japan tsunami

[Arnock]

For some reason, the link posted above wasn't working for me. But I was watching the news a few minutes ago, and apparently the plant meltdown occured because a power outage shut down the cooling system.


Question: If this is a power plant, and the reactor is still functioning, shouldn't they have adequate power to run the cooling system? Or at least have backup systems to prevent overheating?

[fudomyou]

It would be great if the systems still worked. However, 8.9 earthquakes tend to throw monkey wrenches in the most carefully laid-out schematics and plans. Their offsite power source was destroyed in the tsunami. Their backup diesel generators were damaged and knocked out. They've been working on battery power for the pumps and as you have noticed, it's going crazy.

I've been monitoring that situation very, very closely because my college buddy is a technical translator for engineers and was at that nuclear plant as of about 16 hours ago.

To tell you how crazy this is, take a look at this image from the USGS:



169 earthquakes in the past week, 90% of those in the last day. Blue means in the last day, red means the last hour, yellow means last week, size shows magnitude.

(it's a dynamic gif - the number will keep updating and the colors will change)

[Thalia]

Been watching footage, nature is such a powerful force, seeing those house just swept as if they where made of Popsicle sticks was shocking. Hoping your family is found safe Min.

Washington still has a tsunami warning, couple of waves hit La Push and Port Angeles, we are safe here in Seattle, some parts of Oregon got hit hard too.

[mew]

I hope you hear from them soon and I hope everything is alright

[Masumi]

If there is a god, he must be an bad person

two our our relative families are still missing, they lived in fukushima. I had just gotten a little happiness with my parents getting along with me.

[Hokahey]

Question: If this is a power plant, and the reactor is still functioning, shouldn't they have adequate power to run the cooling system? Or at least have backup systems to prevent overheating?

I'm no expert, but its almost guaranteed they do have systemic redundancies and failsafes. The problem is natural disasters of this magnitude have consequences that simply can't be realistically (or cost-effectively) anticipated, and failsafes and redundancies aren't immune to damage themselves. Not even considering we're talking about 2 major catastrophies occurring almost simultaneously with no apparent warning or time to prepare.

My prayers go out to those with friends or families affected.

[Brekkie]

My buddy was on post at the top of the (10 story high) U.S. embassy in Tokyo when the quake hit, and he said the building swayed like a tree and all the interior spaces are wrecked. A few ceilings collapsed.
One of the Marines in the detachment had signed out that morning and was missing for almost a day before he managed to make his way back on foot. Cell phone service is overloaded and down. The trains are all shut down. People are running around screaming and crying in the cities.

Word from the underground is the troops are already mobilizing. They've got the navy already there and several Marine units in Okinawa, Guam, and Thailand standing by to move in. The silver lining to this may be that with the massive and rapid humanitarian reaction, people will feel quite a bit more accepting of the justification of our presence in the region.

One wonders what China will do to capitalize on this tragedy...

[Brekkie]

It was weird, shortly after we got the news, we had a freak hail storm the size of golf balls here in Saudi Arabia. A hail storm. In the desert. What the hell are we doing to the planet?

I told my family that the minute the cattle start dying and there's a plague of locusts I'm getting the freak out.

[aureon]

A metric ton of shit just hit the fan.
Fukushima 1 is under control, but Fukushima 2 reactor had a meltdown.
I think that the nuclear power is gonna see a big, big halt in the days to come.

[fudomyou]

A metric ton of shit just hit the fan.
Fukushima 1 is under control, but Fukushima 2 reactor had a meltdown.
I think that the nuclear power is gonna see a big, big halt in the days to come.

Taken from a translator friend watching the news:

‎2 PM they released vapor pressure, avoided meltdown. 3:30 PM unexpectedly hydrogen started building up between the reactor vessel and the outer containment shell. Then oxygen entered somehow, caused explosion. Explosion has nothing to do with radiation, radiation was caused by the earlier venting. By evening, radiation level went down to 70.5 microsieverts (1000 is when radiation sickness becomes apparent)

Seawater will be used as makeshift coolant, but will also ruin the reactor. They're going to seal it up and call it a loss.

According to people more familiar with nuclear tech, a Chernobyl-style disaster was never going to happen. The design wouldn't have caused airborne radiation in a meltdown, just localized radioactive slag. All radiation was only caused by controlled intentional venting to prevent a meltdown. Report from Kyodo News that there was a meltdown in the core reactor, but the reactor vessel is intact and contained the mess.

[fuzzygeek]

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/mind-soul/ ... e/147322/1

list of charities.

[Lightbeard]

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/mind-soul/doing-good/kindness/post/2011/03/how-to-help-the-victims-of-the-japan-earthquake/147322/1

list of charities.

On a sidenote, always research the charities you donate to make sure a good portion of the profits are actually donated.

[Thalia]

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/mind-soul/doing-good/kindness/post/2011/03/how-to-help-the-victims-of-the-japan-earthquake/147322/1

list of charities.

On a sidenote, always research the charities you donate to make sure a good portion of the profits are actually donated.

Ya some of them have tons of admin costs and only about 30 cents on the dollar get to actual relief =(

[Lightbeard]

I always find it a strange sight when I see video of fire sitting on top of water.

[Masumi]

my final family member turned up kana contacted my parents everyone seems to be okay. I spent all morning crying, I been pushed around by some of my cousins but I do not want harm to happen to them. i am glad they are all alright.