pyritechips

ekim68 said:


> As an aside, this sentence caught my eye tonight on the news....
> 
> (I wonder how many of us rely on such conveniences..)


And how many of us could survive under such conditions? I am stunned, over and over again, by the images and videos of the devastation that hit the island. I would be worrying about the basics: food, eater, shelter and warmth.


----------



## ekim68

As if they don't have enough going on:

Volcano erupts in southern Japan


----------



## pyritechips

ekim68 said:


> As if they don't have enough going on:
> 
> Volcano erupts in southern Japan


I had some people react to that as if it were some supernatural conspiracy but a simple understanding of geology and plate tectonics would take away the wonder and fear. The Pacific plate, Ring of Fire, earthquakes and volcanoes are all part of the same processes.


----------



## dvk01

buffoon said:


> Well, the UK has rulings that things be metric, but in real life people stick to old customs. Quite some shops price per kilo but signify per pound as well.
> 
> Petrol (gas to you ) is meanwhile sold per liter .


but we still calculate fuel efficiency in miles per gallon

petrol, milk, fruit juices & many other liquids are litres but beer & cider ( draft) is sold by the pint 
We really do need to make our minds up in UK, whether we are metric or not


----------



## buffoon

dvk01 said:


> but we still calculate fuel efficiency in miles per gallon
> 
> petrol, milk, fruit juices & many other liquids are litres but beer & cider ( draft) is sold by the pint
> We really do need to make our minds up in UK, whether we are metric or not


 I've become so used to the liters per 100 km driven that I get into doing major sums, converting it into miles per gallon.

As regards the pint in (pub) beverages, there'd be something missing for me if one would be ordering just a beer (like here). Like if there were a Brussels stipulation that, for better international comprehensiveness, a menu has to say "pastry surrounded meat of sorts" for Yorkshire pud.

Nevertheless it's helpful (to return to topic ) that Japan measures radioactivity in becquerel instead of according to the_ shakkanhō_.


----------



## buffoon

pyritechips said:


> I had some people react to that as if it were some supernatural conspiracy but a simple understanding of geology and plate tectonics would take away the wonder and fear. The Pacific plate, Ring of Fire, earthquakes and volcanoes are all part of the same processes.


Shinmoedake has been on record as active for 300 years and was obviously active before people bothered recording it. It's like Etna on Sicily, always smoking and often spewing. The current activity cycle isn't just now, it started in January.

Before that it was most (recently) active in 2008 and 2009.


----------



## ekim68

> Officials in Tokyo -- 240 km (150 miles) to the south of the plant -- said radiation in the capital was 10 times normal by evening but there was no threat to human health. Around eight hours after the explosions, the U.N. weather agency said winds were dispersing radioactive material over the Pacific Ocean, away from Japan and other Asian countries.


Here


----------



## dvk01

Please folks, no more conspiracy theories about the earthquakes. They are natural and happen. They aren't caused deliberately by any group or government

We can quite legitimately criticize the Japanese Government for their shortsightedness is siting Nuclear plants in vulnerable locations & for not building them to withstand the extreme conditions. An earthquake of this magnitude has been expected for some time , it was just a question of which part of that region it would hit & when. It might have happened last year or not for another 200 years. 

We can theorize on whether deep drilling for oil & gas anywhere in the world might cause a chain reaction effect & the cumulative effects of multiple minor seismic events could eventually trigger a major one. 
But please bear in mind the suffering of the people and domestic & wild animals involved in this disaster


----------



## Stoner

Geologists are now saying this recent earthquake was not 'the big one' that was expected..
The 'big one' is still in the works and expected to be near Tokyo.


----------



## valis

Stoner said:


> Geologists are now saying this recent earthquake was not 'the big one' that was expected..
> The 'big one' is still in the works and expected to be near Tokyo.


I *heard* (mind you, this is from the mainstream media, dunno if it was Fox or CNN, but I've not been able to corroborate it either way) that with the pressure release on the NW side of Japan, that will likely put the emphasis on somewhere further up the W USA coast, in the area of Oregon or Washington........

Either way, it's the Pac Rim....no matter where you are, it's just a matter of time until it hits.


----------



## buffoon

valis said:


> I *heard* (mind you, this is from the mainstream media, dunno if it was Fox or CNN, but I've not been able to corroborate it either way) that with the pressure release on the NW side of Japan, that will likely put the emphasis on somewhere further up the W USA coast, in the area of Oregon or Washington........


It's a common misconception, popularly repeated. There is indeed influence from point A towards point B, but on a more local level and not very likely over a distance of many thousand miles (even if we talk about the same plate). Consequently the recent rumble (after the one that caused the wave) was on land, or better said, in land on Honshu.



> Either way, it's the Pac Rim....no matter where you are, it's just a matter of time until it hits.


Indeed. If it happens to be the NW of USA it won't have anything to do with this one though.


----------



## xgerryx

valis said:


> Either way, it's the Pac Rim....no matter where you are, it's just a matter of time until it hits.


We live with that here in NZ.
"Its not if, but when"

Obviously there's nothing we can do about it except be ready.


----------



## valis

xgerryx said:


> We live with that here in NZ.
> "Its not if, but when"
> 
> Obviously there's nothing we can do about it except be ready.


Indeed..........and you have been through enough recently......I will say that it was awesome to see the NZ contingent step off the plane in Japan.......:up:

kudos to you guys for helping out even when you are rebuilding........


----------



## xgerryx

Here's a good interactive graphic of the Christchurch quakes: http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/


----------



## xgerryx

valis said:


> I will say that it was awesome to see the NZ contingent step off the plane in Japan.......:up:
> 
> kudos to you guys for helping out even when you are rebuilding........


Its a tiny contribution. 
The speed of contribution we had from Japan, USA and a host of other nations was impressive. They put together a massive effort that we are so thankful for


----------



## Stoner

Apparently I've been misunderstood on the context of the 'big one '

This is a good read:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110315-japan-earthquake-tsunami-big-one-science/
The earthquake did not occur along the expected fault and the one that is of recent concern is still there waiting to happen .


----------



## hewee

* Buy WinPatrol support Japanese survivors*

This week all revenue from upgrades to WinPatrol PLUS will be donated to shelter survivors in Japan.
Our chosen nonprofit is the organization supported by Rotary International called ShelterBox

http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html

Other ways to HELP out.

*Japan Earthquake: How To Help*
http://www.kcra.com/japan-earthquake/27162022/detail.html

Recommended by ABC News
Recommended by the New York Times
Recommended by Huffington Post
Recommended by Time

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...+and+tsunami+relief+effort&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

*Beware of tsunami relief effort scams*
http://www.mtdemocrat.com/news/beware-of-japan-earthquake-relief-effort-scams/

*BBB Advises Donors on Tsunami Relief Efforts*
http://necal.bbb.org/article/bbb-advises-donors-on-tsunami-relief-efforts-25989

*Before donating*, www.bbb.org/charity to research organizations you're considering supporting.


----------



## aka Brett

Stoner said:


> Apparently I've been misunderstood on the context of the 'big one '
> 
> This is a good read:
> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110315-japan-earthquake-tsunami-big-one-science/
> The earthquake did not occur along the expected fault and the one that is of recent concern is still there waiting to happen .


I follow you..The fault that has been of concern isnt the one that shifted..it is still subject to sudden shift to produce the big one.
I wonder though if the shift along the fault that caused the recent earthquake has let the other fault relax or perhaps place it under more stress?...either is one likely


----------



## poochee

hewee said:


> * Buy WinPatrol support Japanese survivors*
> 
> This week all revenue from upgrades to WinPatrol PLUS will be donated to shelter survivors in Japan.
> Our chosen nonprofit is the organization supported by Rotary International called ShelterBox
> 
> http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html
> 
> Other ways to HELP out.


Thanks Hewee.


----------



## ekim68

People on the scene...

Last Defense at Troubled Reactors: 50 Japanese Workers



> Tokyo Electric Power, the plant's operator, has said almost nothing at all about the workers, including how long a worker is expected to endure exposure.
> 
> The few details Tokyo Electric has made available paint a dire picture. Five workers have died since the quake and 22 more have been injured for various reasons, while two are missing. One worker was hospitalized after suddenly grasping his chest and finding himself unable to stand, and another needed treatment after receiving a blast of radiation near a damaged reactor. Eleven workers were injured in a hydrogen explosion at reactor No. 3.


----------



## xgerryx

ekim68 said:


> People on the scene...


They've just pulled everyone out:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10712867


----------



## rotarysteve

hewee said:


> * Buy WinPatrol support Japanese survivors*
> 
> This week all revenue from upgrades to WinPatrol PLUS will be donated to shelter survivors in Japan.
> Our chosen nonprofit is the organization supported by Rotary International called ShelterBox


Please click back to this original post, but I have been involved with the ShelterBox when Haiti had an earthquake...

All Charities are super, but be sure to contact them and not the scam's that are already out.

Prayers


----------



## hewee

poochee said:


> Thanks Hewee.


You're welcome



rotarysteve said:


> Please click back to this original post, but I have been involved with the ShelterBox when Haiti had an earthquake...
> 
> All Charities are super, but be sure to contact them and not the scam's that are already out.
> 
> Prayers


That is why I posted the other links to help everyone out.


----------



## rotarysteve

I'm in Rotary and we're already onboard for the Shelter Boxes.... Any charity is good.... just watch out for the bad boys as my e-mail has already been spammed for Japan relief.... They're quick.


----------



## pyritechips

Thanks for the heads up Steve. Up here it's been advised that one only donates to a recognized charity.

http://www.cbc.ca/japanrelief/


----------



## buffoon

aka Brett said:


> I follow you..The fault that has been of concern isnt the one that shifted..it is still subject to sudden shift to produce the big one.
> I wonder though if the shift along the fault that caused the recent earthquake has let the other fault relax or perhaps place it under more stress?...either is one likely


That's the trouble, we have no way of knowing. Predictions are a bugger since we can't go down there to measure.

Only likelihood that the seismologist can establish is that the Big One *will* happen. Now if anyone could devise a method of accurately prediciting when, he'd have enough money to get out fast.

This one on the techtonic plates involved is quite instructive


----------



## xgerryx

Japan interactive earthquake map made by Paul Nicholls of Christchurch NZ: http://www.japanquakemap.com/

It makes our NZ Quakes look like babies 


xgerryx said:


> Here's a good interactive graphic of the Christchurch quakes: http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/


----------



## valis

Stoner said:


> Apparently I've been misunderstood on the context of the 'big one '
> 
> This is a good read:
> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110315-japan-earthquake-tsunami-big-one-science/
> The earthquake did not occur along the expected fault and the one that is of recent concern is still there waiting to happen .


Huh.......didn't know that, thanks for the link, SJ........


----------



## valis

does NOT look good.

US says plant's spent fuel rods dry; Japan says no

'dry', in this instance, means that there is no cooling going on, which is pretty much the last thing to happen prior to meltdown........yeesh.


----------



## poochee

*More aid to Japan:*

Baptists: http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/6200/53/

Toyota: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/16/110550/toyota-to-match-american-workers.html


----------



## rotarysteve

Our board of directors have approved the purchase of shelter box's. Dunno how many we can, but will do some fundraising of our own and we will match.


----------



## xgerryx

valis said:


> does NOT look good.
> 
> 'dry', in this instance, means that there is no cooling going on, which is pretty much the last thing to happen prior to meltdown........yeesh.


It's not looking good with no immediate answer to the problem or how to deal with it


----------



## eggplant43

I've had an interest in earthquakes, and done some non-technical (non-scholastic) reading about them. The author that has helped me understand these phenomena is Simon Winchester. Two Books I've read are: "Krakatoa, The day the World Exploded" (volcanoes), and "A Crack In The Edge Of The World" The Great San Francisco Earthquake.


----------



## lotuseclat79

Fukushima nuclear plant owner falsified inspection records.



> *The Japanese owner of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant falsified safety data and "dishonestly" tried to cover up problems there. *


-- Tom


----------



## eggplant43

lotuseclat79 said:


> Fukushima nuclear plant owner falsified inspection records.
> 
> -- Tom


Not very reassuring.


----------



## ekim68

eggplant43 said:


> Not very reassuring.


No, it's like there's no regulation...


----------



## eggplant43

A nuclear reactor primer with lots of simple, understandable explanations:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/0...ampaign=Feed:+TheBigPicture+(The+Big+Picture)


----------



## buffoon

paisanol69,

there's no reason to be accusing towards other posters in here and thus, unwittingly or not, foment possible controversy. Also, since the remark you referred to hardly merits such response. I've consequently deleted your corresponding post.

Please try to keep to the issue.

Thank you


----------



## Cookiegal

And I'll just add that although this thread was/is CE material, it was moved to Random just before the forum closures as an exception because we felt that people would want to continue to post news and keep abreast of developments regarding this unprecedented disaster of immense proportions. However, it is NOT to be turned into a debate thread.

Obviously, many articles and links will be posted and everyone should be aware that not every source on the Internet has the latest or most accurate information. Even the "higher-ups" can't agree on the potential worldwide consequences of this catastrophe. But everyone is capable of reading the dates on articles to know at what stage of the disaster they were written and form their own opinion on the validity of the source and/or the information posted.

Once the forums reopen, I'm sure there will be a lot of material for some interesting and informative debates. But, in the meantime, please keep it to comments and news regarding these events as they continue to unfold.


----------



## Stoner

Wikipedia and nuclear reactors in general:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reactor

There is also a very good article on the Fukushima reactors with ongoing events of the disaster added as they occur. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents


----------



## Littlefield

How much longer will it be before they have to entomb the reactors with sand, cement ?


----------



## Blackmirror

The people of japan have my admiration 
To stay civil and composed with all that has happened

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100079703/why-is-there-no-looting-in-japan/


----------



## buffoon

Littlefield said:


> How much longer will it be before they have to entomb the reactors with sand, cement ?


Hard to say. Certainly not outside of a week from today, probably longer.

Keeping my fingers crossed (like everybody else) that they'll be able to cool it down sufficiently, quickly and continuously.

But do it they will because do it they'll have to.

Problem is that it's not on the agenda until sufficient cooling down has happened. Doing it with still too much heat emittance (which isn't residual but generating all the time even in a down curve) is obviously not on since you'd be containing dangerous energy, giving it sufficient compression to blow (again).

That apart from too high radiation levels precluding workers from moving on.

I seem to recall that in Three Mile Island (where putting a sarcophagus over the whole lot, like in Chernobyl, was not the issue) they didn't dare go take a looksee until about 18 months after the incident (was contained).


----------



## Littlefield

buffoon said:


> Hard to say. Certainly not outside of a week from today, probably longer.
> 
> Keeping my fingers crossed (like everybody else) that they'll be able to cool it down sufficiently, quickly and continuously.
> 
> But do it they will because do it they'll have to.
> 
> Problem is that it's not on the agenda until sufficient cooling down has happened. Doing it with still too much heat emittance (which isn't residual but generating all the time even in a down curve) is obviously not on since you'd be containing dangerous energy, giving it sufficient compression to blow (again).
> 
> That apart from too high radiation levels precluding workers from moving on.
> 
> I seem to recall that in Three Mile Island (where putting a sarcophagus over the whole lot, like in Chernobyl, was not the issue) they didn't dare go take a looksee until about 18 months after the incident (was contained).


