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Post by Crowfan on Mar 12, 2011 11:11:19 GMT -5
I'm old enough to remember the Three Mile Island disaster, which wasn't good. Hopefully, they can get these nuclear plants under control. From what I've been hearing on CNN, people say that the Japanese gov't is sending mixed and/or unclear messages about what is going on. It seems to me it would be wiser to get all the information out there and then to evacuate people.
Glad to hear that everyone is safe....the footage is totally devastating.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Mar 12, 2011 12:22:34 GMT -5
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Post by mrsphyllistorgo on Mar 12, 2011 13:29:54 GMT -5
Ijon and ilmatto, thank God you're both safe.
I'll be donating for both Japan and New Zealand today, and wish I could do more. If any of us can, let us know.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Mar 12, 2011 15:43:25 GMT -5
I'm not actually there, Mrs PT, but thanks for the good wishes and especially the donations. Here's the most comprehensive site I've found yet on the situation at Fukushima Daiichi. I'm pleased to find that the damaged building is indeed not the actual containment barrier, that instead being an interior drywell that Tepco maintains is still secure. By no means an "all clear," but certainly better. www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Battle_to_stabilise_earthquake_reactors_1203111.htmlI had been thinking that structure looked a little flimsy for a containment.
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Post by Skyroniter on Mar 12, 2011 19:35:43 GMT -5
When I lived in Japan I found the people there to be incredibly giving, intelligent and humble. This is one of those once and a life time disasters and Japan really needs our help. Please consider donating money to the charity of your choice to help with the disaster relief effort. I recommend the Red Cross. www.redcross.org/You can donate as little as 10 bucks if it's all you can afford. I see a lot of people offering their up prayers, but unfortunately prayers don't provide the clean drinking water, shelter and medical attention that Japan so desperately needs right now. Even a small donation makes a difference. Please, find your hearts and give. Well put. I had planned to make a donation and just did.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Mar 13, 2011 10:14:07 GMT -5
They're starting to talk about the death toll maybe topping 10,000 now. The latest official totals at FNN are 1352 dead and 1913 missing, but also note greater than 3000 more as yet unaccounted for. Hopefully, restoring communications will turn some of these people up, but it doesn't sound like the local officials are very confident. Here's an update on Fukushima Daiichi unit 3: www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Venting_at_Fukushima_Daiichi_3_1303111.htmlEvery hour that goes by reduces the rate of decay heat production, and one good bit of news in all this is that that steadily reduces the chance of a truly catastrophic reactor vessel failure. Failure of unit 1's contaminated feed lines are still a definite possibility, but that would be a distinctly lesser disaster and they seem to be standing by to respond if it should happen. Edit: Here's an FNN report from the town of Shinchi, in Fukushima. The wave was over 7.3m there. www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00195058.html
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Post by Afgncaap5 on Mar 13, 2011 17:37:08 GMT -5
Man, this stinks. Worst earthquake in their recorded history (I don't know much about the history of earthquakes, but I imagine an 8.9 is a pretty big number no matter whos history you're looking at), tsunami issues, and possible nuclear meltdowns to avoid. I actually have a friend who's in Japan at the moment that I haven't heard from (I believe it was a business trip for him, he's got a mildly succesful rock band that apparently does well in Japan.) I'm hoping that I'll get an update soon that lets me know he's alive and safe.
I'm mildly comforted by the various news reports about the nuclear plants. It seems like they're still in disaster prevention mode, but that the possible disasters are minimizing a bit.
