MAJOR TSUNAMI---Damage in N Japan after 8.9 quake

[Hobbes]

I would almost 100% assure you that it was still lined up through a filtration system, and that any amount of radiation released is minimal.

I think most people would be truly surprised how todays systems compare to those of years ago. The ion/resin exchanging units trap so much of the particulates that spills and the like are extremely minimal releases.

The proof was always in the pudding for Submariners. Living, working, eating, and sleeping within 50 yards of it gave you less radiation/cancer risk than people that went to the tanning salon once a week, or people that smoked a pack of cigarettes a week.

Authorities had already issued an evacuation order for everyone within 2 miles of the plant.
When the gas was released they withdrew the evac orders and ordered everyone to stay inside.
It WAS released into the atmosphere.

ETA a Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42032703

 

[Hobbes]

Japanese authorities and the U.S. military on Saturday were racing to find ways to deliver new backup generators or batteries to a nuclear power reactor whose cooling facilities have been crippled by a loss of power caused by the deadly earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan Friday afternoon.

The reactor, owned by Tokyo Electric Power Co., is now drawing on battery power that may last only a few hours. Without electricity, the reactor will not be able to pump water to cool its hot reactor core, possibly leading to a meltdown or some other release of radioactive material.

Japanese authorities ordered the evacuation of about 3,000 residents within a 1.9-mile radius of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and told people within a 16.2-mile radius to remain indoors, according to the Web site of International Atomic Energy Agency's Incident and Emergency Center.

The cooling problem affects the second of six reactors at the plant, located on the east coast of Japan about 200 miles north of Tokyo and south of the heavily damaged town of Sendai.

Separately, Tokyo Electric said it had decided to vent gas from another unit to relieve pressure that had increased 50 percent in the reactor containment vessel. The company said on its Web site that the pressure increase was "assumed to be due to leakage of reactor coolant." It remained unclear where the leak was. The company said it did not believe there was leakage of reactor coolant in the containment vessel "at this moment," but

There were also reports of elevated radiation levels inside the control room of that reactor unit, which was built 40 years ago.

Altogether, 11 Japanese nuclear reactors shut down automatically, as they are designed to do in case of an earthquake. Japan has 55 nuclear plants and two more under construction.

"There's a basic cooling system that requires power, which they don't have," said Glenn McCullough, former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, referring to the unit in need of generators. McCullough, who has been keeping track of the situation in Japan, said that after the tsunami, water had gotten into the diesel generators that would normally have provided backup power.

"The danger is the very thermally hot reactor cores at the plant must be continuously cooled for 24 to 48 hours," said Kevin Kamps, a specialist in nuclear waste at Beyond Nuclear, a group devoted to highlighting the perils of nuclear power. "Without any electricity, the pumps won't be able to pump water through the hot reactor cores to cool them."

In a statement that confused nuclear experts, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday morning that U.S. Air Force planes in Japan had delivered "coolant" to a nuclear power plant affected by the quake. Nuclear reactors do not use special coolants, only large amounts of pumped water.

"They have very high engineering standards, but one of their plants came under a lot of stress with the earthquake and didn't have enough coolant," she said, "and so Air Force planes were able to deliver that." It remained unclear what the Air Force had delivered.

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

 

[NikatKimber]

And your point is?????

 

[Hobbes]

And your point is?????

That it's an important developing story that deserves watching instead of reflexively blown off.

Even Fox is covering it now.

 

[crg1372]

Apparently one of the reactors is seeping radiation.

 

[Nraman]

You know what comes next, the burning, looting, raping, destroying what is left standing, adding to the misery.
Perhaps not, we'll see.

 

[HMFIC]

You know what comes next, the burning, looting, raping, destroying what is left standing, adding to the misery.
Perhaps not, we'll see.

The earthquake was in Japan, not Los Angeles.

 

[ratski]

Interesting as the day progresses to watch some of the news.

While some are quick to point out that they are a different society than the US for instance, and there is no panic, no rioting, no looting, etc....

I have to wonder....

Reports are saying the death toll is under 1000 but might rise. Ya think?

With all of the infrastructure down (subways, railways, airports, seaports, communications) I wonder if a matter of days will see things change dramatically. Didn't someone once say we are only three days food supply from anarchy and chaos?

For as many SHTF threads as we have on this board, this is certainly a SHTF event for what appears to be almost an entire major country. And while hypothetical, imagine this happening to you and you are the only guy on your block with a case or two of MREs and no prospect of any resupply in sight.

Japanese culture or not, I think that this is going to be a major SHTF event on an order we haven't seen before.

Just my thoughts.

Dave

 

[RickN]

I am all for nuclear power, but why would anyone build one in an earthquake prone area?

 

[HMFIC]

Japanese culture or not, I think that this is going to be a major SHTF event on an order we haven't seen before.

I agree that it will play out interestingly over the next few days.

I do think that Japan has had at least two more SHTF events a little bigger than this though...