Posted on 03/15/2011 8:13:35 AM PDT by SE Mom
Latest news from Japan:
From the BBC-
1456: Tepco says it may start pouring water from a helicopter over Fukushima Daiichi's reactor four in the next few days, to cool the spent-fuel pool.
1439: A 30km (18 mile) no-fly zone is in place around Fukushima, says the IAEA.
1436: The IAEA says Monday's blast at Fukushima may have affected the integrity of the containment vessel - there are fears of more serious radioactive leaks if happen.
1435: Following earlier reports, it appears there has been more than one strong aftershock in Japan - AP reports two tremors measuring over 6.0 within three minutes of each other.
Twitter-
-US Geological Survey counts 451 aftershocks since the initial earthquake struck Japan Friday. 238 of them registered magnitude 5.0 or more.
-Despite situations in Japan & Libya, spksmn Jay Carney says Pres Obama's 5-day trip to Brazil, Chile & El Salvador starting Fri night is on.
-FLASH: More U.S. military personnel in Japan testing positive for low-levels of radiation, relief missions to continue - Navy 18 minutes ago via web
Yes, I heard on NHK that the cannon was from the something that sounded like a cross between police and military.
To be forthright, the helicopter did not appear to me to have much effect. Similarly, I have some difficulty imagining that a water cannon aimed from below would achieve getting much water into the SFP. Hopefully they either have something up their sleeve like a long sturdy bent pipe for accurate delivery, or they can restore power and pumps, or a convoy of fire trucks with police escort arrive on the scene and they use those trucks. I recall hearing at one point they needed to clear the roads in order for the fire trucks to arrive. The experts on NHK did express reasonably high confidence that one of these solutions would work, but who knows (certainly not me).
福島第一原子力発電所の３号機を冷却するため、地上から放水作業を行う警視庁の機動隊の「高圧放水車」は、午後３時４７分に第一原子力発電所で配置に着きました。
Unit 3, for cooling of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, the police riot water cannon from the ground to do "high-pressure water cannons" are arranged in a nuclear power plant arrived in the first 47 minutes at 3:00 pm.
放水角度などを調整したうえで、放水を始めるものとみられます。
The discharge angle and adjusted Ue, is expected to begin watering.
3月17日 16:10更新 Updated March 17 16:10 ▲ページトップへ 防衛相 “午後は水投下しない”
Defense Minister, "Do not drop the afternoon water"
北澤防衛大臣は、１７日午後１時すぎに総理大臣官邸に入り、その際、記者団に対し、「ヘリコプターを使った水の投下作業は、きょうはもうやらないと思う。このあと地上からの放水を行うことになる」と述べました。
Sawa Kita Defense Minister, the Prime Minister too much into the residence at 1:00 pm on October 17 that time, told reporters, "Working with helicopters dropping water, I do not do anymore today. From the ground after this discharge would do, "he said.
The Chinese appear to have a jet powered water canon.
Video: China's New Water Cannon Is Powered By A Jet Engine.
English kyodonews reporting
prospect of massive blackout in tokyo thursday
government proposal to stop trains to keep tokyo in power
0825: Low concentrations of radioactive particles are heading eastwards from Fukushima towards North America, a Swedish official is quoted as saying by Reuters. Lars-Erik De Geer, research director at the Swedish Defence Research Institute, a government agency, was citing data from a network of international monitoring stations, but stressed the levels were not dangerous for people.
Readings at Monitoring Posts Out of 20 KM Zone of Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP
1012: Japan's speaker of the upper house has suggested the country should consider closing the Tokyo stock market and foreign exchange market for a week, Kyodo news agency reports.
Have they got that new electric line run yet anyone know? That was the word a few hrs ago when I went to sleep.
There has been a claim that they have partial power now. Unfortunately partial power could mean a lot of things.
wishful thinking I suppose.
1048: Ken Mogi in Tokyo tweets: "Just in: NHK says spraying of water from ground onto reactor abandoned due to operation difficulty and high radiation"
Don't sound like they got squat in control. And sounds like those rods might well be uncovered.
They lost control the instant that Tsunami hit. Just took them a while to realize that.
1040: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev describes the situation at Japan's nuclear power plant as a "colossal national disaster" and catastrophe, Reuters report. He said he hopes it will not cause serious problems elsewhere.
Ya know, I try not to be a fear monger and I hope this doesn't come out like I am. But I gotta go with this one. Not on its face value, but from strictly an analytical perspective. All the attention that this nuke situation has drawn worldwide has drawn attention from their humanitarian crisis and help that might be offered because of that attention.
They apparently have next nothing, not even trained rescue dogs, to look for the dead and dying in all that rubble. I don't have any idea how long it's going to take to remove all that debris but it ain't gonna be anytime soon, let alone the rebuilding.
I gotta say, all this talk about helo’s dropping water and especially fire trucks with riot sprays all sounds like nothing but a hope and a prayer. Sheer desperation cause they don’t know what else to do. They’re trusting to luck.
Their biggest problem was petrol according to the videos I saw. Which means many cannot even evacuate if they want. The Chinese have sent them some petrol apparently.
Gonna get some rest. Might be a zoo around here later today.
cya later :)
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