Ah ,sarcophagus is appropriate then as the area would be useless for thousands of years then I guess


----------



## Stoner

Littlefield said:


> Ah ,sarcophagus is appropriate then as the area would be useless for thousands of years then I guess


Don't forget....there is considerable leakage into the water table under those plants. It's not just a matter of scraping away the contamination at the plant sites......there is now an issue of the water table being contaminated. And underground water does move.


----------



## Littlefield

Stoner said:


> Don't forget....there is considerable leakage into the water table under those plants. It's not just a matter of scraping away the contamination at the plant sites......there is now an issue of the water table being contaminated. And underground water does move.


Good point ,so a meltdown could spread to the aquifer and contaminate a much wider area .


----------



## buffoon

.....added to which, one can only hope that core matter doesn't melt to the point of eating its way thru the foundation (once collapsed to the floor and concentrating incredible heat there). Inevitably reaching ground water, there'd be a (hydrogenerated) steam explosion which would send radioactive particles to atmospheric heights fortunately not reached so far. 

This "volcano" effect arose with Chernobyl, albeit fire induced, when the graphite particles (used for cooling) were spewed into a cloud that rained down on large parts of Europe and kept being blown to and fro in the process.

The effect was, of course, nothing when compared to the suffering in Ukraine and Belorussia. Nevertheless there are still areas in (former) Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Southern Germany etc. (and AFAIK, Scandinavia) where you might shoot game but don't eat it. Wild boar, for instance, love wild mushrooms and the contamination rates of game are respective of this. To this day.

Errhhh......you don't go picking wild mushrooms either. Obviously.


----------



## aka Brett

What a mess everytime I watch the news...things are worse
It is reminding me of the oil spill...the more one watches the worse it became.
They are going to have to figure out something...trained chimps would come in pretty handy about now


----------



## buffoon

Blackmirror said:


> The people of japan have my admiration
> To stay civil and composed with all that has happened
> 
> http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100079703/why-is-there-no-looting-in-japan/


.....admirable and awesome also the sense of duty and obligation of those volunteers dealing with the reactors, risking their health and lives.

"giri" is virtually inexplicable to someone raised in (with) a Western value set. To the point that, despite my holding it in admiration, it used to drive me nuts.


----------



## valis

buffoon said:


> "giri" is virtually inexplicable to someone raised in (with) a Western value set. To the point that, despite my holding it in admiration, it used to drive me nuts.


admirable read, that, but I'm going to have to say that it's nigh impossible to describe that to any soul that has lived in Western Civ for long. I've got friends that have spent _decades_ in Japan, and still can't explain it.

For that matter, they are still considered gaijin universally over there.


----------



## pyritechips

buffoon said:


> .....added to which, one can only hope that core matter doesn't melt to the point of eating its way thru the foundation (once collapsed to the floor and concentrating incredible heat there). Inevitably reaching ground water, there'd be a (hydrogenerated) steam explosion which would send radioactive particles to atmospheric heights fortunately not reached so far.
> 
> This "volcano" effect arose with Chernobyl, albeit fire induced, when the graphite particles (used for cooling) were spewed into a cloud that rained down on large parts of Europe and kept being blown to and fro in the process.
> 
> The effect was, of course, nothing when compared to the suffering in Ukraine and Belorussia. Nevertheless there are still areas in (former) Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Southern Germany etc. (and AFAIK, Scandinavia) where you might shoot game but don't eat it. Wild boar, for instance, love wild mushrooms and the contamination rates of game are respective of this. To this day.
> 
> Errhhh......you don't go picking wild mushrooms either. Obviously.


Anybody remember the movie _The China Syndrome_?


----------



## Stoner

pyritechips said:


> Anybody remember the movie _The China Syndrome_?


Yep.


----------



## buffoon

valis said:


> admirable read, that, but I'm going to have to say that it's nigh impossible to describe that to any soul that has lived in Western Civ for long. I've got friends that have spent _decades_ in Japan, and still can't explain it.
> 
> For that matter, they are still considered gaijin universally over there.


_Gaijin_ has meanwhile acquired something of a political non/correct quality, so it won't be used officially and certainly not to your face. Even most Japanese don't know that it was originally not applied to solely non-Japanese but to outsiders (often also enemies) in general, who could just as easily be Japanese. The official title used is now _gaikokujin_ (foreign country person). PC is everywhere and can be as equally ridiculous.

I've been hearing (and reading) some comments on local news (in papers) about the _hara-kiri_ and _Kamikaze _mentality that lies at the base of the plant workers'/firemen's conduct of self-sacrifice and how Western minds can never understand that. What a load of tripe. This is giri. We may never understand that either but that part of it which is about putting the well being of the greater sum above that of self, isn't totally alien. One needs only to think of what one would do for one's loved ones. Some of us simply don't love our own societies that much. Often with justification and there lies the cultural difference.


----------



## pyritechips

So, what you are meaning is like Spock sacrificing himself to save the Enterprise in _The Wrath of Khan_?



> Spock: Don't grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh...
> Kirk: ...the needs of the few...
> Spock: ...Or the one.


----------



## buffoon

Those Vulcanians wouldn't understand, they were too moon-struck on logic (although Spock did suffer from his _mestizo_ status).

Giri is heart felt.

That, of course, doesn't preclude logic but doesn't have it as its source, either.


----------



## valis

buffoon said:


> _Gaijin_ has meanwhile acquired something of a political non/correct quality, so it won't be used officially and certainly not to your face. Even most Japanese don't know that it was originally not applied to solely non-Japanese but to outsiders (often also enemies) in general, who could just as easily be Japanese. The official title used is now _gaikokujin_ (foreign country person). PC is everywhere and can be as equally ridiculous.


Indeed. Gaijin, as a connotation, to me means merely an term for outsider to their culture; it's their word for it, and while I've certainly read about the pejorative contexts that are beginning to apply themselves to it, I definitely don't agree.

It's a cultural thing; I've said for years that Japanese culture is virtually impenetrable by anyone not born into it, and not once have I meant that in a pejorative way. It's merely the way that it is. In short, deal with it. It's their society and culture, not ours, and frankly, I'm sick unto the death of the Western mentality that all must bow before our inquisitive minds.

And this is beginning to sound like a debate, so I'll shut it. 

And ask all the other to please keep this on track wrt current happenings in Japan. I'd like to keep this one open, if possible.

thanks,

v


----------



## buffoon

Where Japan has meanwhile raised the seriousness level of the Fukushima debacle (reactors 1,2 and 3) to 5 on the 7 point international scale, France and US experts have placed it at 6 (only Chernobyl ever got 7). Radioactivity is measured as not so high but the Japanese nuclear energy authority is failing to say where and under which conditions. Direction of wind, rain and possible snowfall would have a lot to do with that.

Currently winds are still from SW, thus blowing whatever mess there is out to the Pacific but a change to North is predicted for the weekend. That could well mean things blowing down to Tokyo.

Trouble is that Sunday may see initial blow to the South but then, later in afternoon, stronger winds from the East which could well blow inland what has gone along the coast. Worse still, Monday prediction makes for rain. That'll bring whatever is in the air down.

http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Fukushima/forecasts/latest

that's for Fukushima, Tokyo is little different.


----------



## buffoon

valis said:


> .........And ask all the other to *please keep this on track wrt current happenings in Japan*. I'd like to keep this one open, if possible.
> 
> thanks,
> 
> v


Fidelista,

please pay heed to the bolded above and what Cookiegal explained earlier today. I've deleted your post accordingly.


----------



## buffoon

IAEA have called the situation currently stable and not worsening. That's not to say anybody knows "worsening from what?".

The power cables to Fukushima have been installed/repaired. Maybe today (Saturday in Japan and dawn has passed) will tell whether the pumps that are to be driven for cooling actually survived to the point of functioning. As far as I recall, information policy mentioned the inundation of the generators by the tsunami, but not of the pumps. If Tepco is to be believed, coolant pumping did continue for some time on batteries after the wave struck.

Think I'll light a joss stick.


----------



## pyritechips

Latest situation as of the article:

*Japan douses nuclear reactor for 2nd day*


> "Japanese authorities have assessed that the core damage at the Fukushima Daiichi 2 and 3 reactor units caused by loss of all cooling function has been rated as 5 on the INES scale," the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday....
> 
> ...The Level 5 rating would seem to put it at the same level as the Three Mile Island plant accident in 1979 in Pennsylvania, where equipment and human failures led to the loss of coolant for a reactor core, causing a partial meltdown. Cooling was restored, however, and despite widespread public fears, little radiation escaped from the Three Mile Island site.
> 
> The Fukushima Daiichi accident, with explosions, fires and lethal radiation levels around the reactors, appears far more serious.
> 
> The 1986 Chornobyl, Ukraine, disaster is the only nuclear accident that was assessed at Level 7.


----------



## Littlefield

I do not think this could happen in this manner with plants in America . For one we do not have six plants all together and two we would had more quickly got electrical pumps up and running and power restored .

Indian River a three-unit nuclear power plant on the Hudson River is the most worrisome one I read. 
I do pray for the Japanese people that all gets better though this weekend with power being restored and hopefully they can cool the cores.


----------



## xgerryx

Littlefield said:


> I just do not think this could happen in America .


Can anyone be ready for this ?


----------



## Littlefield

xgerryx said:


> Can anyone be ready for this ?


I am talking about the manner in that it happened .Not wanting to start a debate


----------



## xgerryx

I do not pretend to know the answers, but when mother nature speaks she speaks loud and clear


----------



## dvk01

Littlefield said:


> I do not think this could happen in this manner with plants in America . For one we do not have six plants all together and two we would had more quickly got electrical pumps up and running and power restored .
> 
> .


of course it could happen in America or in any other country with nuclear power plants 
If that country was affected by an earthquake of that magnitude, no country has the infrastructure or the physical ability to "more quickly got electrical pumps up and running and power restored "

The only reason it is less likely to happen in USA or France or UK or any other so called technologically advanced western society is that we (hopefully) wouldn't build nuclear power plants in an area where earthquakes are known to happen with such regularity


----------



## Littlefield

dvk01 said:


> of course it could happen in America or in any other country with nuclear power plants
> If that country was affected by an earthquake of that magnitude, no country has the infrastructure or the physical ability to "more quickly got electrical pumps up and running and power restored "
> 
> The only reason it is less likely to happen in USA or France or UK or any other so called technologically advanced western society is that we (hopefully) wouldn't build nuclear power plants in an area where earthquakes are known to happen with such regularity


Even if we did other parts of the country would be able to provide support and electrical means IMO would be restored in a quicker matter then the situation now in Japan .

But my point was about the manner . The plant withstood the earthquake.
And are they prepared for tsunamis?


> Yes. San Onofre and Diablo Canyon both say they have gravity-based backup cooling systems as well as emergency diesel generators. Also, San Onofre is protected by a 30-foot-tall reinforced "tsunami wall," and Diablo Canyon sits atop an 85-foot cliff. "If a tsunami reached that high, California would have much bigger problems than a busted reactor," Helman says.


http://theweek.com/article/index/213181/what-happens-if-a-japan-sized-earthquake-hits-california

Also ,Japan looks like they excavated off 100 feet of the existing bluff (see google earth)to get the plant closer to sea level. That has to be one of the biggest mistakes in engineering history.

http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/17/fukushima-redux-design-basis-godzilla/


----------



## Littlefield

> "At the request of the Japanese military, a Massachusetts company, iRobot, said it put four robots on a plane for Japan on Friday. Colin Angle, the chief executive, said it had sent two small robots that could measure radiation levels close to the reactors and two larger ones that could pull hoses to spray water on the fuel rods.
> 
> He said Japanese soldiers could operate the robots from a protected vehicle."


That will help .


----------



## buffoon

One of the common misunderstandings about chernobyl was that it held that one reactor that blew. It actually held 4 (with two more commissioned) so it had a similar concentration all in one spot. The remaining 3 actually continued running for another 13 years. But then chernobyl 4, the one that blew, occurred due to human stupidity, not a natural disaster. Unless, of course, one wants to call that the biggest of them all.


----------



## buffoon

Littlefield said:


> Even if we did other parts of the country would be able to provide support and electrical means IMO would be restored in a quicker matter then the situation now in Japan .
> 
> But my point was about the manner . The plant withstood the earthquake.
> And are they prepared for tsunamis?
> 
> http://theweek.com/article/index/213181/what-happens-if-a-japan-sized-earthquake-hits-california
> 
> Also ,Japan looks like they excavated off the top 60 feet of the bluff (see google earth)to get the plant closer to sea level. That has to be one of the biggest mistakes in engineering history.


I agree (to show non-desire for debate) that there are no two scenarios that'll ever be the same. This combination of worst case combination of all happenings is hardly replicable, so there's no point in applying all of the Fukushima dimensions elsewhere by way of projection.

The next one will be completely different in constellation but that doesn't mean it'll be less serious.

One also has to take into account different geographical and topographical settings. Japan is slightly biggger than the British Isles (including all of Ireland), has more than twice the population and less than half the construction-suitable land. Apart from concentrating reactors for logistical ease, it's also done to prevent spreading them all over the confined place (space) to avoid, in case of accident, one 30 km zone linking into the next. To accomodate 5 reactors, bluffs have the tendency to need widening and that can only be done economically by shaving their tops off. Apart from needing the sea nearby to distribute coolant into it.


----------



## Littlefield

I got that about the bluff from here : this site is interesting .
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/17/fukushima-redux-design-basis-godzilla/


> The reactors rode out the quake. The tsunami did in the EDGs. If you look at the site using Google Earth, you can see that they (TEPCO?) excavated the existing 100 ft plus bluffs down to near sea level for the plant site. Why? Probably to reduce the head that the seawater cooling pumps would have to work against if the plant had been placed on top of the bluff. Possibly also to reduce the opportunity for an earthquake to cause the bluff to crumble and the plant to crash into the sea, but the plant could have been placed far enough back from the bluff edge to eliminate that possibility. Lastly, by excavating the plant site down, they placed the plant below the line of sight for anyone inland looking out to sea. Was it for PR purposes (out-of-sight, out-of-mind), or was someone thinking that if there was a massive radiation (not contamination) stream, the existing bluff would act as a natural shield? I dont know.
> 
> What I can say is if the EDGs had been placed on top of the bluff and just cables run down to the reactors, then this accident would have been a non-event. This would also have separated the EDG fuel from the reactors.
> 
> What this accident reminds me of is the events that lead to the SUBSAFE program. We didnt stop building subs, but we took a long hard look at design and construction.
> 
> FYI, I am a retired USN LCDR, Qualified Engineer, EOOW and PPWO on Nimitz-class A4W plant.


----------



## lotuseclat79

Former Toshiba Engineer: Dai-1 Meant for 8.0 Quake.

The events were a Perfect Storm of Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear plant failures. Each by themselves a tragedy, but when each occurs due to the initial event in sequence...we now can see why it is important is not skimp on design and to take this tragedy as a worst case example that should be used in all subsequent design parameters for safety first.

No doubt, the Japan Tsunami warning system (80 seconds) saved lives - and now is not the time for the U.S. Congress to cut funding for U.S. Tsunami warning systems.

