8.9 earth quake + tsunami in Japan

Angrist · 03-11-2011, 03:13 AM

Terrible to watch... There's ships rolling over land.

Since they didn't see it coming, SO many people must have died.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video...pan.cnn?hpt=T1

Teuthida · 03-11-2011, 05:39 AM

Only six earthquakes in recorded history have been more powerful than this one.

Predicted path of the tsunami:

Ground level video of a son and mother fleeing their house in Sendai: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3fUqdGXLbM

Seth · 03-13-2011, 10:08 AM

My friend in osaka said she didn't feel much of a shake when it happened. She was in a cafe and the tables were rattling a bit. Anyway, I'm so nervous about the meltdown situation. Another of my friends is living at a ski hill kind of west from Tokyo. Its so crazy to think about what's potentially another Chernobyl in progress.
People are worried on the west coast, (vancouver) because of the current heading directly over here.
Something seems amiss over their backup plan for the Fukishima plant. Some safety shortfalls on their nuclear industry's behalf?
fuuuuck there's so many people close to there. What a nightmare

Vampyr · 03-13-2011, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Something seems amiss over their backup plan for the Fukishima plant. Some safety shortfalls on their nuclear industry's behalf?

I keep thinking this. Everything I have heard so far about the plant has been really light on the actual details. I think most people are content enough to think "oh, it's nuclear, that stuff is dangerous", but plants typically are so well engineered and have so many safety fail safes in place that something like this shouldn't happen.

Angrist · 03-13-2011, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seth

People are worried on the west coast, (vancouver) because of the current heading directly over here.

Didn't the tsunami hit the Americas a few days ago? It barely did any damage.

The nuclear plant has me confused. How hard can it be to cool those reactors? All they need is a) water, b) electricity and c) rerouting of those two.
But I assume they're doing their best there.

In the beginning they were talking about how a couple of hundred people died. I found it hard believe it was so low... Sendai had a million inhabitants! Where did they all go? I figured there had to be thousands of deaths. And indeed now they are talking about more than 10.000.

Teuthida · 03-13-2011, 04:15 PM

Before and after satellite shots of the tsunami destruction.

Vampyr · 03-13-2011, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angrist

Didn't the tsunami hit the Americas a few days ago? It barely did any damage.

He means currents carrying radiation, I believe.

quiet mike · 03-13-2011, 04:32 PM

The problem with the reactors cooling comes with the difficulties in repairing/replacing the backup generators, or get energy from somewhere else, while dodging the ~300 aftershocks, some of them quite powerful.

Angrist · 03-13-2011, 05:11 PM

Ah I see.

So now they're saying there's a 70% chance of another 7.0+ quake.

Seth · 03-13-2011, 07:22 PM

Nitrogen-16 isotopes apparently have short half-life radioactivity so that is good. People are being admitted with radiation poisoning symptoms around Fukushima .
It seems as if the Japanese government wasn't being entirely open about the situation. Which is understandable in a crisis situation but still...
I'd be maxing my potassium iodine intake if living there. Holy shit. natural, not radiated iodine is sooo important to prevent the thyroid from using 'extra' iodine in the system that has been contaminated.
Its good to have a stockpile of kelp or other natural potassium iodine handy in case of radiation emergencies like this. Common sense in a nuclear world.

The concern that another nuclear plant is having trouble is freaky. Near Miyagi prefecture radiation is 400 times higher than normal.

My friend from highschool and his wife have been living there for the past year, working at a mountain snow resort north west of Tokyo. I'm praying they're going to be ok.
I wonder what the situation is for air travel leaving the country.
My gut tells me the Japanese are innovative and resilient enough to prevent a Chernobyl level disaster at this point but anything's possible. 7+ aftershocks are fucking scary. Another tsunami can easily result from an earthquake of that magnitude. Depends on sea floor shift doesnt it?

Seth · 03-13-2011, 08:52 PM

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=23676

That article is not pleasant to read, but it's relevant and I recommend.