All in all, I think it's just a bit too big for me to fathom. My thoughts and prayers are going out to everyone effected, but I don't think the true scale of the disaster has actually sunk in yet.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Mar 13, 2011 23:59:54 GMT -5
DAMN! Fukushima Daichi unit 3 has now also exploded, though the reports are that the containment vessel is still intact. Thank god, that's no small favour. Edit: www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Explosion_rocks_third_Fukushima_reactor_1402111.htmlThankfully, the radiation levels reported are indeed quite low. Edit 2: World Nuclear News' site seems tied up, but IAEA confirms that the containment is still sound and the control room operational. The situation at Fukushima Daini is also looking up, with unit 3 there in cold shutdown. www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.htmlEdit 3: However, serious damage now seems to have resulted in the core of Daiichi unit 2 due to coolant loss. www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Loss_of_coolant_at_Fukushima_Daiichi_2_1403113.htmlEdit 4: It's not looking great for either units 2 or 3 at Daiichi. 2 has now had an explosion, fuel seems to be uncoverd in both, and water is reportedly leaking in 3. At the least, that's going to involve a nasty local cleanup. No actual figures on radiation release, but they call the measured levels "not immediately harmful." abcnews.go.com/International/japan-earthquake-reactor-fukushima-nuclear-plant-explodes/story?id=13131123Edit 5: From what I can make out on FNN, they're reporting a steam release but are unclear on what degree of radioactivity is involved. Apparently unit 4 was also damaged in the explosion, but since I believe it was offline at the time of the quake that's not likely an immediate problem. Edit 6: In a preceding report a rate of 965.5 µSv/hr (96.55mREM/hr) at the gate was reported after the explosion. Thankfully that's not much, but still disquieting.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Mar 14, 2011 21:43:34 GMT -5
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Post by Don Quixote on Mar 14, 2011 22:00:38 GMT -5
Oh sh*t. This is not good.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Mar 14, 2011 22:35:37 GMT -5
You got that right. I still haven't seen dosimetry figures. It may not be as bad is it could be, but it's too early to tell.
Because World Nuclear News is starting to have server issues, I'll post the relevant text here:
Dramatic escalation in Japan 15 March 2011
FIRST PUBLISHED 1.22am GMT UPDATE 1: 1.58am GMT Information from TV appearance, change of headline from 'Possible damage to Fukushima Daiichi 2' CORRECTION: 1.58am GMT Removal of potential inaccuracy on torus' status in containment UPDATE 2: 2.19am GMT Information from government, change of headline from 'Damage to Fukushima Daiichi 2'
Loud noises were heard at Fukushima Daiichi 2 at 6.10am this morning. A major component beneath the reactor is confirmed to be damaged. A fire is burning at unit 4 and evacuation to 30 kilometres is being urged.
Confirmation of loud sounds at unit 2 this morning came from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). It noted that "the suppression chamber may be damaged." It is not clear that the sounds were explosions.
BWR cutaway This cutaway diagram shows the central reactor vessel, thick concrete containment and lower torus structure in a typical boiling water reactor of the same era as Fukushima Daiichi 2 Also known as the torus, this large doughnut-shaped structure sits in the centre of the reactor building at a lower level than the reactor. It contains a very large body of water to which steam can be directed in emergency situations. The steam then condenses and reduces pressure in the reactor system.
The pressure in the pool was seen to decrease from three atmospheres to one atmosphere after the noise, suggesting possible damage. Radiation levels on the edge of the plant compound briefly spiked at 8217 microsieverts per hour but later fell to about a third that.
A close watch is being kept on the radiation levels to ascertain the status of containment. As a precaution Tokyo Electric Power Company has evacuated all non-essential personnel from the unit. The company's engineers continue to pump seawater into the reactor pressure vessel in an effort to cool it.
Prime minister Naoto Kan has requested that everyone withdraw from a 30 kilometer evacuation zone around the nuclear power plant and that people that stay within remain indoors. He said his advice related to the overall picture of safety developments at Fukushima Daiichi, rather than those at any individual reactor unit.
Fire at unit 4
Kan also confirmed a fire burning at unit 4, which - according to all official sources - had never been a safety concern since the earthquake. This reactor was closed for periodic inspections when the earthquake and tsunami hit, therefore did not undergo a rapid and sudden shutdown, although it was of course violently shaken.