-- Tom


----------



## pyritechips

*Japan sees food radiation above safety limit*



> But Yukio Edano, the chief cabinet secretary, says a person would have to drink the milk for a year to ingest as much radiation as in a CT scan. A year of the spinach would amount to about one-fifth of a CT scan.


----------



## buffoon

This thread is on a matter of such gravity that entertainment (as has been referred and meanwhile deleted) cannot be its purpose. I've also deleted all posts that make reference, by quote or otherwise, intended or not, to what caused "amusement".

Seems that to all participating the thread purpose is pretty clear and, despite being of at least CE nature, it was the exception left standing. The only one in view of its importance.

Please do not compromise this in future.


----------



## buffoon

Stabilization of Fukushima has had some success but much too early to break out in cheers. Nevertheless pressure in No. 3 has stabilized and the power cable has been run to No. 2 for reanimation of the cooling.
But that's all in the latter case.


> "The difficulty really is to get the power supply restored in a lasting way without shortcircuits,".





> Tepco said water pumps and controls may fail to function even with power restored due to damage from the disaster.


http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...a-crisis-unlikely-to-be-resolved-quickly.html


----------



## Blackmirror

Tsunami of Tohoku Earthquake Before Wrecking the Coast 

Captured by a boat

made my tummy go funny


----------



## ekim68

Any bit of good news, eh?

80-year-old Japanese woman and grandson rescued from rubble



> The two were trapped for nine days in the kitchen of their home in Ishinomaki, in Miyagi prefecture, but eventually Jin Abe, 16, was able to dig out and get to the roof of the house and alert rescuers.


----------



## poochee

ekim68 said:


> Any bit of good news, eh?
> 
> 80-year-old Japanese woman and grandson rescued from rubble


Indeed!


----------



## poochee

*Japan reconstruction may take 5 years.*

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20110320/as-japan-world-bank/


----------



## eggplant43

> A faint trail of white smoke rose Tuesday over the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant as workers continued efforts to restore power at the facility -- a key step that officials hope will allow them to bring cooling systems back online.


http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/22/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T1


----------



## xgerryx

Whatever we use for power, we need to think of the future generations that will have to clean up the mess we leave behind


----------



## hewee

dvk01 said:


> of course it could happen in America or in any other country with nuclear power plants
> If that country was affected by an earthquake of that magnitude, no country has the infrastructure or the physical ability to "more quickly got electrical pumps up and running and power restored "
> 
> The only reason it is less likely to happen in USA or France or UK or any other so called technologically advanced western society is that we (hopefully) wouldn't build nuclear power plants in an area where earthquakes are known to happen with such regularity


So true and it will some day but will we be like the people of Japan who almost all are under control or we be in crazy times like we always seem to do what things get out of control.

This is a great write up everyone should read and learn from.

*The Fukushima 50 and Lessons for America*
What would happen if California were struck with a Japan-size earthquake? 
http://www.thetrumpet.com/?q=8099.6738.0.0

Also you better hope the ones we have are safe really and have no trouble we don't know about.


> We had Rancho Seco that was closed down in 1989. Wow they still there doing the decommissioning over 20 years later.
> A good thing we did shutting it down. Bad part was rates were really cheap.
> You could when I was here in the 70's and 1980 before moving to east bay have a Smud bill of $20.00 to $25.00 and it only came every other month so a $10 to $12.50 a month. And you did not think about saving power and always had the heat, ac, lights on.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rancho_Seco_N...erating_Station
> 
> http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/sear...eco&ct=clnk
> 
> http://www.energy-net.org/01NUKE/RSECOT.HTM
> 
> http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/WR-Clean...co-0810097.html


Not easy to do away with things like this even when you plan on it.
Are there others that are still running in the USA that should not be?


----------



## eggplant43

> It's hard to imagine that fleet ever sailing again. At the entrance to the harbor, a lone tuna trawler sits in the middle of a road. The ship displaces 800 tons. Its mammoth form rests neatly, straight up on the harbor road, as if it was placed there gently. Floating, unmoored, are the burnt-out hulls of two more trawlers that almost seem to be leaning up against each other for support, their decks blackened from fire. Another burned hulk lies beyond them.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...rd-to-tell-youre-in-japan?ft=1&f=1002&sc=igg2


----------



## ekim68

A good example of why cars should float, eh?

Here


----------



## xgerryx

ekim68 said:


> A good example of why cars should float, eh?
> 
> Here


There are probably thousands that saw the same or similar and didn't make it.

Its hurts just thinking about it


----------



## ekim68

Good grief, those people don't need more bad news...

Nuclear situation 'grave' Japan PM warns



> Naoto Kan says the situation at disaster-hit power plant is unpredictable as officials fear breach at one reactor.


----------



## SIR****TMG

My own thoughts on Japan.....Japan will sink into the ocean soon. With all the earth quakes going on a day, the ground under it will give way and sink Japan.This will create a wave of water comming across the ocean to the whole world to sink alot of the land. Just pray it doesn't happen in the winter. Alot of the world will change when this happens soon.....JAPAN SINKS....Fresh water will be hard to find and the nuclear stuff will be in every water. Millions will die.....just my own thoughts on Japan.......


----------



## poochee

SIR****TMG said:


> My own thoughts on Japan.....Japan will sink into the ocean soon. With all the earth quakes going on a day, the ground under it will give way and sink Japan.This will create a wave of water comming across the ocean to the whole world to sink alot of the land. Just pray it doesn't happen in the winter. Alot of the world will change when this happens soon.....JAPAN SINKS....Fresh water will be hard to find and the nuclear stuff will be in every water. Millions will die.....just my own thoughts on Japan.......


Hope not, but it could happen!


----------



## Nekochanpurr

I'm still praying for Japan and hoping they keep getting the help they need. For those interested you can txt 90999 'redcross' to donate $10. It'll get added to your phone bill. :3


----------



## aka Brett

Long road ahead for Japan.
I do hope people do understand the dangers of nuclear plants after this...should be a wakeup call,for all other nations.
Could be years before we find the full extent of damage...the sad thing is it takes thousands of years for nature to fix.
Had the quake not happened...all it takes is one mistake and there is a catastrophe as it is..that goes for any nation..people make mistakes.
I do hope that they are somehow able to get a grip on what they have going on and soon as to lessen the damage for the future of Japan


----------



## Stoner

SIR****TMG said:


> My own thoughts on Japan.....Japan will sink into the ocean soon. With all the earth quakes going on a day, the ground under it will give way and sink Japan.This will create a wave of water comming across the ocean to the whole world to sink alot of the land. Just pray it doesn't happen in the winter. Alot of the world will change when this happens soon.....JAPAN SINKS....Fresh water will be hard to find and the nuclear stuff will be in every water. Millions will die.....just my own thoughts on Japan.......


Have you ever thought about reading up on the geology of that area?


----------



## Stoner

poochee said:


> Hope not, but it could happen!


Have you ever thought about reading up on the geology of that area?........


----------



## Blackmirror

Nekochanpurr said:


> I'm still praying for Japan and hoping they keep getting the help they need. For those interested you can txt 90999 'redcross' to donate $10. It'll get added to your phone bill. :3


Japan is too rich to need our help


----------



## buffoon

Blackmirror said:


> Japan is too rich to need our help


Good article but it needs (for those who might not be so inclined) to be read completely, not just the headline.

Donating money to Japan makes sense.


----------



## eggplant43

20 new photos of the tsunami from National Geographic:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...quake-hit-wrong-place-photo_33243_600x450.jpg


----------



## Nekochanpurr

Blackmirror said:


> Japan is too rich to need our help


Japan has been giving me entertainment and joy since i was in 8th grade. This is the least i could do in their time of need.


----------



## xgerryx

Not looking good
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704396904576225961395484904.html


----------



## dvk01

In some parts of Japan the reconstruction is very fast see this article


----------



## buffoon

dvk01 said:


> In some parts of Japan the reconstruction is very fast see this article


Yes, they certainly know how to get cracking.


----------



## poochee

*Japan Tsunami Alert Follows 6.5 Magnitude Earthquake *
03/27/11 07:20 PM *AP*

NEW YORK  A magnitude-6.5 earthquake shook eastern Japan off the quake-ravaged coast on Monday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, prompting Japan to issue a tsunami alert.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/27/japan-tsunami-alert_n_841201.html


----------



## ekim68

Interesting article about the country that leads the world in robotics.....

Robots designed to deal with nuclear accidents await duty in Europe while Japan asks: Where are ours?


----------



## ekim68

Japan disaster sparks social media innovation



> Once the magnitude of the March 11 disaster became clear, the online world began asking, "How can we help?"
> 
> And for that, social media offered the ideal platform for good ideas to spread quickly, supplementing efforts launched by giants like Google and Facebook.
> 
> A British teacher living in Abiko city, just east of Tokyo, is leading a volunteer team of bloggers, writers and editors producing "Quakebook," a collection of reflections, essays and images of the earthquake that will be sold in the coming days as a digital publication. Proceeds from the project will go to the Japanese Red Cross, said the 40-year-old, who goes by the pseudonym "Our Man in Abiko."


:up:


----------



## poochee

*Official: Radioactive water leaking into sea through crack in concrete*
By the CNN Wire StaffApril 2, 2011 11:12 a.m. EDT

*STORY HIGHLIGHTS*
*NEW:* Workers pour concrete to plug radioactive leak
*NEW:* Water testing has been ordered further south and offshore
Japan's prime minister personally thanks crisis workers at staging area
Airborne radiation levels near the plant have stabilized, no new data on water

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/02/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html


----------



## ekim68

And we're still learning about this stuff....

From Far Labs, a Vivid Picture Emerges of Japan Crisis



> For the clearest picture of what is happening at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, talk to scientists thousands of miles away.
> 
> Thanks to the unfamiliar but sophisticated art of atomic forensics, experts around the world have been able to document the situation vividly. Over decades, they have become very good at illuminating the hidden workings of nuclear power plants from afar, turning scraps of information into detailed analyses.
> 
> For example, an analysis by a French energy company revealed far more about the condition of the plant's reactors than the Japanese have ever described: water levels at the reactor cores dropping by as much as three-quarters, and temperatures in those cores soaring to nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to burn and melt the zirconium casings that protect the fuel rods.


----------



## ekim68

Japan says it may take months to end radiation leaks


----------



## ekim68

Japan says radioactive water leak stopped



> TOKYO, April 5 (UPI) -- Radioactive water stopped flowing from Japan's damaged nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean Wednesday after a special material was used, the utility said.
> 
> Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it injected 1,500 liters (396 gallons) of ''water glass,'' or sodium silicate, and another agent near a seaside pit, through which the highly radioactive water had been leaking heavily, Kyodo News reported.


----------



## ekim68

Google's Person Finder helps locate loved ones in Japan



> Just about an hour after the magnitude 9 earthquake struck Japan on March 11, Google's Person Finder system was up and running, collecting records and enabling people to search online for those who might have been injured or were missing.
> 
> Thousands of records were uploaded on the first day as a massive tsunami followed the catastrophic quake. More than three weeks later, with a resulting nuclear plant crisis that is still unfolding, Google Person Finder is tracking about 607,000 records, a reflection of just how far-reaching the natural disaster has become.


----------



## poochee

*Magnitude 7.4 earthquake hits off Japan; tsunami alert issued for ravaged northeastern coast*
By Associated Press, Thursday, April 7, 10:42 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...heastern-coast/2011/04/07/AFCcNsuC_story.html


----------



## ekim68

A good read: :up:

Japanese Workers Braved Radiation for a Temp Job



> KAZO, Japan - The ground started to buck at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and Masayuki Ishizawa could scarcely stay on his feet. Helmet in hand, he ran from a workers' standby room outside the plant's No. 3 reactor, near where he and a group of workers had been doing repair work. He saw a chimney and crane swaying like weeds. Everybody was shouting in a panic, he recalled.
> 
> Mr. Ishizawa, 55, raced to the plant's central gate. But a security guard would not let him out of the complex. A long line of cars had formed at the gate, and some drivers were blaring their horns. "Show me your IDs," Mr. Ishizawa remembered the guard saying, insisting that he follow the correct sign-out procedure. And where, the guard demanded, were his supervisors?
> 
> "What are you saying?" Mr. Ishizawa said he shouted at the guard. He looked over his shoulder and saw a dark shadow on the horizon, out at sea, he said. He shouted again: "Don't you know a tsunami is coming?"


----------



## lotuseclat79

The Man Who Predicted the Tsunami.



> *After studying ancient rocks, a Japanese geologist warned that a disaster was imminent-to no avail*
> 
> The giant tsunami that assaulted northern Japan's coast surprised just about everyone. But Masanobu Shishikura was expecting it. The thought that came to mind, he says, was "yappari," a Japanese word meaning roughly, "Sure enough, it happened."
> 
> "It was the phenomenon just as I had envisioned it," says the 41-year-old geologist, who has now become the Japanese Cassandra.


He was right, and they did not listen to him!

-- Tom


----------



## poochee

lotuseclat79 said:


> The Man Who Predicted the Tsunami.
> 
> He was right, and they did not listen to him!
> 
> -- Tom


Interesting!


----------



## ekim68

Good grief, those poor people aren't getting any relief from nature...

The new temblors in northeastern Japan strike within a span of 10 minutes with magnitudes of 7.1, 6.0 and 5.6. They come as the government announces plans to expand the evacuation area near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.


----------



## poochee

ekim68 said:


> Good grief, those poor people aren't getting any relief from nature...
> 
> The new temblors in northeastern Japan strike within a span of 10 minutes with magnitudes of 7.1, 6.0 and 5.6. They come as the government announces plans to expand the evacuation area near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.


Very sad.


----------



## ekim68

TOKYO - Japanese authorities raised Tuesday their rating of the severity of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis to the highest level on an international scale, equal to that of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.


----------



## SIR****TMG

Here is a day by day showing of nuclear fallout in the world from Japan. You won't find this on t.v. Hard to beleive it's this bad ,take a look on the different links Well they took them down fast.. SORRY....


----------



## SIR****TMG

Also for the code name ZARDOZ from the files above see this.... Amazing what it means....


----------



## Stoner

Your link didn't seem to open properly and I couldn't determine what I was supposed to look at.
http://zardoz.nilu.no/~flexpart/fpinteractive/plots/?C=M;O=D

Here's an 'interesting' review of the movie ZARDOZ
http://www.badmovies.org/movies/zardoz/


----------



## eggplant43

> TOKYOSubstantial damage to the fuel cores at two additional reactors of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex has taken place, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday, further complicating the already daunting task of bringing them to a safe shutdown while avoiding the release of high levels of radioactivity. The revelation followed an acknowledgment on Thursday that a similar meltdown of the core took place at unit No. 1.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703509104576325110776621604.html


----------



## eggplant43

> Two workers from Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have been contaminated by high levels of radioactive iodine, the operator said Monday, prompting fears over their long-term health.


http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-high-radioactivity-japan-nuclear-workers.html


----------



## eggplant43

> For months, Tepco and Japanese officials refused to admit that there had been any meltdowns at Fukushima.
> 
> Then they said there were meltdowns at reactors 1, 2 and 3  but they might have only been partial meltdowns.
> 
> Finally, today, they admitted the obvious: there were total meltdowns at all 3 reactors. As CNN reports:


http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/0...ampaign=Feed:+TheBigPicture+(The+Big+Picture)


----------



## ekim68

I wonder how much land will be uninhabitable over the next decade....

