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Big quake in Tokyo


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The real fear is that if one of the three or four reactors that are having cooling problems begins to melt down, it will release so much radiation that the management of the other ones that are still under some kind of control will not be possible. If that happens, then this disaster, which is already way more than you can get your arms around, becomes exponentially worse.

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Some of those images are incredibly surreal. And the videos are terrifying. What's even more frightening is thinking how much worse it could've been if the epicenter was under a city like Tokyo. I'm glad to hear that our Japanese board members seem to be okay.

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You may need Facebook access to be able to watch this video, but it's a harrowing view of the tsunami coming through a town in Japan:

Tsunami footage

Gives a very up-close sense of its impact.

EDIT: video now posted to YouTube.

Wanted to repost this link as well:

How you can help Japan

Edited by ghost of miles
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The real fear is that if one of the three or four reactors that are having cooling problems begins to melt down, it will release so much radiation that the management of the other ones that are still under some kind of control will not be possible. If that happens, then this disaster, which is already way more than you can get your arms around, becomes exponentially worse.

Fuck. I didn't even think about that (the impact on adjacent reactors).

I'm trying not to be alarmist about the nuclear situation there, but it does appear to be slowly getting worse by the day.

On a scale from one to ten, with "10" = Chernobyl -- I'm getting the sense from everything I'm hearing (BBC & NPR and on-line), that they're at a good solid "6" at the moment -- and headed, albeit slowly, in the wrong direction.

The "experts" I'm hearing are saying that at this point, it can't get as bad as Chernobyl (because the reaction is stopped, the reactors are already cooler with a lot less pressure than Chernobyl), so maybe an "8" on the scale I just made up is as bad as it can get.

Still, very little positive news seems to be happening with regards to these reactors. :unsure:

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Damn it, now the 2nd reactor (the one that appeared to be the most stable) is now perhaps in the worst shape of all three that are failing.

Another Reactor Now Crippled

I gather from this NYT report that the reactor at Daiichi that until today seemd to be doing okay has, within the span of 24 hours (maybe just 12 hours), become the most dangerously crippled of all the troubled reactors in Japan. For those keeping track, that is reactor No. 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant:

The extreme challenge of managing reactor No. 2 came as officials were still struggling to keep the cores of two other reactors, No. 1 and No. 3, covered with seawater. There was no immediate indication that either of those two reactors had experienced a crisis as serious as that at No. 2

The Times also quotes a senior nuclear industry executive as saying that "full-scale panic" has set in among Japanese power industry managers. "They're in total disarray, they don't know what to do," the source told the Times.

Sorry to be linking to TPM about this (a tertiary source at best), but their's is the quickest summery I could find -- and is well sourced. I'm quoting the blog post in full (it's so short, but all of it is relevant), but you'll have to go to the TPM page to get the NYT link.

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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Here's a brief but good synopsis of the current situation at the Fukushima plant. As I understand it, that one plant has three reactors. Reactor #1 suffered an explosion Saturday. Reactor #3 suffered an explosion today. Today's explosion damaged four of the five pumps being used to pump sea water to cool the reactors down. As a result, they currently do not have the ability to cool Reactor #2.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12733393

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Wrong and outdated to boot. Fukushima I has six reactors, not 3. Reactors 4, 5, and 6 were undergoing repairs at the time of the earthquake and thus have no heat problems. All of the reported trouble has been with 1, 2, and 3.

The second explosion, in reactor 3, was yesterday, not today. There has now been a third explosion in reactor 2. Information right now is sketchy but does not sound encouraging.

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That sounds grim all right.

Japanese Prime Minsiter Naoto Kan was preparing to make a televised address to the nation at 11 a.m. Tokyo time.

Is that midnight Eastern time?

It just completed. They are telling people within 30km of Fukushima I to stay indoors. The radiation readings they are taking now are significantly higher than before, but there's no info on what radiation levels in the surrounding areas are like.

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Kinuta, I understand.

Most employees left our office around lunchtime once there was news of a spike in the levels of radioactivity around the nuclear plant. With the prevailing winds there are fears that a radioactive cloud will reach Tokyo this evening and people want to get home as quickly as possible, particularly given the fact that so many train lines are still not operating normally. Also reports of people trying to leave Tokyo and head west to relative safety.

Just me and the boss around now, we both live centrally and can go home in 15 minutes or so. There is definitely an increasing level of concern.

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My heart is absolutely breaking from the stories I'm hearing. "I had her hand, but I lost it." "I'm sure my wife will contact me when she is able." It's horrifying, incomprehensible, and so terribly sad. To be sure, there will be amazing stories that come out of this, but for now my heart is heavy and my thoughts go out to all who have been affected.

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I'm feeling very heavy stress now.

I won't be posting for the time being.

we share (or try to share) your concern.

Really hope to see you and your posts back here when things return to normal!

Same here.

Wishing you all the best!

Hope the worst won't take place... but the whole information situation seems to be about as bad as back when Tchernobyl happened. The concealment going on between nuclear lobbies, the whole power manufacturing industry and their politician slaves is disgusting... the spinelessness of politicians over here is hard to bear, just watch what's going on in Germany, for instance.

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On a scale from one to ten, with "10" = Chernobyl -- I'm getting the sense from everything I'm hearing (BBC & NPR and on-line), that they're at a good solid "6" at the moment -- and headed, albeit slowly, in the wrong direction.

The IAEA introduced a system for rating nuclear events in 1990, called INES (International Nuclear Event Scale). Chernobyl was rated "7" which is the highest level. The last official statement from Japanese authorities regarding the INES rating seems to be from three days ago when it was rated "4", but the French nuclear safety authorities (among others) have upgrated the rating to "6".

Here's a summary on the IAEA website: http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html

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