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
Japanese owner of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant falsified safety data and “dishonestly” tried to cover up problems there.
Tokyo Electric Power Co injected air into the containment vessel of Fukushima reactor No 1 to artificially “lower the leak rate”. When caught, the company expressed its “sincere apologies for conducting dishonest practices”.
The misconduct came to light in 2002 after whistleblowers working for General Electric, which designed the reactor, complained to the Japanese government. Another GE employee later confessed that he had falsified records of inspections of reactor No1 in 1989 - at the request of TEPCO officials. He also admitted to falsifying other inspection reports, also on request of the client. After that incident TEPCO was forced to shut down 17 reactors, albeit temporarily.
~snip~
BBC-
1208: For a sense of the sheer scale of the disaster and the humanitarian challenge facing Japan check out this photo gallery http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12771634 we’ve recently updated.
1204: Andy in Tokyo tweets: “Power is fine in Kichijoji. People shopping as normal. No sense of panic or impending doom on the streets.”
1133: The First Secretary at Japan’s embassy in London has been speaking to BBC News. He defended his government from criticism that it has been slow to provide information. “The Japanese authorities consider it is a very important aspect to provide accurate and swift information. The situation develops minute-to-minute and hour-to-hour so what we need to explain will change,” Daisuke Tsuchiya said.
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”
RETUERS live blog:
-TEPCO says the earliest time to re-connect electricity to the Fukushima plant would be Friday.
by Reuters_MarkKolmar at 3/17/2011 12:08:05 PM
-Radiation level rises after water shot at troubled reactor: TEPCO via english.kyodonews.jp
comment by Mark at 3/17/2011 11:58:18 AM7:58 AM
-Japanese broadcaster NHK’s diorama of the damaged Japanese nuclear plant. izreloaded.blogspot.com
comment by izreloaded edited by Reuters_MarkKolmar at 3/17/2011 12:12:41 PM8:12 AM
Japanese owner of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant falsified safety data and “dishonestly” tried to cover up problems there.
Tokyo Electric Power Co injected air into the containment vessel of Fukushima reactor No 1 to artificially “lower the leak rate”. When caught, the company expressed its “sincere apologies for conducting dishonest practices”.
The misconduct came to light in 2002 after whistleblowers working for General Electric, which designed the reactor, complained to the Japanese government. Another GE employee later confessed that he had falsified records of inspections of reactor No1 in 1989 - at the request of TEPCO officials. He also admitted to falsifying other inspection reports, also on request of the client. After that incident TEPCO was forced to shut down 17 reactors, albeit temporarily.
~snip~
BBC-
1208: For a sense of the sheer scale of the disaster and the humanitarian challenge facing Japan check out this photo gallery http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12771634 we’ve recently updated.
1204: Andy in Tokyo tweets: “Power is fine in Kichijoji. People shopping as normal. No sense of panic or impending doom on the streets.”
1133: The First Secretary at Japan’s embassy in London has been speaking to BBC News. He defended his government from criticism that it has been slow to provide information. “The Japanese authorities consider it is a very important aspect to provide accurate and swift information. The situation develops minute-to-minute and hour-to-hour so what we need to explain will change,” Daisuke Tsuchiya said.
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”
RETUERS live blog:
-TEPCO says the earliest time to re-connect electricity to the Fukushima plant would be Friday.
by Reuters_MarkKolmar at 3/17/2011 12:08:05 PM
-Radiation level rises after water shot at troubled reactor: TEPCO via english.kyodonews.jp
comment by Mark at 3/17/2011 11:58:18 AM7:58 AM
-Japanese broadcaster NHK’s diorama of the damaged Japanese nuclear plant. izreloaded.blogspot.com
comment by izreloaded edited by Reuters_MarkKolmar at 3/17/2011 12:12:41 PM8:12 AM
Just catching up this morning.
# Radiation found on Japan passengers to Taiwan, S.Korea http://reut.rs/eJ8ALN 5 minutes ago via dlvr.it
Japan_reuters
Cables voiced concern about IAEA’s Japanese safety chief in 2009 http://reut.rs/hWJVqY
W7VOA: Japan gov’t now saying it’ll try water drops from helos and spraying from trucks on site again Friday. #Fukushima
Kyodo News reporting that TEPCO say the radiation threat level has risen at #Fukushima after water was shot at the reactor #Japan
NHK reporting another earthquake and tsunami warning issued in Chiba. 12 32 gmt
comment by SOTA at 8:36 AM
NHk reports a 4-5 mag earthquake near (cheebah). I can’t spell it.
They just had 3 shakers in a row, the main one — The earthquake was of shindo 4. Epicenter off Chiba prefecture. Magnitude 5.8.
They just can’t catch a break in Japan. Good morning SEMOM and evrybody.
The tsunami warning was either inaccurate or has been cancelled.
Reuters
FLASH: Japan nuclear agency: pool for cooling spent nuclear fuel at no.4 plant remains ‘serious concern’
That’s a real mess - wow
Well, that’s some good news at least.
Another one just hit. Jeez. Mito?
TravelGov
U.S. chartered buses will depart #Sendai from the Sendai City Hall 3/18 beginning at 9 a.m. & travel to Tokyo. Meet @ Sendai City Hall.
50 percent of an exposed group within 60 days of exposure.
CRITICAL REACTOR CONTAINS PLUTONIUM
High radiation levels on Wednesday prevented helicopters from dropping water into reactor No. 3 to try to cool its fuel rods after an earlier blast damaged its roof and cooling system.
Another attempt on Thursday appeared to partly succeed, with two of four water drops over the site hitting their mark. The giant, twin-blade aircraft have to make precisely timed flyovers and drops to avoid the brunt of the radiation.
The plant operator described No. 3 — the only reactor that uses plutonium in its fuel mix — as the “priority.” Experts described plutonium as a pernicious isotope that could cause cancer if very small quantities were ingested.
Sebastian Pflugbeil, president of the private German-based Society for Radiation Protection, said Japan’s efforts to pull the Fukushima plant back from the brink signaled “the beginning of the catastrophic phase.”
“Maybe we have to pray,” he said, adding that a wind blowing any nuclear fallout east into the Pacific would limit any damage for Japan’s 127 million people in case of a meltdown or other releases, for instance from spent fuel storage pool
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/17/us-japan-idUSTRE72G37A20110317?pageNumber=2
“Another attempt on Thursday appeared to partly succeed, with two of four water drops over the site hitting their mark. The giant, twin-blade aircraft have to make precisely timed flyovers and drops to avoid the brunt of the radiation.”
That explains why they were so high above. And yet the authorities there keep downplaying the situation.
I read that they had specially mounted lead on the bottom of the choppers to protect the pilots as best as possible.
1351: Andrew Dickinson, in Hiroshima, writes: “Today a shopkeeper who overcharged me for some fruit cycled to the bus station on the off chance of finding me to pay me back. Japanese spirit and kindness remains strong.”
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