Nuclear meltdowns nearly made northern Japan uninhabitable



> Unsettling details about the scale of the nuclear disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi reactors have emerged, with a prominent American physicist saying that northern Japan was nearly "lost."
> 
> Regulators at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) have revised its estimate on the amount of radiation that has escaped from the reactors to 770,000 terabecquerels - more than double its initial claim, the BBC reported today.
> 
> In comparison, the world's worst ever nuclear disaster, which occurred 25 years ago in Chernobyl, Ukraine, emitted an estimated 1.8 million terabecquerels of radiation. A terabecquerel is multiple of a becquerel, a unit of measurement for radioactivity.
> 
> The Fukushima site conditions to leak radiation due to cracks in reactor containment vessels, exposing nearby schoolchildren to 20 times the radiation received by atomic workers.


----------



## xgerryx

This is not a pretty picture:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/201161664828302638.html


----------



## trainguide

xgerryx said:


> This is not a pretty picture:
> 
> http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/201161664828302638.html


nope, hope japan will be better soon


----------



## ekim68

Special report: Japan's "throwaway" nuclear workers



> (Reuters) - A decade and a half before it blew apart in a hydrogen blast that punctuated the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant was the scene of an earlier safety crisis.
> 
> Then, as now, a small army of transient workers was put to work to try to stem the damage at the oldest nuclear reactor run by Japan's largest utility.
> 
> At the time, workers were racing to finish an unprecedented repair to address a dangerous defect: cracks in the drum-like steel assembly known as the "shroud" surrounding the radioactive core of the reactor.
> 
> But in 1997, the effort to save the 21-year-old reactor from being scrapped at a large loss to its operator, Tokyo Electric, also included a quiet effort to skirt Japan's safety rules: foreign workers were brought in for the most dangerous jobs, a manager of the project said.


----------



## eggplant43

_Away from the headlines of the moment, this is what concerns me._



> Fukushima Nuclear Plant Remains 'Ticking Time Bomb' After Japan Disaster: Michio Kaku, Theoretical Physicist


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...omb-japan-disaster-michio-kaku-_n_882166.html


----------



## ekim68

Radiation in residents near Fukushima



> TOKYO, June 27 (UPI) -- Urine samples taken from 15 residents near Japan's damaged Fukushima nuclear plant indicate internal radiation exposure, official said.
> 
> The residents, from the village of Iitate and the town of Kawamata, about 20 miles from the Fukushima plant, had 3 millisieverts of radiation in their urine, Kyodo reported Monday.
> 
> "This won't be a problem if they don't eat vegetables or other products that are contaminated," said Nanao Kamada, professor emeritus of radiation biology at Hiroshima University. "But it will be difficult for people to continue living in these areas.


----------



## ekim68

Japan limits energy use as disaster causes crunch



> Japan began imposing energy restrictions on companies, shopping centres and other major electricity users today to cope with power shortages caused by the loss of a tsunami-hit nuclear power plant.
> 
> Big factories, office buildings, universities and department stores in the Tokyo area must use 15 per cent less electricity than a year ago. Electricity is in short supply due to the shutdown of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant hit by the massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami.


----------



## ekim68

7.0 quake shakes Japan



> TOKYO, July 10 (UPI) -- A strong undersea earthquake shook northeastern Japan Sunday morning, seismologists said.
> 
> The U.S. Geological Survey pegged the quake at a magnitude of 7 while Kyodo News said the Japan Meteorological Agency measured it initially at 7.1.
> 
> The Japanese news agency said a tsunami warning was issued for Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures.


----------



## ekim68

For some people, this will never be over........

Finding his lost family is Japanese man's mission



> The firefighter in Ishinomaki knows his wife and daughter can't be alive this long after the earthquake and tsunami. But he will look until he finds them.


----------



## eggplant43

> The Fukushima Nuclear disaster could affect more peoples health than Chernobyl according to Chris Busby, a chemical physicist who specializes in nuclear radiation. In a recent interview with Asia Pacific Journal he estimates escalated risks due to the proximity of the Fukushima nuclear plant to dense populations combined with the high quantities of low doses of radiation that have spread across the globe. He contends that the ICRP, the International Commission on Radiological Protection, grossly underestimates the risk, which could lead to over 200,000 more cases of cancer in the next 50 years than officially predicted in Japan  and even more worldwide. His findings are startling and controversial, but given the official underestimates of those affected by Chernobyl, his work is not without precedence.


http://inhabitat.com/physicist-claims-fukushima-disaster-health-risk-grossly-underestimated/


----------



## ekim68

Sharp radiation spike found at Fukushima



> FUKUSHIMA, Japan, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Extremely high radiation has been recorded on a pipe at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. says.
> 
> Workers detected radiation exceeding 10 sieverts per hour on the pipe, which links the containment vessels of the No. 1 and 2 reactors to a main exhaust stack, Sunday while using a camera to observe it remotely, Tepco told The Yomiuri Shimbun.
> 
> Exposure to such radiation will cause illness within minutes. A sievert measures the biological effect of a radiation dose.
> 
> The highest radiation seen before was 4 sieverts per hour inside the No. 1 reactor building, and the three workers who measured the radiation were exposed to that level.


----------



## eggplant43

> Nearly six months after the devastating tsunami hit Japan, communities are turning to mother nature to help restore theirs homes and hopes. Millions of sunflowers have been planted in radioactive areas to soak up toxins from the ground and brighten the hillside of Fukashima.


http://inhabitat.com/thousands-of-sunflowers-soak-up-nuclear-radiation-in-fukushima/


----------



## eggplant43

> Japan's government estimates the amount of radioactive caesium-137 released by the Fukushima nuclear disaster so far is equal to that of 168 Hiroshima bombs, a news report said Thursday.


http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-fukushima-caesium-leaks-equal-hiroshimas.html


----------



## eggplant43

> TOKYO  Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe urged Japan's new prime minister on Tuesday to halt plans to restart nuclear power plants and instead abandon nuclear energy.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...&utm_source=Alert-green&utm_content=FullStory


----------



## ekim68

Kan calls Fukushima 'manmade disaster'



> TOKYO, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said no "well-thought-out preparations" had been made before the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
> 
> "There in fact were various opinions (about the plant's safety) before the accident, but no well-thought-out preparations were made," Kan said in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun. "In that sense, the nuclear accident should be considered a manmade disaster."


----------



## franca

Very sad....


----------



## eggplant43

> TOKYO (Reuters) - Radioactive material released into the sea in the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis is more than triple the amount estimated by plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co, Japanese researchers say.


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=sea-radiation-from-fukushima


----------



## eggplant43

> Chanting "Sayonara nuclear power" and waving banners, tens of thousands of people marched in central Tokyo on Monday to call on Japan's government to abandon atomic energy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...&utm_source=Alert-green&utm_content=FullStory


----------



## valis

aaaaaaaaand now there's a typhoon swooping in.......just ducky.


----------



## peterpatrickgo

there are so many earthquakes in Japan every year.. horrible.


----------



## xgerryx

peterpatrickgo said:


> there are so many earthquakes in Japan every year.. horrible.


We get them down here in New Zealand as well, Christchurch one of our main cities destroyed a few days before the Japan one.
We were lucky, we didn't have the tsunami's


----------



## ekim68

I've been watching this for the last hour and it has amazing coverage of this disaster....So many personal viewpoints...

Killer Quake


----------



## ekim68

Three Fukushima Reactors Below Boiling Point



> Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced this week that the three damaged reactors at Fukushima Daiichi now are below 100 Celsius at the bottom of the reactor vessels. Reactor 2 is the last reactor to drop below boiling point, after TEPCO in recent weeks began augmenting cooling by spraying water from above the fuel. Temperatures at reactors 1 and 3 have been below 100 Celsius since August. TEPCO said it would declare the reactors to be in a "cold shutdown" condition once the temperatures at the bottom of the vessels drop below 90 Celsius and other conditions are met to achieve stable cooling. The company expects to attain this goal by the end of the year.


----------



## ekim68

Fukushima Released Record Radiation Into Sea



> The destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan was responsible for the biggest discharge of radioactive material into the ocean in history, a study from a French nuclear safety institute said.
> 
> The radioactive cesium that flowed into the sea from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant was 20 times the amount estimated by its owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co., according to the study by the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, which is funded by the French government.


----------



## eggplant43

I feel so sorry for the poor Japanese citizens who have been treated so poorly by both their government, and by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. A reminder of the price we pay if we are not diligent citizens who hold these parties accountable.


----------



## ekim68

This should be a wake up call around the world. I believe that California has two nuclear power plants sitting on the San Andreas Fault


----------



## ekim68

This is a long and very interesting read about the first 24 hours of the accident........

24 Hours at Fukushima



> Unlike the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986, the chain of failures that led to disaster at Fukushima was caused by an extreme event. It was precisely the kind of occurrence that nuclear-plant designers strive to anticipate in their blueprints and emergency-response officials try to envision in their plans. The struggle to control the stricken plant, with its remarkable heroism, improvisational genius, and heartbreaking failure, will keep the experts busy for years to come. And in the end the calamity will undoubtedly improve nuclear plant design.


----------



## ekim68

27 pct wouldn't return to Japan quake zone



> TOKYO, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- About 27 percent of residents in evacuation zones around Japan's quake-hit nuclear power plant say they do not want to return to their homes, a survey found.


----------



## ekim68

Study finds parts of Japan no longer safe for farming



> A team of international researchers has found that levels of radioactive material in farmland in parts of northeastern Japan exceed safety standards.
> 
> The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, found that Fukushima prefecture was "highly contaminated" after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
> 
> The level of radioactive material found in neighboring prefectures, such as Miyagi, Tochigi and Ibaraki, was lower but could still pose a threat to food production in some areas, the researchers said.
> 
> The study, led by Teppei Yasunari of the Universities Space Research Assn. in Maryland, looked at levels of cesium-137, which is of particular concern because it takes decades to decay.


----------



## eggplant43

http://spectrum.ieee.org/static/fukushima-and-the-future-of-nuclear-power


----------



## ekim68

Magnitude-5.9 quake hits near Japan nuclear site


----------



## ekim68

Japanese nuclear crisis official ill



> FUKUSHIMA, Japan, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The man who has led efforts to stabilize Japan's earthquake-damaged nuclear power plant stepped down Monday and was hospitalized with an undisclosed illness.
> 
> Although Masao Yoshida, 56, did not disclose his illness Monday, he told plant workers doctors detected it during a recent checkup and advised him to "concentrate on the treatment," ABC News reported.
> 
> Yoshida spearheaded the efforts to stabilize the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant the past nine months. *The 12-mile radius around the plant is still considered uninhabitable*, contaminated with high levels of radiation.


----------



## eggplant43

> The March 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake that decimated Japan and its Fukushima nuclear reactors with a monster tsunami altered the seafloor off the countrys eastern coast much more than scientists had thought. Analysis released today in the journal Science indicates the ocean bed moved as much as 50 meters laterally and 16 meters vertically. The magnitude 9.0 quake occurred close to the nearby Japan Trench that runs north to south in the Pacific Ocean (dark blue line on the map below).


http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=japan-earthquake-moves-seafloor


----------



## eggplant43

Playing For Change - Japan

http://playingforchange.com/episode...source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=epi55SBMJapan


----------



## eggplant43

> TOKYO  At least 45 tons of highly radioactive water have leaked from a purification facility at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, and some of it may have reached the Pacific Ocean, the plants operator said Sunday.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/w...rom-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-plant.html?_r=1


----------



## ekim68

Are you in that area shuishui?


----------



## eggplant43

> The radiation level for people in the area surrounding Fukushima is high enough that the maximum legal yearly dosage is reached in a matter of days. In some extreme cases, the limit can be reached within 27 hours.


http://cleantechnica.com/2011/12/09...mpaign=Feed:+IM-cleantechnica+(CleanTechnica)


----------



## ekim68

Japan PM says Fukushima nuclear site finally stabilised



> An earthquake and tsunami in March knocked out vital cooling systems, triggering radiation leaks and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.
> 
> Mr Noda's declaration of a "cold shutdown" condition marked the stabilisation of the plant.
> 
> The government says it will take decades to dismantle it completely.


----------



## eggplant43

I have to ask, was this statement made before or after the spill of radioactive water on the 4th of December?

I take this statement with the same grain of salt I did when we were told that the air was safe at Ground Zero for the workers, I knew better, and said so at the time.

_This may come as a revelation to some, but governments lie!_


----------



## eggplant43

> The predictions are getting worse: Japanese officials today said that it could take as many as 40 years to decommission the Fukushima nuclear plant, upping the previous estimate of 30 years. According to the detailed roadmap, TEPCO intends to spend the next two years clearing the spent fuel rods out of the storage pools situated in the reactor buildings; but the lion's share of the time will go to removing the melted nuclear fuel. That process will take some 25 years, and will necessitate the use of robotsand technologies that haven't even been invented yet, reports the New York Times.


http://www.newser.com/story/135873/japan-40-years-to-fully-shut-down-fukushima.html


----------



## eggplant43

> TOKYO  Japan's response to the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 tsunami was confused and riddled with problems, including an erroneous assumption an emergency cooling system was working and a delay in disclosing dangerous radiation leaks, a report revealed Monday.
> 
> The disturbing picture of harried and bumbling workers and government officials scrambling to respond to the problems at Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was depicted in the report detailing a government investigation.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/26/japan-fukushima-disaster-probe_n_1169837.html


----------



## eggplant43

> Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Monday reported an increase in radioactive materials leaking from damaged nuclear reactors at the Fukushima  plant.
> 
> The total amount of radioactive cesium that leaked from the containment vessels of the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors reached 70 million becquerels per hour, up 12 million becquerels from the December level, the power firm said.
> 
> It seems that radioactive dusts were stirred up because plant workers went inside reactor buildings and removed rubble, TEPCO officials said.


http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/0...ampaign=Feed:+TheBigPicture+(The+Big+Picture)


----------



## eggplant43

> Japans Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis was one of the most severe environmental disasters of the past year  and now it appears that its far from over, as the temperature at reactor number 2 just soared up 26.7 degrees Celsius in the past few hours. The news comes soon after Japan announced an official cold shutdown of the damaged plant, and authorities have announced that they no idea why the temperature is increasing.


http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/25xGQ...soars-to-45-degrees-celsius-as-crisis-awakes/


----------



## ekim68

Thousands march against nuclear power in Japan



> TOKYO (AP) - Thousands of Japanese people marched against nuclear power Saturday, amid growing worries about the restarting of reactors idled after the March 11 meltdown disaster in northeastern Japan.


----------



## xgerryx

Take a look at this: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE81R05D20120228


----------



## xgerryx

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c3#/video/world/2012/03/08/pkg-lah-japan-nuclear-workers.cnn


----------



## eggplant43

Not surprising, but certainly disturbing. Frankly, I believe it is just a matter of time before we find ourselves dealing with this again, elsewhere.


