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
bookmarking ... Thank You for this thread SE Mom.
See my posts at #260 and #267...
I spent six years of my childhood in the Japanese islands. I recall the sewer workers playing with huge cockroaches that lived down there....with their bare hands.
I imagine it’ll be burning. There’s no way they can sift through it all. It’ll have to start happening by the weekend or there will be the danger of disease.
Amazing and distressing photos.
This is a disaster of biblical proportions.
God help the Japanese people!
Here comes some blame- interesing though:
Fukushima: Mark 1 Nuclear Reactor Design Caused GE Scientist To Quit In Protest
Damaged Japanese Nuclear Plant Has Five Mark 1 Reactors
Two workers missing from turbine area of No. 4 reactor at Fukushima plant - Reuters http://on.msnbc.com/fyFnuA
nice analogy ...
Interesting. My nuke expert here in Illinois was railing on the Mark I yesterday morning as problematic for this scenario. They do have consistency, I’ll give them that ...
BBC:
2051: A small group of workers have been battling around the clock to stave off disaster at Fukushima Daiichi. The BBC’s Aidan Lewis says: “The few dozen who are left have faced explosions and fires as they rush to pump sea water into overheated reactors. The workers are being rotated in and out, to try to limit their exposure to radiation. They are also assumed to be wearing sophisticated protective clothing.”
Now where would we suppose those crews lived....and how many survived the quake and Tsunami....??
I think those Hydrogen explosions may be very interesting....but have sympathy for the men trying to tame this dragon.
Thank you for posting Dr. James Mahaffey’s highly educated assessment of what’s occurring at the Japanese reactors. Hopefully, we’ll see more from him, and other real experts, as this crisis plays out.
I’ve not been overly concerned until now. While this won’t be a Chernobyl, it could be a close second...
Google that acronym for a description of that facility.
Only the tin foil hat crowd would try to add HAARP into this mix. Ignore them.
These men are heroic in ways most of us can’t even fathom.
http://www.ufo-blogger.com/2011/03/japan-earthquake-tsunami-haarp.html
Don’t click on the link without putting on your tinfoil hat!
While this will surprise no one, still...
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78343.html
Radio France to withdraw staff reporting on Japan quake
PARIS, March 15, Kyodo
Radio France decided Tuesday to pull out staff dispatched to cover the major earthquake in Japan, following a series of accidents at a Japanese nuclear power plant, a public relations official told Kyodo News.
The state-run radio station has sent a total of seven reporters and technical staffers to report on last week’s quake and tsunami, and accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The decision to withdraw the staff was made given the seriousness of the accidents at the nuclear power plant, the official said.
The pullout will leave one correspondent based in Japan for the French radio station. If the correspondent decides to leave Japan, support will be offered in arranging return travel, according to the official.
==Kyodo
Many thanks, Fred - excellent write-up.
This needs to be sent along to all the ‘Chicken Little’s’ that are infecting the body politic, including FR!
(Added those who’ve added to my comment file this afternoon - one time only - and a bookmark for me!)
I don’t completely understand this. If the reaction has been stopped, except for a little residual reaction, then the fuel, rods etc, should be cooling over time. The problems should be DECREASING.
Instead, they seem to be having a terrible time getting ahead of the cooling curve. So, if they can’t get a handle on the cooling - then that means that the reactors are probably GENERATING heat, and then we aren’t just talking about getting rid of residual heat and how much “residual” reaction is going on? Enough to destroy the system if it isn’t stopped? Is the partial meltdown stopping the reaction control process, and causing the reaction to increase? What’s the top end of the curve?
Look, I’ve never worked on anything more complicated then a lawn mower, but the “everything fine” crew seem to be telling me things that defy everything I know about thermodynamics, which, admittedly, isn’t much.
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