8.8 earthquake hits Japan

[Lucio]

The reactors are definitely in a dangerous position right now, reading the subtext of the news reports, they can't access the last ditch safety systems without someone getting a lethal dose of radiation.

---------------

Without meaning this to be in poor taste, has anyone noticed this is almost exactly the opening plot from Godzilla? Massive earthquake + tidal wave + nuclear meltdown = Giant 100ft high lizard creatures!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Here is a live news feed:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...aftermath-live

12.03pm: A British nuclear expert, Professor Paddy Regan, offers this analysis of what happened at Fukushima.

Regan, professor of nuclear physics at the University of Surrey, said:

"It looks as if the coolant pumps had initially stopped working. They shut down automatically when the reactor shuts down, but there is a backup system running off a diesel generator - it looks as though that's the bit that failed.

"As a result there is no way of pumping heat out of the reactor, so it has to cool naturally. If the reactor gets too hot, in principle this means the fuel rods can melt - but it looks unlikely this has happened to any great extent in this case.

"To reduce the pressure, you would have to release some steam into the atmosphere from the system. In that steam, there will be small but measurable amounts of radioactive nitrogen - nitrogen 16 (produced when neutrons hit water). This remains radioactive for only about 5 seconds, after which it decays to natural oxygen.

"But if any of the fuel rods have been compromised, there would be evidence of a small amount of other radioisotopes in the atmosphere called fission fragments (radio-caesium and radio-iodine). The amount that you measure would tell you to what degree the fuel rods have been compromised. Scientists in Japan should be able to establish this very quickly using gamma ray spectroscopy as the isotopes have characteristic decay signatures. Current reports seem consistent with a small leak to relieve pressure.

"But we still need to establish the cause and exact location of the explosion, which is a separate issue. So far it looks like it's not the reactor core that's affected which would be good news."

[Pob255]

@Sleepyhead, how's the japanese media & news services reporting on this whole thing?


Just saw a great one on the bbc, not the exact words, but was something like this:
Reporter interviewing a couple of parents in a japanese school in london (I think it was Shingakusha)
reporter - "so you've got a lot of friends in the northern area of japan that's been hit, have you been able to contact them?"
Japanese Doctor (sorry I cannot remember his name) "no, I've not been able to contact them because the phone system in that area is currently out so there's no way I can currently contact them."
reporter - "I've heard quite a few people have contacted relatives and friends in japan via emails and twitter, so have you not been able to contact anyone by the internet"
doctor - ". . ."
I kid you not, he just looked at her blankly for a second, not a language issue, just the level of idiocy of the question, it was like she though the internet is some separate thing that just exists inside computers.

[Agent]

As above, the BBC is getting really bad with their questions. I know a few of us have picked up on this previously on here but some of them are boarderline silly now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12721498

58 seconds in: "Presumably, at a plant like that, an explosion is something you want to avoid?"

Seriously BBC? Did you just ask if an explosion was something you wanted to avoid at a nuclear power plant?.....

[Kumagoro]

The bbc's question about trying to contact them via email and the internet was relevant as
many peoples mobile internet has been working even though calls haven't.

[0iD]

Peeps, please keep it on topic & show some sensitivity.

[j.col]

this is such a tragedy,

[sleepyhead]

The bbc's question about trying to contact them via email and the internet was relevant as
many peoples mobile internet has been working even though calls haven't.

Kumagoro is absolutely right. Phone calls and SMS is sketchy at best but data via the mobile networks is still operational. There is a lot of chatter on Facebook with my friends in Fukushima and Tokyo. Still can't call them but at least the internet is still accessible.

@Sleepyhead, how's the japanese media & news services reporting on this whole thing?

I'm not too sure as I don't understand enough Japanese but it seems to be constant reports depending on the channel you watch. It seems calm but critical, if that makes sense???

[MSIC]

Sleepyhead, I was wondering about levels of provisions where you are - does it feel like an anxious time, but with normal stuff around, or is there a mentality of panic buying etc?
I was just reading on BBC news how (in the very worst hit areas) petrol is now nearly all gone, v long supermarket queues, people fleeing to the opposite side of the island etc.

[sleepyhead]

Sleepyhead, I was wondering about levels of provisions where you are - does it feel like an anxious time, but with normal stuff around, or is there a mentality of panic buying etc?
I was just reading on BBC news how (in the very worst hit areas) petrol is now nearly all gone, v long supermarket queues, people fleeing to the opposite side of the island etc.

Life in Osaka is normal, as far as I can tell. Nothing crazy is happening here as it was pretty far from the earthquake. Things in Fukushima is different. My friend has provisions and planning to evacuate in case the nuclear reactor goes pop. My friend in Tokyo is alright but there are rolling blackouts in effect now.

[Agent]

MSN on their front page are now reporting "Nuclear reactor meltdown 'likely'" : http://uk.msn.com/

[Splash]

Well... bang goes my savings for a new PC anyhoo. It's only a couple of hundred quid, but the guys at MSF can undoubtedly do more good with it than I can.

[sleepyhead]

Further update on the situation near Tokyo: food, candles, petrol etc. is sparse. Aftershocks are still rumbling on. My friend and his family are worried. The friend in Fukushima has moved to....I don't know where but I guess further away from the nuclear powerplant. The offices in Tokyo of the company I work for were shut. Doesn't seem to have major damage but there is a call out to the employees. In our Osaka offices we have emergency instructions for if a quake hits.

[TooNice]

There is a charity concert for those in London. Donations will go to the Red Cross: http://japanearthquakereliefconcert.doattend.com And for those willing to donate but unable to attend: http://www.redcross.org.uk/Donate-No...Tsunami-Appeal

[Whiternoise]

Two words: Bloody hell. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12725646

Re: Power plants

It seems there has been a partial meltdown in one of the reactors which happened when coolant levels dropped (the cores were exposed to air which may have explained the release of radio-caesium - probably vented out with the steam). For the time being, the containment vessels are holding and they're pumping them with seawater (corrosive, but plentiful and nearby) and boron to reduce neutron bombardment damage.

Whilst there has been some radioactive material released, it's worth pointing out that this is nothing like Chernobyl (which was a cockup from start to finish). If the containment vessel had exploded, they would be evacuating a heck of a lot more than 170,000 people nearby. Note that exploded != fission bomb, exploded = steam pressure build up. If anything it's closer to Three Mile Island which - massive cock up it may have been - was a resoundingly successful demonstration of nuclear safety precautions.

In theory, they just have to keep pumping in cold water until the short-half life elements stop producing beta decay (which is what's heating everything up like crazy).

Naturally the public in general have gone crazy at the word 'meltdown' with, no doubt, mental images of atom bombs. Something of a newspaper field day to have a nuclear plant exploding - I am prepared to believe (for now) the public story of hydrogen build up.

There is a lot of conjecture and scaremongery and none of it is doing any good.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

For a start the RBMK reactors at Chernobyl didn't have a full containment structure unlike the reactors at Fukushima.