----------



## xgerryx

eggplant43 said:


> Frankly, I believe it is just a matter of time before we find ourselves dealing with this again, elsewhere.


Couldn't agree more, accidents will always happen. Look at the mess our great grand kids are going to have face.


----------



## ekim68

Japan sets payment plan for nuke evacuees



> TOKYO, March 18 (UPI) -- A Japanese government panel announced a plan to pay up to 6 million yen ($71,899) to people forced from their homes around a damaged nuclear power plant.
> 
> The Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage Compensation decided on the plan late last week to compensate evacuees from the area around the Fukushima No. 1 plant for their pain and suffering.
> 
> The money will be paid by Tokyo Electric Power Co., and will be allocated according to how long the recipients are forced to live elsewhere, The Yomiuri Shimbun said Sunday.


----------



## eggplant43

> Assurances of the absolute safety of Japanese nuclear plants lulled the public and government into a false sense of security that was shattered a year ago when an earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, causing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.


http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-japan-disaster-panel-complacency.html


----------



## ekim68

1 of Japan's damaged reactors has high radiation, no water, renewing doubts about stability



> TOKYO - One of Japan's crippled nuclear reactors still has fatally high radiation levels and hardly any water to cool it, according to an internal examination Tuesday that renews doubts about the plant's stability.
> 
> A tool equipped with a tiny video camera, a thermometer, a dosimeter and a water gauge was used to assess damage inside the No. 2 reactor's containment chamber for the second time since the tsunami swept into the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant a year ago. The probe done in January failed to find the water surface and provided only images showing steam, unidentified parts and rusty metal surfaces scarred by exposure to radiation, heat and humidity.
> 
> The data collected from the probes showed the damage from the disaster was so severe, the plant operator will have to develop special equipment and technology to tolerate the harsh environment and decommission the plant, *a process expected to last decades.*


----------



## ekim68

A very good read...:up:

Onagawa nuke plant saved from tsunami by one man's strength, determination



> The breakwater that proved so inadequate to the task of protecting the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant from the ocean was 10 meters high. The one defending the Onagawa nuclear plant is 14.8 meters tall, and it turns out Hirai had to fight a one-man war to get it built. The reason he was so determined was his careful study of the past, which revealed that in the year 869 a massive tsunami had hit the spot where the Onagawa plant now stands.


----------



## eggplant43

Sometimes, all it requires is the vision, and purpose of just one person.:up:


----------



## ekim68

'Ghost ship' off Canada heralds arrival of tsunami debris



> (Reuters) - An empty Japanese fishing boat drifting off the coast of western Canada could be the first wave of 1.5 million tons of debris heading toward North America from Japan's tsunami last March.


----------



## poochee

ekim68 said:


> 'Ghost ship' off Canada heralds arrival of tsunami debris


----------



## ekim68

World is ignoring most important lesson from Fukushima nuclear disaster



> Fukushima's most important lesson is this: Probability theory (that disaster is unlikely) failed us. If you have made assumptions, you are not prepared. Nuclear power plants should have multiple, reliable ways to cool reactors. Any nuclear plant that doesn't heed this lesson is inviting disaster.


----------



## ekim68

Fukushima radiation found in California kelp



> Kelp off California was contaminated with short-lived radioisotopes a month after Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant accident, a sign that the spilled radiation reached the state's coastline, according to a new scientific study.
> 
> Scientists from CSU Long Beach tested giant kelp collected off Orange County, Santa Cruz and other locations after the March 2011 accident and detected radioactive iodine, which was released from the damaged nuclear reactor.
> 
> The largest concentration was about 250 times higher than levels found in kelp before the accident.
> 
> "Basically, we saw it in all the California kelp blades we sampled," said Steven Manley, a CSU Long Beach biology professor who specializes in kelp.
> 
> The radioactivity had no known effects on the giant kelp, or on fish and other marine life, and it was undetectable a month later.
> 
> Iodine 131 "has an eight-day half-life, so it's pretty much all gone," Manley said. "But this shows what happens half a world away does effect what happens here. I don't think these levels are harmful, but it's better if we don't have it at all."


----------



## ekim68

Bus rours of Japan tsunami areas begin



> TOKYO, April 22 (UPI) -- Organizers say their bus trips for tourists to the area of Japan hit by last year's tsunami are meant to keep the memory of the disaster alive.
> 
> The tours bring visitors to areas of Iwate prefecture to see such dizzying sites as a police station with a car deposited precariously on the roof of a hotel.
> 
> Hanamaki Kanko Bus launched its "reconstruction" bus tour this month. Local residents act as volunteer guides and a percentage of the ticket sales will be donated to relief organizations.


----------



## Izme

Many arguments for Nuclear power...After seeing what happened in Cherynoble then Fukushima I'm not in the least bit happy with all the Nuclear plants in the US...I could talk for hours on the pros and cons..But wiping out a region for many many many years is a major point to discontinue them


----------



## Izme

Cool story!
Soccer ball swept away in Japanese tsunami washes up in Alaska

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/a...-away-in-japanese-tsunami-washes-up-in-alaska


----------



## ekim68

Japan's tsunami dock washed up in US state of Oregon



> A huge dock torn from a Japanese port by the 2011 tsunami has washed up 8,050km (5,000 miles) away on the US West Coast after crossing the Pacific.
> 
> The 165-tonne structure made of concrete, metal and tyres, and studded with starfish and barnacles, arrived on a beach south-west of Portland, Oregon.
> 
> It has tested negative for radiation, but scientists say a host of invasive marine species may have hitched a ride.
> 
> Police are guarding the dock while officials decide what to do with it.
> 
> A plaque on the 20m-long (66ft) structure, which was first mistaken for a barge, shows it came from the port of Misawa in northern Japan.


----------



## eggplant43

> The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant on Friday admitted it had played down the risks of a tsunami to the facility for fear of the financial and regulatory costs.


http://phys.org/news/2012-10-japan-tepco-downplaying-tsunami.html


----------



## ekim68

Fukushima Fish Still Radioactive 



> Don't expect to see Fukushima flounder on the menu anytime soon. Bottom-dwelling fish living near the coast of Fukushima prefecture are still contaminated with radioactive isotopes, according to a new analysis just published in the journal Science. The study suggests that the sea floor near Fukushima may be contaminated for *decades to come.*


----------



## eggplant43

> Weve documented the spread of radiation from Fukushima to Tokyo for a year and a half. See this, this, this, this, this and this. Unfortunately, as the following recent headlines from Ene News show, things are only getting worse:


http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/1...ampaign=Feed:+TheBigPicture+(The+Big+Picture)


----------



## ekim68

Anyone who thinks that concentrated radiation is harmless, is clueless...


----------



## ekim68

And don't forget the Human equation:

Fukushima: Fallout of fear



> After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan kept people safe from the physical effects of radiation - but not from the psychological impacts.


----------



## ekim68

Images of Japan's barren tsunami coast 2 years on



> Japan's progress in rebuilding from the tsunami that thundered over coastal sea walls, sweeping entire communities away, is mainly measured in barren foundations and empty spaces. Clearing of forests on higher ground due to be leveled to make space for relocating survivors has barely begun. Japan will next week observes two years from the March 11, 2011 disasters which devastated in the northeastern Pacific coast of the country.


----------



## xgerryx

ekim68 said:


> Images of Japan's barren tsunami coast 2 years on


Thanks for posting Ekim.


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## ekim68

You betcha xgerryx...It just doesn't seem like it's been two years....Our neighbor to the North, Washington, is still getting debris from Japan...


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## xgerryx

Two years since our own quakes down here in New Zealand. 
Two thirds of Christchurch CBD totalled.

http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/

Our family home back in the 60s destroyed Sept 4th 2010:
http://www.gerrydraper.co.nz/images/hororata.jpg

cheers
Gerry


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## ekim68

xgerryx said:


> Two years since our own quakes down here in New Zealand.
> Two thirds of Christchurch CBD totalled.
> 
> http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/
> 
> Our family home back in the 60s destroyed Sept 4th 2010:
> http://www.gerrydraper.co.nz/images/hororata.jpg
> 
> cheers
> Gerry


Wow, two years have passed since this, too. Has Christchurch healed a bit?


----------



## ekim68

Insight: Japan's "Long War" to shut down Fukushima



> (Reuters) - Just months after Quince was deployed to inspect Japan's tsunami-devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the $6 million robot got trapped in its dark and winding pathways.
> 
> Seventeen months later, the high-tech soldier is still missing in action - a symbol of a daunting decommissioning project that will take decades, require huge injections of human and financial capital and rely on yet-to-be developed technologies.
> 
> "It's like going to war with bamboo sticks," said Takuya Hattori, president of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum and a 36-year veteran of Fukushima plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co, known as Tepco.


----------



## ekim68

Destination Fukushima: Two years on



> Tepco let reporters get closer to the damaged reactor buildings, allowing me to photograph laborers in stifling protective gear, standing at the top of destroyed buildings. I was also able to photograph inside the Common Pool Building, a site where Tepco plans to transfer fuel rods from Reactor 4 later this year, the first step of a *decades-long battle to decommission the plant.*


----------



## ekim68

xgerryx said:


> Thanks for posting Ekim.


BTW Gerry, I looked at some of the pictures at your link and the place looks beautiful....:up:


----------



## xgerryx

ekim68 said:


> Wow, two years have passed since this, too. Has Christchurch healed a bit?


Christchurch is starting to heal a bit, but the rebuild is going to take many years.
Here's a link to a face book page that says quite a bit:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Itll...ake-to-pull-Christchurch-down/141739189201797
Its well worth scrolling through the page to see how they are coping.

Here's a clip of the immediate aftermath and aftershocks:


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## valis

whoa.....pretty cool pics from google streetview. rather sobering.

http://kotaku.com/explore-fukushimas-nuclear-zone-in-googles-startling-461313646


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## ekim68

Radioactivity is not to be taken lightly...

Radioactive water leak feared at tsunami-crippled nuke plant in Japan



> TOKYO - The operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant said Saturday that it was moving tons of highly radioactive water from a temporary storage tank to another after detecting signs of leakage, in a blow to the plant's struggles with tight storage space.
> 
> Tokyo Electric power Co. said about 120 tons of the water are believed to have breached the tank's inner linings, some of it possibly leaking into the soil. TEPCO is moving the water to a nearby tank at the Fukushima Dai-chi plant - a process that could take several days.


----------



## ekim68

Defect could affect all radioactive water storage tanks at Fukushima plant



> Tokyo Electric Power Co. suspects two leaks of radioactive water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant were caused by shoddy workmanship to install devices to detect such spillage.
> 
> The latest problem at the stricken plant suggests that the defect could cause leaks at the five other underground water storage tanks because they all have the same structure.
> 
> TEPCO, operator of the plant, said April 7 that radioactive water leaked from the No. 3 storage tank. It earlier confirmed that at least 120 tons of contaminated water leaked from the adjacent No. 2 storage tank.


----------



## ekim68

Fukushima Fishermen: No, You Can't Dump That Water



> Union leaders were apparently on board with the plan, but rank-and-file fishermen wouldn't hear of it, arguing that no matter how safe TEPCO says the procedure is, news of the move would further torpedo their sales. TEPCO will keep negotiating even as it scrambles to store the *400 tons of contaminated groundwater being produced at the former nuclear plant each day. About 280,000 tons of tainted water is sitting in tanks now, and that's expected to double in a few years if no alternative is found, reports Japan Today.*


----------



## ekim68

Rising radioactive spills leave Fukushima fishermen floundering



> (Reuters) - Dozens of crabs, three small sharks and scores of fish thump on the slippery deck of the fishing boat True Prosperity as captain Shohei Yaoita lands his latest haul, another catch headed not for the dinner table but for radioactive testing.


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## valis

no comment....this is going to be bad news for the rest of our lives.....


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## ekim68

You're right. I heard that this incident will take at least 30 to 50 years to clear up, but it's having repercussions elsewhere:

Monju operator ordered to stop restart preparation



> Japan's nuclear regulator has ordered the operator of the Monju fast-breeder reactor to suspend preparation for its restart until measures are put in place for its proper maintenance and management.


----------



## valis

I'd say 50 years is optimistic at best......sadly....


----------



## ekim68

60,000 protest Japan's plan to restart nuclear power plants



> Participants have gathered more than 8 million signatures against the government's plan to restart nuclear power plants after the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant due to a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake, RIA Novosti reported.


----------



## ekim68

Soil around Fukushima to be frozen to stop groundwater leaking in



> The Japanese government has ordered the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant to freeze the soil around its crippled reactor buildings to stop groundwater seeping in and becoming contaminated.





> According to a report compiled by a government panel on Thursday, there are no previous examples of using walls created from frozen soil to isolate groundwater being used for longer than a few years.
> 
> This means the project at the Fukushima plant poses "an unprecedented challenge in the world".


----------



## ekim68

On it goes.....

With Fukushima nuclear plant still leaking, Japan clean-up bill soars to $50bn



> Many are sceptical that government-led effort will make area habitable again.


----------



## ekim68

Ain't gonna be any good news out of here for a long time...

Fukushima clean-up turns toxic for Japan's Tepco



> (Reuters) - Two and a half years after the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, the operator of Japan's wrecked Fukushima plant faces a daunting array of unknowns.
> 
> Why the plant intermittently emits steam; how groundwater seeps into its basement; whether fixes to the cooling system will hold; how nearby groundwater is contaminated by radioactive matter; how toxic water ends up in the sea and how to contain water that could overwhelm the facility's storage tanks.


----------



## valis

Japan nuclear body says radioactive water at Fukushima an 'emergency'

oh boy, were you right on that one, Mike......



> Highly radioactive water seeping into the ocean from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is creating an "emergency" that the operator is struggling to contain, an official from the country's nuclear watchdog said on Monday.
> 
> This contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier, is rising toward the surface and is exceeding legal limits of radioactive discharge, Shinji Kinjo, head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) task force, told Reuters.
> 
> Countermeasures planned by Tokyo Electric Power Co are only a temporary solution, he said.
> 
> Tepco's "sense of crisis is weak," Kinjo said. "This is why you can't just leave it up to Tepco alone" to grapple with the ongoing disaster.
> 
> "Right now, we have an emergency," he said.
> 
> Tepco has been widely castigated for its failure to prepare for the massive 2011 tsunami and earthquake that devastated its Fukushima plant and lambasted for its inept response to the reactor meltdowns. It has also been accused of covering up shortcomings.


----------



## ekim68

And things continually get worse and it's not yesterday's news....I hope people around the world are paying attention to this..


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## valis

I really, really hope they learn from this....yes, nuclear power is sweet.......but it comes with a price.....


----------



## valis

huh.....

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-13/japan-studies-ice-wall-to-halt-radioactive-water-leaks.html


----------



## ekim68

Insight: After disaster, the deadliest part of Japan's nuclear clean-up



> (Reuters) - The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is preparing to remove 400 tons of highly irradiated spent fuel from a damaged reactor building, a dangerous operation that has never been attempted before on this scale.
> 
> Containing radiation equivalent to 14,000 times the amount released in the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima 68 years ago, more than 1,300 used fuel rod assemblies packed tightly together need to be removed from a building that is vulnerable to collapse, should another large earthquake hit the area.