Researched and written by World Nuclear News
Edit: The fire is now reported extinguished.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Mar 15, 2011 8:56:47 GMT -5
World Nuclear News has added that the integrity of the containment at Fukushima Daiichi shows "no significant change." That's welcome news. IAEA has updated this situation. Again, I'll include both the link and the text. The situation is bad, but so far dangerous levels of radiation do not seem to have escaped the plant. www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.htmlJapanese Earthquake Update (15 March 11:25 UTC) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Update Radiation Dose Rates Observed at the Site The Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that the following radiation dose rates have been observed on site at the main gate of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. At 00:00 UTC on 15 March a dose rate of 11.9 millisieverts (mSv) per hour was observed. Six hours later, at 06:00 UTC on 15 March a dose rate of 0.6 millisieverts (mSv) per hour was observed. These observations indicate that the level of radioactivity has been decreasing at the site. As reported earlier, a 400 millisieverts (mSv) per hour radiation dose observed at Fukushima Daiichi occurred between units 3 and 4. This is a high dose-level value, but it is a local value at a single location and at a certain point in time. The IAEA continues to confirm the evolution and value of this dose rate. It should be noted that because of this detected value, non-indispensible staff was evacuated from the plant, in line with the Emergency Response Plan, and that the population around the plant is already evacuated. About 150 persons from populations around the Daiichi site have received monitoring for radiation levels. The results of measurements on some of these people have been reported and measures to decontaminate 23 of them have been taken. The IAEA will continue to monitor these developments. Evacuation of the population from the 20 kilometre zone is continuing. The Japanese have asked that residents out to a 30 km radius to take shelter indoors. Japanese authorities have distributed iodine tablets to the evacuation centres but no decision has yet been taken on their administration. Background on Radiation A person's radiation exposure due to all natural sources amounts on average to about 2.4 millisievert (mSv) per year. A sievert (Sv) is a unit of effective dose of radiation. Depending on geographical location, this figure can vary by several hundred percent. Since one sievert is a large quantity, radiation doses are typically expressed in millisievert (mSv) or microsievert (µSv), which is one-thousandth or one millionth of a sievert. For example, one chest X-ray will give about 0.1 mSv of radiation dose. For further information on radiation: www.iaea.org/Publications/Factsheets/English/radlife.html Edit: The English reports I'm seeing are going on about radiation in Tokyo, and noting that it's "ten times higher than background." Really, that's negligible. I was just looking at FNN, and they don't seem to be panicking over that. The problem with puffing up things like that is that it's hard for people to appreciate really significant problems when they develop (and the potential for them is very real). Fuji's latest official tolls are 3079 dead, 7406 missing.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Mar 15, 2011 10:30:10 GMT -5
Japan Earthquake Update (15 March 2011, 14:10 UTC)
The IAEA Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) continues to monitor the status of the nuclear power plants in Japan that were affected by the devastating earthquake and consequent tsunami.
All units at the Fukushima Daini, Onagawa, and Tokai nuclear power plants are in a safe and stable condition (i.e. cold shutdown).
The IAEA remains concerned over the status of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where sea water injections to cool the reactors in Units 1, 2 and 3 are continuing. Attempts to return power to the entire Daiichi site are also continuing.
After explosions at both Units 1 and 3, the primary containment vessels of both Units are reported to be intact. However, the explosion that occurred at 04:25 UTC on 14 March at the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 may have affected the integrity of its primary containment vessel. All three explosions were due to an accumulation of hydrogen gas.
A fire at Unit 4 occurred on 14 March 23:54 UTC and lasted two hours. The IAEA is seeking clarification on the nature and consequences of the fire.
The IAEA continues to seek details about the status of all workers, reactors and spent fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
An evacuation of the population from the 20-kilometre zone around Fukushima Daiichi is in effect. The Japanese have advised that people within a 30-km radius shall take shelter indoors. Iodine tablets have been distributed to evacuation centres but no decision has yet been taken on their administration.
A 30-kilometre no-fly zone has been established around the Daiichi plant. Normal civil aviation beyond this zone remains uninterrupted. The Japan Coast Guard established evacuation warnings within 10 kilometres of Fukushima Daiichi and 3 kilometres of Fukushima Daini.
The IAEA and several other UN organizations held a meeting at 11:00 UTC today to discuss recent developments and coordinate activities related to consequences of the earthquake and tsunami. The meeting was called under the framework of the Joint Radiation Emergency Management Plan of the International Organizations, and this group expects to work closely together in the days ahead.
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Post by caucasoididiot on Mar 15, 2011 12:17:00 GMT -5
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Post by Mr. Atari on Mar 15, 2011 14:11:31 GMT -5
Ijon, I just wanted to jump in and thank you for all of your tremendous research and updates on all of this. As I've been trying to keep up with the events over there, I've actually found your work on our board to be the most comprehensive and informative.
So on behalf of the board, thank you.
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