It's written by a disaster relief earthquake fellow.
It touches on the same situation that had the government reassuring Ukranians about the safety, while at the same time evacuating administors' families and whatnot.

side thought on a part of the article:
I want to learn more about wind power viability because there's a fine line between the perception of lobbyist' trumping over logical shifts in industry and the actual impractibility of implimenting alternatives in the energy production field.

There's gotta be a way to deter birds from flying at the prop levels. Like how they use sonar tech stuff to keep sharks at a distance. There's has to be something.

Professor S · 03-14-2011, 07:47 AM

I thought this article was a good one, and free of sensationalism. It shows how the media can make a serious situation an apocalyptic one.

http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/1...e-explanation/

Quote:

Below I reproduce a summary on the situation prepared by Dr Josef Oehmen, a research scientist at MIT, in Boston...

...There was and will *not* be any significant release of radioactivity. By “significant” I mean a level of radiation of more than what you would receive on – say – a long distance flight, or drinking a glass of beer that comes from certain areas with high levels of natural background radiation...

...I have been reading every news release on the incident since the earthquake. There has not been one single (!) report that was accurate and free of errors (and part of that problem is also a weakness in the Japanese crisis communication). By “not free of errors” I do not refer to tendentious anti-nuclear journalism – that is quite normal these days. By “not free of errors” I mean blatant errors regarding physics and natural law, as well as gross misinterpretation of facts, due to an obvious lack of fundamental and basic understanding of the way nuclear reactors are built and operated...

...The plant came close to a core meltdown. Here is the worst-case scenario that was avoided: If the seawater could not have been used for treatment, the operators would have continued to vent the water steam to avoid pressure buildup. The third containment would then have been completely sealed to allow the core meltdown to happen without releasing radioactive material. After the meltdown, there would have been a waiting period for the intermediate radioactive materials to decay inside the reactor, and all radioactive particles to settle on a surface inside the containment. The cooling system would have been restored eventually, and the molten core cooled to a manageable temperature. The containment would have been cleaned up on the inside. Then a messy job of removing the molten core from the containment would have begun, packing the (now solid again) fuel bit by bit into transportation containers to be shipped to processing plants. Depending on the damage, the block of the plant would then either be repaired or dismantled...

Angrist · 03-14-2011, 11:20 AM

I quickly scanned that article and all I read was MELTDOWN! MELTDOOOOOOOOOWN!!!

Yeah, you're right. Media likes to make it look worse. Well maybe not the death toll... it took them days to admit that probably more than 10.000 died.

Professor S · 03-14-2011, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angrist

I quickly scanned that article and all I read was MELTDOWN! MELTDOOOOOOOOOWN!!!

Yeah, you're right. Media likes to make it look worse. Well maybe not the death toll... it took them days to admit that probably more than 10.000 died.

I think the entire situation is horrible, but the media is concentrating on the nuclear power plant when that is the LEAST of Japan's worries. The fact is no one is going to die or even get sick if the plant melts down because it is completely contained. Water shortages and sanitation are the real threats right now.

Seth · 03-14-2011, 04:45 PM

The issue of background radiation levels and possible added exposure from the exposed cores situation is interesting. I come from central BC where certain communities have natural background radiation levels of over 8!

Thank god the japanese aren't 'looters'.

I can see this situation pummelling possible progressive and safe nuclear advancement and contrarily regress into oil price super inflation. It's 'good' the west is about to secure north african oil reserves.

Yoichi Shimatsu, former Japan Times editor, has some good points:
"The Unit 1 reactor container is not cracked despite the explosion that destroyed its building.

The explosion did not erupt out of the reactor.

So what caused the explosion that blasted away the reinforced concrete roof and walls? Silence.

Yes, there's nothing to worry about if residents just stay indoors, turn off their air-cons and don't breathe deeply. Everyone, go back to sleep.

The radiation leak at Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant is now officially designated as a "4" on the international nuclear-events scale of 7. This is the same criticality rating at an earlier minor accident at Tokaimura plant in Ibaraki. Technically, there is no comparison. Tokaimura did not experience a partial meltdown."