----------



## ekim68

Japan ups Fukushima threat warning



> Japan will dramatically raise its warning about the severity of a toxic water leak at the Fukushima nuclear plant, its nuclear watchdog said Wednesday, its most serious action since the plant was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
> 
> The deepening crisis at the Fukushima plant will be upgraded from a level 1 "anomaly" to a level 3 "serious incident" on an international scale for radiological releases, a spokesman for Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said.
> 
> *That will mark the first time Japan has issued a warning on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) since three reactor meltdowns after the massive quake in March 2011.*


This is getting nothing but worse......


----------



## valis

apparently it's a LOT worse than we are being led to believe.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23779561



> Some 1,000 tanks have been built to hold the water. But these are believed to be at around 85% of their capacity and every day an extra 400 tonnes of water are being added.
> 
> "The quantities of water they are dealing with are absolutely gigantic," said Mycle Schneider, who has consulted widely for a variety of organisations and countries on nuclear issues.
> 
> "What is the worse is the water leakage everywhere else - not just from the tanks. It is leaking out from the basements, it is leaking out from the cracks all over the place. Nobody can measure that. "


----------



## ekim68

Good info....:up:

Safecast is a global sensor network for collecting and sharing radiation measurements to empower people with data about their environments


----------



## ekim68

Is this gonna turn into another Chernobyl? 

Fukushima keeps on leaking, Japan keeps on issuing confusing explanations



> Problems continue to burble up at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant - or, in this case, gush out.
> 
> We learned last month that contaminated water has been leaking from the plant into the sea at a rate of about 300 tons a day. Then last week came word of a more serious spill of 300 tons of extremely radioactive water, which the government classified as a level 3 incident on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale.
> 
> *The scale runs from zero, where everything is peachy, past level 3, which indicates a "serious incident," up to level 7, which means the kind of living hell that engulfed the facility when its reactors melted down following an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.*


----------



## ekim68

Government must take over Fukushima nuclear cleanup



> Recent weeks have seen increasingly concerned calls, from within and without Japan, for the Japanese government to take a direct role in managing the multifaceted crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The most recent opinion poll shows 91 percent of the Japanese public wants the government to intervene.
> 
> The Economist calls Fukushima a "nightmare," and the editors of Bloomberg deem it "ground zero" for the Abe government. Tepco's handling of the stricken plant continues to be a litany of negligence and error, raising grave doubts over whether the company is up to the incredibly difficult and important task of decommissioning the plant. While it may be politically inconvenient for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to accept, it is time to intervene and take over the plant before it is too late.


----------



## ekim68

Geez, nothing but Bad News....

UPDATE 1-Radiation readings spike at water tank at Japan's ruined nuclear plant



> (Reuters) - Radiation near a tank holding highly contaminated water at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has spiked 18-fold, the plant's operator said on Sunday, highlighting the struggle to bring the crisis under control after more than two years.
> 
> Radiation of 1,800 millisieverts per hour - enough to kill an exposed person in four hours - was detected near the bottom of one storage tank on Saturday, Tokyo Electric Power Co , also known as Tepco, said.


----------



## valis

looks like that wall of ice is actually going to happen......

http://gizmodo.com/japan-wants-to-build-an-ice-wall-to-contain-fukushimas-1135305503/1244518291

man, they are grasping at straws currently.


----------



## valis

getting worse:

http://news.yahoo.com/tepco-finds-high-radiation-fukushima-groundwater-071524186.html



> Late on Monday, two days after Tokyo won the bid to host the 2020 Olympics, plant operator TEPCO announced samples taken from a well at the site showed the presence of radioactive substances, including strontium, a known carcinogen.
> 
> Reports said the utility believed it "now seems more likely" that leaks from tanks storing highly polluted water had made their way into subterranean water, which flows out to sea.
> 
> In a release, Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said groundwater showed radiation readings of *3,200 becquerels per litre*.
> 
> The contamination level compares with government limits of 100 becquerels per kilogramme in food and *10 becquerels per litre* in drinking water.


----------



## ekim68

Photo interpretations....

Life Inside the Bubble: Two Years After Fukushima, the Lines Between Safety and Danger Are Still Unclear


----------



## valis

dodged one.......

http://www.chron.com/business/energ...hits-Japan-s-Fukushima-4827389.php?cmpid=hpbn


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## ekim68

Nuclear Crisis at Fukushima Could Spew Out More Than 15,000 Times as Much Radiation as Hiroshima Bombing

(I thought this line was revealing..)



> The one thing certain about this crisis is that Tepco does not have the scientific, engineering or financial resources to handle it. Nor does the Japanese government. The situation demands a coordinated worldwide effort of the best scientists and engineers our species can muster.


----------



## valis

> best scientists and engineers *our species *can muster.


holy crap.......that pretty much says it all, doesn't it?


----------



## valis

and the beat goes on (lyrics from 'Ball Of Confusion')

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tokyo-electric-says-contaminated-water-nuclear


> The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said on Tuesday that four tonnes of rainwater contaminated with low levels of radiation leaked during an operation to transfer the water between tank holding areas.


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## ekim68

I thought it was this... (Sorry for the sidetrack... )


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## valis

geah......nopenopenope.....

http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...8j3.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.0FOpuu-LNYE

that's got both the original (temptations) and my favorite (love and rockets, aka bauhaus).


----------



## ekim68

Japan's Nuclear Refugees, Still Stuck in Limbo



> While the continuing environmental disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has grabbed world headlines - with hundreds of tons of contaminated water flowing into the Pacific Ocean daily - a human crisis has been quietly unfolding. Two and a half years after the plant belched plumes of radioactive materials over northeast Japan, the almost 83,000 nuclear refugees evacuated from the worst-hit areas are still unable to go home. Some have moved on, reluctantly, but tens of thousands remain in a legal and emotional limbo while the government holds out hope that they can one day return.
> 
> As they wait, many are growing bitter.


----------



## ekim68

Second breach at Fukushima nuclear plant leaks toxic water into sea



> The operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said on Thursday another tank holding highly contaminated water overflowed, probably sending the liquid into the Pacific Ocean, in the second such breach in less than two months.


----------



## poochee

ekim68 said:


> Second breach at Fukushima nuclear plant leaks toxic water into sea


----------



## ekim68

Pump to cool damaged reactor at Fukushima plant stops



> The plant has been plagued by mishaps. Last week, the company said workers spilled 114 gallons of radioactive water when they mistakenly tried to put water in an already-full tank.
> 
> Japan welcomes foreign expertise as it seeks to contain radioactive water leaks at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.


----------



## valis

and it keeps getting better.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/w...ctors-cooling-system-briefly-stalls.html?_r=0



> The operator of Japan's wrecked nuclear plant said Monday that a pump used to cool one of the damaged reactors had stopped, *possibly because of human error*, in the latest problem at the facility.


----------



## ekim68

It goes on........

For Tepco and Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, toxic water stymies cleanup



> Two and a half years after a series of nuclear meltdowns, Japan's effort to clean up what remains of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is turning into another kind of disaster.
> 
> The site now stores 90 million gallons of radioactive water, more than enough to fill Yankee Stadium to the brim. An additional 400 tons of toxic water is flowing daily into the Pacific Ocean, and almost every week, the plant operator acknowledges a new leak.


----------



## valis

1 meter tsunami forces evacuation of fukushima (nsfw language in comments)

http://jalopnik.com/evacuation-of-fukushima-nuclear-plant-ordered-after-tsu-1452237048


----------



## ekim68

And of course the Other part of the Equation...

Special Report: Help wanted in Fukushima: Low pay, high risks and gangsters



> Tetsuya Hayashi went to Fukushima to take a job at ground zero of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. He lasted less than two weeks.
> 
> Hayashi, 41, says he was recruited for a job monitoring the radiation exposure of workers leaving the plant in the summer of 2012. Instead, when he turned up for work, he was handed off through a web of contractors and assigned, to his surprise, to one of Fukushima's hottest radiation zones.
> 
> He was told he would have to wear an oxygen tank and a double-layer protective suit. Even then, his handlers told him, the radiation would be so high it could burn through his annual exposure limit in just under an hour.
> 
> "I felt cheated and entrapped," Hayashi said. "I had not agreed to any of this."


----------



## ekim68

For many Fukushima evacuees, the truth is they won't be going home



> "You can't have a temporary life forever," said Ichiro Kazawa, 61, whose home was destroyed by the tsunami that also knocked out power to the Fukushima plant.
> 
> Kazawa escaped four minutes before the first wave. Next year, he hopes to return to a home within sight of the Fukushima plant and take his 88-year-old mother back. But he wants the government to admit what many evacuees have already accepted - for many there will be no going home as planned.


----------



## poochee

ekim68 said:


> For many Fukushima evacuees, the truth is they won't be going home


----------



## ekim68

Hey poochee, I see a birthday cake along side of you so Happy Birthday....


----------



## poochee

ekim68 said:


> Hey poochee, I see a birthday cake along side of you so Happy Birthday....


Thanks, 29 again.


----------



## valis

hmmmmm......

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/08/how_tenacity_a_wall_saved_a_ja.html


----------



## xgerryx

Its going to be a long slow process: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24958048


----------



## ekim68

Now they're talking 40 years.....

Fukushima two years on: a dirty job with no end in sight



> The tsunami that wrecked the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has led to the toughest nuclear cleanup ever. Radioactive water is still poisoning the sea - and it could take 40 years to fix the mess. Is Japan up to the challenge?


----------



## ekim68

Killer qualities of Japanese fault revealed



> The devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan shocked researchers who did not expect that the seismic fault involved could release so much energy. Now the world's deepest-drilling oceanographic ship has been able to pin down the odd geology that made this disaster so horrific.
> 
> The fault turns out to be unusually thin and weak, the researchers report in Science this week1-3. The results will help to pin down whether other offshore faults around the world are capable of triggering the same scale of disaster.


----------



## valis

another meltdown?

http://gizmodo.com/radioactive-mystery-steam-over-fukushima-could-mean-ano-1492280971



> The newest update in the highly disconcerting series of devastating failures that is the Fukushima cleanup effort is troubling to say the least. Tepco has confirmed that (unexplained) plumes of steam have been rising from the mangled remains of Reactor Building 3. In other words, there's a chance Fukushima could be in the middle of another meltdown.


ducky......great way to start 2014......


----------



## ekim68

More Fallout, so to speak....

Putting Fukushima In Perspective



> There was no background radioactive cesium before above-ground nuclear testing and nuclear accidents started.
> 
> Wikipedia provides some details on the distribution of cesium-137 due to human activities:
> 
> Small amounts of caesium-134 and caesium-137 were released into the environment during nearly all nuclear weapon tests and some nuclear accidents, most notably the Chernobyl disaster.





> 2,053 nuclear tests occurred between 1945 and 1998:
> 
> Above-ground nuclear tests - which caused numerous cancers to the "downwinders" - were covered up by the American, French and other governments for decades. See this, this, this, this, this and this.
> 
> But the amount of radiation pumped out by Fukushima dwarfs the amount released by the nuclear tests.
> 
> As nuclear engineer and former nuclear executive Arnie Gundersen notes, the wave of radioactive cesium from Fukushima which is going to hit the West Coast of North America will be 10 times greater than from the nuclear tests.


----------



## valis

going to hit _when_


----------



## ekim68

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that....I'm gonna look around....


----------



## valis

valis said:


> going to hit _when_


sorry, Mike, that came out rude......on an old Dell lapper in a dingy hotel room, and the palm rests sometimes affect keyboard usage.....meant to sound a bit more polite than that...... at the very least, I reckon you deserve a ?


----------



## ekim68

U.S. sailors say Fukushima radiation made them sick



> After Japan was pummeled by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011, the U.S. Navy sent the USS Ronald Reagan to deliver aid. The ship unwittingly sailed straight into a plume of radioactive pollution from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was melting down. Now at least 71 of those sailors are seriously ill.
> 
> The sailors are suing the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, owner and operator of the plant, alleging that it downplayed the dangers of the radioactivity - radioactivity they say has left them riddled with cancers, thyroid problems, and other ailments.


----------



## ekim68

valis said:


> going to hit _when_


Getting back to this with a caveat of sorts.... My Wife's FB friends are posting some claims by some reports that there's gonna be a big wave of radiation hitting our coast soon. A post today suggested that as of now Coos Bay is receiving five times the normal radiation levels.... But I found this, although not recent, at least more comprehensive....

Fukushima radiation set to hit the U.S. by 2014



> Although there will be a measurable increase in radioactive materials, by that point they will be diluted far below the safety levels set by the World Health Organization. So there are no immediate health concerns associated with the plumes arrival. But its important to understand how pollutants are carried throughout the worlds oceans, especially since Japan is still trying to figure out what to do with its 132 Olympic pools worth of radioactive water.


----------



## valis

ah jeeze......LOVE coos bay. Not as much as Cannon Beach, but it's up there.


----------



## ekim68

Hmm, seems like they should have done this before the fact.....

Japan plans nuclear reactor meltdown to help prevent another Fukushima disaster


----------



## ekim68

Just came across this and it seems to be pretty comprehensive...


----------



## ekim68

I know this is not about Fukushima, however it is a good read about the encasement of the Chernobyl site...

Building Chernobyl's New Safe Confinement



> But the SIP's crowning glory - is, without a doubt, the construction of the New Safe Confinement (NSC) - an immense steel arch, designed to last for 100 years, that will protect the sarcophagus from the elements, and enable engineers to safely and methodically tidy up a nuclear legacy that has troubled the world for the past 27 years.


----------



## valis

that is a good read.....thanks Mike.


----------



## ekim68

I wonder how much radiation is around us everywhere everyday. Maybe a geiger counter would be a useful app-type-of-thing in the new wearable devices being planned and made now...


----------



## ekim68

Fukushima radiation could reach Pacific coast by April



> Radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster has not yet reached ocean waters along the Pacific coast, but low levels of radioactive cesium from the stricken Japanese power plant could arrive by April, scientists reported Monday.
> 
> The report came even as some Internet sites continue claiming that dangerously radioactive ocean water from Fukushima is showing up along California beaches - reports that have been denied by health officials and scientists since they first surfaced more than a month ago.


----------



## ekim68

Remembering and Learning from Fukushima



> The media moved on, some time ago, from Fukushima and left most of us in the dark about this worsening nuclear tragedy, as if there is little more to mourn and no more lessons to learn.
> 
> Three years ago on March 11, the Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing tsunami devastated northeast Japan, killing and injuring more than 20,000 people and crippling the Fukushima Dai'ichi nuclear power plant. Three of the plant's six reactors suffered hazardous core meltdowns and hydrogen gas explosions, releasing radionuclides into the air, soil and Pacific Ocean. More than 300,000 people were eventually evacuated from the region and remain today "nuclear refugees," living with the same trauma, fear, sense of displacement, and loss of livelihood and social roots as war refugees. A few thousand residents, who have been allowed to return to their town, Odaka, find themselves alive in a dying region: "People don't believe it is safe to visit here. They won't believe our produce, our livestock, our fish are safe..." reported one rueful resident.
> 
> So difficult has been their fate that, by late 2013, 1,600 nuclear refugees had died of insufficient medical services, exhaustion of relocating, suicide and, likely, heartbreak. Over 35 percent of some 38,000 Fukushima children examined have cysts or nodules on their thyroids, as compared to 1 percent of a control group of Japanese children.


----------



## ekim68

How The Japanese Are Monitoring Babies for Radiation Exposure at Fukushima



> But the equilibrium levels are different in adults and children. For example, if each adult ingests 3 becquerels of cesium-137 every day, the internal levels would reach an equilibrium of about 400 becquerels per adult body. (A becquerel is one nuclear decay per second). That's well within the 250 Bq/body detection limit for whole body scanners
> 
> But the equilibrium level is much lower for children because of their lower body mass and faster metabolism. A similar intake for a 1-year old child would result in an equilibrium level of about 60 becquerels per body. A conventional adult scanner cannot measure this.
> 
> So Hayano and co have a built a whole body scanner specially for children, which they call BABYSCAN. "To realize this high sensitivity, the BABYSCAN must be ergonomically designed so that a small child can stay still for several minutes, without feeling afraid of confinement," they say.


----------



## ekim68

The children of Japan's Fukushima battle an invisible enemy



> Some of the smallest children in Koriyama, a short drive from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, barely know what it's like to play outside - fear of radiation has kept them indoors for much of their short lives.
> 
> Though the strict safety limits for outdoor activity set after multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in 2011 have now been eased, parental worries and ingrained habit mean many children still stay inside.
> 
> And the impact, three years on, is now starting to show, with children experiencing falling strength, lack of coordination - some cannot even ride a bicycle - and emotional issues like shorter tempers, officials and educators say.


----------



## ekim68

Good grief...

Fukushima operator may have to dump contaminated water into Pacific



> Senior adviser to Tokyo Electric Power says controlled release into sea is much safer than keeping contaminated water on-site.


----------



## Izme

Godzilla started it all! Wake up guys! My heart and prayers go out to all the effected..But I have to use a blow dart toward the media's stupid responses


----------



## ekim68

The Media wasn't the only stupid responses. What TEPCO did was criminal, IMHO....:down:


----------



## ekim68

Japan may only be able to restart one-third of its nuclear reactors



> (Reuters) - Three years after the Fukushima disaster prompted the closure of all Japan's nuclear reactors, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is moving to revive nuclear power as a core part of the energy mix, but many of those idled reactors will never come back online.
> 
> As few as a third, and at most about two-thirds, of the reactors will pass today's more stringent safety checks and clear the other seismological, economic, logistical and political hurdles needed to restart, a Reuters analysis shows.


----------



## valis

looks like the ice wall is a go:

http://gizmodo.com/japan-to-start-building-giant-ice-wall-at-fukushima-1581622188


----------



## ekim68

Fukushima's Children are Dying



> Some 39 months after the multiple explosions at Fukushima, thyroid cancer rates among nearby children have skyrocketed to more than forty times (40x) normal.
> 
> More than 48 percent of some 375,000 young people-nearly 200,000 kids-tested by the Fukushima Medical University near the smoldering reactors now suffer from pre-cancerous thyroid abnormalities, primarily nodules and cysts. The rate is accelerating.


----------



## ekim68

Fukushima operator struggles to build ice wall to contain radioactive water



> The operator of Japan's battered Fukushima nuclear power plant has said it is having trouble with the early stages of an ice wall being built under broken reactors to contain radioactive water.
> 
> Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) has begun digging the trenches for a huge network of pipes under the plant through which it intends to pass refrigerant.
> 
> This will freeze the soil and form a physical barrier that is intended to prevent clean groundwater flowing down mountainsides from mixing with contaminated water underneath the leaking reactors.
> 
> Tepco said on Tuesday that a smaller, inner ice wall whose pipes it sank earlier to contain the already-contaminated water was proving difficult.
> 
> "We have yet to form the ice stopper because we can't make the temperature low enough to freeze water," a Tepco spokesman said.


----------



## valis

if you can't freeze the water, I'd say making an 'ice' barrier is out of the question.......


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## ekim68

One step forward and two steps back, eh? I wonder why TEPCO is still in business....


----------



## ekim68

Fukushima farmer takes on nuclear plant operator over wife's suicide



> (Reuters) - A Japanese court is due to rule next month on a claim that Tokyo Electric Power is responsible for a woman's suicide, in a landmark case that could force the utility to publicly admit culpability for deaths related to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.


----------



## valis

s just picked this up, haven't found anything else yet.......

http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Strong-quake-hits-Japan-triggering-tsunami-5615613.php


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## ekim68

Geez, haven't they had enough?


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## ekim68

I've just gone through and read the first six pages of this thread and I think they are classic, both with information, and the people who participated who aren't here anymore...A unique history, IMO.... And very Informative....:up:


----------



## ekim68

One trillion Bq released by nuclear debris removal



> The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says more than one trillion becquerels of radioactive substances were released as a result of debris removal work at one of the plant's reactors.
> 
> Radioactive cesium was detected at levels exceeding the government limit in rice harvested last year in Minami Soma, some 20 kilometers from Fukushima Daiichi.
> 
> There are fears that some rice paddies in the city have been tainted by airborne radioactive material released when debris was removed from the plant's No.3 reactor in August last year.
> 
> On Wednesday, Tokyo Electric Power Company presented the Nuclear Regulation Authority with an estimate that the removal work discharged 280 billion becquerels per hour of radioactive substances, or a total of 1.1 trillion becquerels.
> 
> The plant is believed to be still releasing an average of 10 million becquerels per hour of radioactive material.


----------



## ekim68

TEPCO: Nearly all nuclear fuel melted at Fukushima No. 3 reactor



> Almost all of the nuclear fuel in the No. 3 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant melted within days of the March 11, 2011, disaster, according to a new estimate by Tokyo Electric Power Co.
> 
> TEPCO originally estimated that about 60 percent of the nuclear fuel melted at the reactor. But the latest estimate released on Aug. 6 revealed that the fuel started to melt about six hours earlier than previously thought.
> 
> TEPCO said most of the melted fuel likely dropped to the bottom of the containment unit from the pressure vessel after the disaster set off by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.
> 
> The utility plans to start fuel removal operations at the No. 3 reactor no earlier than in the latter half of fiscal 2021.


----------



## ekim68

Japanese monkeys' abnormal blood linked to Fukushima disaster - study



> Wild monkeys in the Fukushima region of Japan have blood abnormalities linked to the radioactive fall-out from the 2011 nuclear power plant disaster, according to a new scientific study that may help increase the understanding of radiation on human health.
> 
> The Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) were found to have low white and red blood cell levels and low haemoglobin, which the researchers say could make them more prone to infectious diseases.
> 
> But critics of the study say the link between the abnormal blood tests and the radiation exposure of the monkeys remains unproven and that the radiation doses may have been too small to cause the effect.


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## ekim68

Fukushima radiation still poisoning insects



> Eating food contaminated with radioactive particles may be more perilous than thought-at least for insects. Butterfly larvae fed even slightly tainted leaves collected near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station were more likely to suffer physical abnormalities and low survival rates than those fed uncontaminated foliage, a new study finds. The research suggests that the environment in the Fukushima region, particularly in areas off-limits to humans because of safety concerns, will remain dangerous for wildlife for some time.


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## ekim68

Fukushima legacy... 25,000 who cannot go home again



> A large swathe of land downwind of the four Fukushima Daiichi reactors smashed by a 15-metre tsunami in March 2011 is so contaminated by radioactivity that it will not be officially safe to return for more than 100 years.
> 
> Tens of thousands more who have left their homes outside the most contaminated zone will choose never to return because of the dangers.


----------



## ekim68

On a related theme....

As Nuclear Waste Piles Up, South Korea Faces Storage Crisis



> SEOUL (Reuters) - Among the usual commercials for beer, noodles and cars on South Korean TV, one item stands in marked contrast.
> 
> A short film by a government advisory body carries a stark message: the nation faces a crisis over storing its spent nuclear fuel after running reactors for decades.
> 
> The world's fifth-largest user of nuclear power has around 70 percent, or nearly 9,000 tonnes, of its used fuel stacked in temporary storage pools originally intended to hold it for five or six years, with some sites due to fill by the end of 2016.


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## ekim68

Fukushima radiation nears California coast, judged harmless



> After a two-and-a-half year ocean journey, radioactive contamination from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan has drifted to within 160 kilometers of the California coast, according to a new study. But the radiation levels are minuscule and do not pose a threat, researchers say.


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## ekim68

Decided to put this here...

SHOAL



> The series SHOAL reveals evidence of marine plastic debris collected during the Japanese Tsunami Debris Expedition in June 2012, which sailed across the tsunami debris field in the North Pacific Ocean. The work focuses on plastics collected and photographed from trawls and net samples at various points between Japan and Hawaii, and also from the tsunami affected shoreline in Fukushima Prefecture. Each image includes a different trawl sample, in some cases represented as tiny plankton, and captioned with the grid reference of where each sample was collected.


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## ekim68

This just isn't gonna go away....

Ruined Fukushima Plant Leaking Radiation 70 Times Above Normal Levels



> Fukushima is Japan's radiation nightmare that just won't go away. Ever since March 11, 2011, the damaged plant has been riddled with leaks and cleanup setbacks. Now Tepco, the operator of the damaged facility, says they've recorded spikes between 50-70 times above average readings in the gutters that pour water into a nearby bay.
> 
> Tepco detected the readings at about 10am local time, or late last night for all of us in the Western hemisphere. The Japan Times has more of the finer details and eye-popping numbers behind this new leak:


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## ekim68

250,000 Japanese still displaced 4 years after quake



> IITATE, Japan - When a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at the nearby Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, Yumi Kanno did not hesitate. She grabbed her 2-year-old son and aging in-laws and fled to her parents' house two hours away.
> 
> Four years later, Kanno and her extended family are still unable to return to this once-thriving village - and it appears likely they never will.
> 
> Radiation levels remain as much as 10 times above normal in areas surrounding the plant, and scores of towns and villages remain off-limits despite a massive cleanup effort. "At first, I thought we would be gone a few days or weeks. Now, I'm not sure if we will ever go back," said Kanno, 29.


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## ekim68

The Radioactive Man Who Returned To Fukushima To Feed The Animals That Everyone Else Left Behind



> The untold human suffering and property damage left in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan has been well-documented, but there's another population that suffered greatly that few have discussed - the animals left behind in the radioactive exclusion zone. One man, however, hasn't forgotten - 55-year-old Naoto Matsumura, a former construction worker who lives in the zone to care for its four-legged survivors.
> 
> He is known as the 'guardian of Fukushima's animals' because of the work he does to feed the animals left behind by people in their rush to evacuate the government's 12.5-mile exclusion zone. He is aware of the radiation he is subject to on a daily basis, but says that he "refuses to worry about it."


----------



## ekim68

Japan to build 250-mile-long, four storey-high wall to stop tsunamis



> Japanese authorities have unveiled plans to build a giant 250-mile long sea barrier to protect its coastline from devastating tsunamis.
> 
> According to the proposals, the £4.6bn ($6.8bn) barrier would reach 12.5m high in some places - stretching taller than a four storey building.
> 
> It would be made out of cement - and actually be composed of a chain of smaller sea walls to make construction easier.


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## ekim68

Robots go deep inside Fukushima nuclear plant to map radiation



> IN THE dark abandoned shell of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Rosemary and Sakura shoot what looks like a dystopian first-person shooter game. Rosemary scans her environment, while Sakura records every move.
> 
> But this is no traditional film crew. Rosemary and Sakura are robots operated by Tepco, the firm running the plant that went into meltdown following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Using radiation-sensing cameras they perform surveys in areas where radiation levels are still too high for humans to safely enter. The data the robots collect will help plan how to decommission the plant.


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## ekim68

Safe at last? View from Naraha - the first Fukushima community declared fit for humans




> Four and a half years after a tsunami triggered a triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, people have returned to live in the area.


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## valis

ekim68 said:


> Safe at last? View from Naraha - the first Fukushima community declared fit for humans


and right on the heels of that news....

http://gizmodo.com/first-fukushima-recovery-worker-diagnosed-with-radiatio-1737516467

When Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered its meltdown in 2011, over 44,0000 workers helped safely take it offline. Now, more than four years later, comes the first diagnosis of cancer in a recovery worker to be linked to radiation exposure during the work.


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## ekim68

Actually I'm surprised it took this long....


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## ekim68

That area continues to take a beating...


Japan earthquake with magnitude of 5.5 jolts Fukushima


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## ekim68

Toshiba unveils remote-controlled device to remove reactor 3 fuel assemblies at Fukushima No. 1




> Toshiba Corp. on Monday demonstrated a device it anticipates will be used to remove fuel-rod assemblies from the spent fuel pool in the reactor 3 building at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
> 
> Scheduled to begin extracting 566 fuel-rod assemblies sometime in fiscal 2017, Toshiba, the builder of reactor 3, showed how the gigantic remote-control crane-like device will work during a demonstration at a company factory in Yokohama.
> 
> Tokyo Electric Power Co. has said that although it is working to reduce the radiation level inside the reactor 3 building, it remains impossible for humans to safely monitor the removal of the fuel-rod assemblies.
> 
> It was this hurdle that prompted Toshiba to create the remotely controlled device to clear debris and remove rods from the cooling pool.


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## ekim68

Five years later and still cleaning............


[URL='http://gizmodo.com/fukushima-workers-don-their-protective-gear-in-these-ee-1762400387']New Photos From Fukushima Paint a Dire Picture of the Clean Up[/URL]


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## ekim68

32,000 workers at Fukushima No. 1 got high radiation dose, Tepco data show




> A total of 32,760 workers at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant had an annual radiation dose exceeding 5 millisieverts as of the end of January, according to an analysis of Tokyo Electric Power Co. data.
> 
> A reading of 5 millisieverts is one of the thresholds of whether nuclear plant workers suffering from leukemia can be eligible for compensation benefits for work-related injuries and illnesses.
> 
> Of those workers, 174 had a cumulative radiation dose of more than 100 millisieverts, a level considered to raise the risk of dying after developing cancer by 0.5 percent. Most of the exposure appears to have stemmed from work just after the start of the crisis on March 11, 2011.


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## ekim68

Fukushima: five years after earthquake, tsunami




> TOKYO (AP) - They feel like refugees, although they live in one of the world's richest and most peaceful nations.
> 
> Five years ago, these people fled their homes, grabbing what they could, as a nearby nuclear plant melted down after being hit by a tsunami, spewing radiation. All told, the disaster in Fukushima displaced 150,000 by the government's count.
> 
> About 100,000 are still scattered around the nation, some in barrack-like temporary housing units and others in government-allocated apartment buildings hundreds of kilometers (miles) away.


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## ekim68

16 US ships that aided in Operation Tomodachi still contaminated with radiation




> CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa - Sixteen U.S. ships that participated in relief efforts after Japan's nuclear disaster five years ago remain contaminated with low levels of radiation from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, top Navy officials told Stars and Stripes.
> 
> In all, 25 ships took part in Operation Tomadachi, the name given for the U.S. humanitarian aid operations after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011. The tsunami, whose waves reached runup heights of 130 feet, crippled the Fukushima plant, causing a nuclear meltdown.
> 
> In the years since the crisis, the ships have undergone cleanup efforts, the Navy said, and 13 Navy and three Military Sealift Command vessels still have some signs of contamination, mostly to ventilation systems, main engines and generators.


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## ekim68

Fukushima farmers grow plants with polyester 'soil'




> Farmers in Japan's Fukushima prefecture are using polyester "soil" to grow plants, in the hope of restoring consumer confidence in their produce following the 2011 nuclear disaster.


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## ekim68

Wild radioactive Fukushima boars breed like rabbits, ravage local countryside




> Northern Japan is raising an alarm, as the area surrounding the Fukushima Nuclear disaster zone has been overwhelmed by radioactive wild boars, whose population has increased dramatically over the past 4 years, as they breed freely in the exclusion zone.


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## valis

not to sound like a jerk, but 'Radioactive Fukushima Boars' would be a great name for a band.


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## ekim68

Greenpeace reports jump in radioactive contamination in Fukushima waterways



> OSAKA - Greenpeace Japan on Thursday said it has discovered radioactive contamination in Fukushima's riverbanks, estuaries and coastal waters at a scale hundreds of times higher than pre-2011 levels.
> 
> One sample of sediment taken along the Niida River, less than 30 km northwest of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant, revealed the presence of cesium-134 and cesium-137 at levels of 29,800 becquerels per kilogram.


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## ekim68

Cows in Fukushima radiation zone find new purpose: science



> NAMIE, Japan (AP) - In an abandoned Japanese village, cows grazing in lush green plains begin to gather when they hear the familiar rumble of the ranch owner's mini-pickup. This isn't feeding time, though.
> 
> Instead, the animals are about to be measured for how they're affected by living in radiation - radioactivity that is 15 times the safe benchmark. For these cows' pasture sits near Fukushima, a name now synonymous with nuclear disaster.
> 
> The area was once a haven for agriculture with more than 3,500 cattle and other livestock. Ranchers who refused a government order to kill their cows continue to feed and tend about 200 of them. The herds won't be used as food; now science is their mission.


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## ekim68

Northeast Japan dodges bullet from M7.4 quake



> A powerful earthquake struck northeastern Japan on Tuesday morning, briefly disrupting nuclear fuel cooling functions at the Fukushima No. 2 power plant and generating tsunami of over 1 meter in the region that was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster five years ago.
> 
> The 5:59 a.m. quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 *is believed to be an aftershock of the March 2011 mega-quake, the Meteorological Agency said.*


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## ekim68

Japan Fukushima nuclear plant 'clean-up costs double'



> Japan's government estimates the cost of cleaning up radioactive contamination and compensating victims of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has more than doubled, reports say.
> 
> The latest estimate from the trade ministry put the expected cost at some 20 trillion yen ($180bn, £142bn).


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## ekim68

Radiation in fish off Fukushima tests below detectable level



> FUKUSHIMA--Radiation in all seafood caught off Fukushima Prefecture tested below the detectable level in November for the first time since the 2011 nuclear disaster.
> 
> Species including bass, rockfish and stone flounder--sales of which were banned by the central government--were tested between Nov. 11 and Nov. 28, and the prefectural government said they all fell below the detection threshold, meaning radioactive cesium was not detected in any samples.


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## valis

Fukushima rad levels are rising fast....



> Radiation levels inside the containment vessel of reactor No. 2 at Fukushima has reached *530 sieverts* per hour-a figure described by experts as "unimaginable." The readings, taken by Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. (Tepco), were taken near the entrance of a space immediately below the pressure vessel, which contains the reactor core.
> 
> The radiation level inside the plant now far exceeds the previous high of *73 sieverts* per hour, which was recorded soon after the triple meltdown in March 2011.


that ain't good.....


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## ekim68

Nope, not good at all...These paragraphs from the article are compelling....



> Needless to say, this plant is not fit for human life. Just one dose of a single sievert is enough to cause radiation sickness and nausea. Exposure to four to five sieverts would kill about half of those exposed to it within a month, while a single dose of 10 sieverts is enough to kill a person within weeks.
> 
> These surging radiation levels are complicating plans to dismantle the plant. According to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences, medical professionals aren't prepared to treat patients who have been exposed to the levels of radiation currently experienced at the facility. This is a big problem for Tepco, which plans to remove fuel debris as part of the decommissioning process. The dismantling of Fukushima is scheduled to start in 2021 and could take nearly a half-century.


And then this:



> Scary stuff, to be sure. When nuclear goes wrong, it really, _really_ goes wrong.


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## valis

Yeah, that last sentence really resonated. That said, I've never had an issue with nuclear energy; rather, my problem is that **** sap, as a species, prefers to run prior to walking. Once you do that, you sort of gloss over the safety benefits that come with walking, and are therefore rather surprised and unprepared when something goes sideways at speed.


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## ekim68

I've been on the fence about nuclear power. They make it work in submarines so maybe using it to a smaller scale is the right thing to do. Now, however, on the larger scale we've seen a couple of areas on our Earth that are uninhabitable...


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## valis

I just think that maybe we should focus on what to do _if_ something goes wrong first, as opposed to afterwards. That's my main gripe with nuclear power.


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## ekim68

Fukushima reactor's radiation levels killed a cleaning robot



> Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) wasn't kidding when it said the radiation levels inside Fukushima's nuclear reactor are the highest they've been since its meltdown in 2011. It had to pull out the robot it sent in to find the exact location of melted uranium fuel and to do preliminary cleanup inside the reactor, because it died shortly after it started its mission. Apparently, two of the machine's cameras suddenly became wonky, darkened and developed a lot of noise after merely two hours of scraping debris away. Those are all signs of extremely high radiation levels.


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## valis

Read that on Gizmodo this AM; not what I would call a 'good' sign.


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## ekim68

Six years after the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima, a new danger -radioactive boars



> They descend on towns and villages, plundering crops and rampaging through homes. They occasionally attack humans. But perhaps most dangerous of all, the marauders carry with them highly radioactive material.
> 
> Hundreds of toxic wild boars have been roaming across northern Japan, where the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant six years ago forced thousands of residents to desert their homes, pets and livestock. Some animals, like cattle, were left to rot in their pens.
> 
> As Japan prepares to lift some evacuation orders on four towns within the more than 12-mile exclusion zone around the Fukushima plant later this month, officials are struggling to clear out the contaminated boars.


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## ekim68

The Lonely Towns of Fukushima



> Thousands of people fled from their homes, offices and schools six years ago after a devastating earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. To this day, few have returned, leaving behind ghost towns where eerie signs of the departed linger under a caking of dust.
> 
> Tomioka, a little more than six miles south of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, was home to 15,830 people before the accident. They left in a hurry.


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## zx10guy

Here's a post I made on another forum on Fukushima:

Video footage of the robot sent into reactor 2:






One of the documentaries I watched on Fukushima on the events leading up to and the aftermath:






And here is the documentary which showed footage of water leaking from the containment vessel. If you want to just jump to the actual footage, go to 12:00.


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## ekim68

Return to Fukushima: Never-before-seen photos from inside the red nuclear exclusion zone



> British photographer Rebecca Bathory has been granted rare permission to document the Fukushima exclusion zone. In the six years since the tsunami and ensuing nuclear disaster, some photographers have visited the area around Fukushima - but very few have ventured inside the most restricted red zone, or seen the interiors of its abandoned buildings, unchanged since residents fled for their lives on 11 March 2011.


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## ekim68

Fishermen express fury as Fukushima plant set to release radioactive material into ocean



> Local residents and environmental groups have condemned a plan to release radioactive tritium from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.
> 
> Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, say tritium poses little risk to human health and is quickly diluted by the ocean.
> 
> In an interview with local media, Takashi Kawamura, chairman of TEPCO, said: "The decision has already been made." He added, however, that the utility is waiting for approval from the Japanese government before going ahead with the plan and is seeking the understanding of local residents.


----------



## ekim68

General Electric Sued for Role in Fukushima Nuclear Disaster



> A class-action lawsuit was filed against Boston-based General Electric on Friday on behalf of people affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster that took place in Japan in 2011.
> 
> According to _Boston Business Journal_, the suit was filed in federal court in Boston and alleges the company's decisions dating back to the 1960s led to the failure of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which caused an estimated $250 billion in damage. Despite this astronomical bill, the lawsuit claims that, "To this day, GE has paid literally nothing toward the massive economic and business destruction its actions and failings have caused."
> 
> The plaintiffs in the case, who comprise medical facilities, residents, and companies in the affected area, total 150,000 citizens and scores of Japanese businesses. GE designed and primarily constructed the plant, the lawsuit states, and was responsible for its upkeep.


----------



## ekim68

Executives In Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Deserve 5-Year Prison Terms, Prosecutors Say



> The former chairman and two vice presidents of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. should spend five years in prison over the 2011 flooding and meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Japanese prosecutors say, accusing the executives of failing to prevent a foreseeable catastrophe.
> 
> Prosecutors say the TEPCO executives didn't do enough to protect the nuclear plant, despite being told in 2002 that the Fukushima facility was vulnerable to a tsunami. In March of 2011, it suffered meltdowns at three of its reactors, along with powerful hydrogen explosions.


----------



## ekim68

Robot squeezes suspected nuclear fuel debris in Fukushima reactor



> A robot outfitted with remotely controlled pinchers poked at debris that's suspected to contain molten nuclear fuel at the bottom of one of Fukushima's nuclear reactors, _World Nuclear News_ reports. The poking and prodding is part of the ongoing cleanup effort at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant, the site of a major nuclear accident in 2011.


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## ekim68

At Fukushima plant, a million-tonne headache: radioactive water



> In the grounds of the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant sits a million-tonne headache for the plant's operators and Japan's government: tank after tank of water contaminated with radioactive elements.
> 
> What to do with the enormous amount of water, which grows by around 150 tonnes a day, is a thorny question, with controversy surrounding a long-standing proposal to discharge it into the sea, after extensive decontamination.


----------



## ekim68

Fukushima to be reborn as $2.7bn wind and solar power hub



> TOKYO -- Japan's northeastern prefecture of Fukushima, devastated during the 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster, is looking to transform itself into a renewable energy hub, Nikkei has learned.
> 
> A plan is under way to develop 11 solar power plants and 10 wind power plants in the prefecture, on farmlands that cannot be cultivated anymore and mountainous areas from where population outflows continue.


----------



## valis

Yikes.....

High levels of radiation have been detected near Japan's J-Village, a sports facility and the starting point of the upcoming Olympic torch relay


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## ekim68

Yikes is right. The last sentence says it all....


----------



## ekim68

Study shows animal life thriving around Fukushima



> Nearly a decade after the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, researchers from the University of Georgia have found that wildlife populations are abundant in areas void of human life.
> 
> The camera study, published in the _Journal of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment_, reports that over 267,000 wildlife photos recorded more than 20 species, including wild boar, Japanese hare, macaques, pheasant, fox and the raccoon dog-a relative of the fox-in various areas of the landscape.


----------



## valis

Funny aside; I literally finished 'Wolves Eat Dogs' by Martin Cruz Smith last night. Its set in Chernobyl and the author touches on how the wildlife has thrived...


----------



## ekim68

As an aside...


Backstory: Inside the destroyed Fukushima plant - radiation, risk and reporting



> OKUMA, Japan (Reuters) - Reuters was recently given exclusive access to Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, where three reactors melted down in 2011 after a powerful earthquake and tsunami overwhelmed the seaside facility.


----------



## ekim68

Japan reportedly decides to release treated Fukushima water into the sea



> Japan will release more than a million tons of treated radioactive water from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea in a decades-long operation, reports said Friday, despite strong opposition from environmentalists, local fishermen and farmers. The release of the water, which has been filtered to reduce radioactivity, is likely to start in 2022 at the earliest, said national dailies the Nikkei, the Yomiuri, and other local media.


----------



## valis

that aint good....something something godzilla


----------



## ekim68

It's been ten years...

There's No Town Left': Fukushima's Eerie Landscapes



> Ten years after a devastating earthquake and tsunami led to a nuclear meltdown in northern Japan, residents are readjusting to places that feel familiar and hostile at once.


----------



## ekim68

Gov't to release Fukushima nuclear plant water into sea despite fishermen's objection



> The Japanese government is poised to release treated radioactive water accumulated at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea despite opposition from fishermen, sources familiar with the matter said Friday.
> 
> It will hold a meeting of related ministers as early as Tuesday to formally decide on the plan, a major development following over seven years of discussions on how to discharge the water used to cool down melted fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.


----------



## valis

ekim68 said:


> Gov't to release Fukushima nuclear plant water into sea despite fishermen's objection


I am not sure that is a good idea....


----------



## ekim68

Radioactive hybrid terror pigs have made themselves a home in Fukushima's exclusion zone



> The local wild boar - a subspecies endemic to the region known as the Japanese Boar (aka _Sus scrofa leucomystax_ or the White-Moustached Pig) - having created a fiefdom covering all of the locale vacated by over 160,000 displaced humans, became cocky and aggressive, and also lost their natural wariness.


----------



## ekim68

Tagged snakes reveal radiation levels in the soil around Fukushima 



> As work continues to clean up the mess left by the meltdown of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011, scientists are enlisting some local help in their efforts to survey the damage. A study has shown how snakes living in the Exclusion Zone can be serve as living, breathing monitors of radiation levels in the area, with the help of GPS and VHF tags.
> 
> The idea of using snakes to track radiation levels around Fukushima came from a group of researchers at the University of Georgia, who were drawn to a certain species for a few key reasons. The rat snake is an abundant species in Japan, typically traveling short distances and tends to accumulate high levels of radionuclides. This limited range of mobility, constant close contact with the soil and tendency to absorb radioactive material make them a useful "bioindicator" of residual contamination in the area.


----------



## ekim68

A decade after Fukushima disaster, foes of nuclear power reconsider



> From Japan to Germany to Britain to the United States, leaders of countries that had stopped investing in nuclear power are now considering building new power plants or delaying the closure of existing ones. The shift is especially notable in Japan and Germany, where both turned decisively against nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.


----------



## ekim68

New submersion method being considered for Fukushima debris cleanup



> The new submersion method, which is currently expected to be applied to the No. 3 reactor, would involve building a strong, pressure-resistant structure, much like a ship’s hull or a plane’s body, completely encapsulating the reactor, including underground.
> 
> The structure could then be filled with water, and removal work would take place from the top.


----------



## MisterEd51

ekim68 said:


> A decade after Fukushima disaster, foes of nuclear power reconsider


As some countries push toward eliminating fossil fuels it is obvious there will be a need for increased electrical power generation to charge all the new electric cars that are going to be built. Currently the only viable "clean" technology that is able to meet those needs is nuclear power. People that are willing to accept the reality of this want to get ahead of this and try to avoid disaster. Either that or countries will have regular brownouts and power outages. Also it is likely that there could be forced rationing. Some countries want the change to eliminate fossil fuels to come in less then ten years. The problem is it could be 15 years or more for even the first one of these new nuclear power plants to come online.


----------



## ekim68

Japan adopts plan to maximize nuclear energy, in major shift



> Japan adopted a plan on Thursday to extend the lifespan of nuclear reactors, replace the old and even build new ones, a major shift in a country scarred by the Fukushima disaster that once planned to phase out atomic power.


----------

