8.9 magnitude quake hits japan

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The core of a nuclear reactor overheating is seriously scary stuff - I mean science fiction scary. Aside from the terrible long-term contamination of the surrounding region, back in the 50s nuclear physicists hypothesized that an overheated reaction could - theoretically - melt right through the earth's crust and emerge out the other side. I think this theory has now been safely debunked, but the fact they were actually talking about it happening shows just what scary technology it is.
 
I read that ^, I do this v
ostrich-head-in-sand-sign.gif


because, yep, it scares the bejeezus out of me too
 
Purplereign said:
This is the worst thing you'll see all month. How goddamn heartless and stupid can people be?wow :(
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Why people are a such an idiot? This a time for the world to help Japan to overcome this horrible situation, not to remember something that happened a long, long time ago. They remember Pearl Harbor but do not remember the two atomic bombs that the USA threw in Japan. Also Pearl Harbor was the USA goverment's EXCUSE to enter in the Second World War.I apologise for derailing the thread's topic a bit,that thing drove me mad
 
lemonfly said:
The core of a nuclear reactor overheating is seriously scary stuff - I mean science fiction scary. Aside from the terrible long-term contamination of the surrounding region, back in the 50s nuclear physicists hypothesized that an overheated reaction could - theoretically - melt right through the earth's crust and emerge out the other side. I think this theory has now been safely debunked, but the fact they were actually talking about it happening shows just what scary technology it is.
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Hooray nuclear hysteria!

"This totally garbage idea was debunked, but it still proves...uh...that people were irrationally afraid?"
 
My friend in the Marines was recently deployed to Okinawa. He said yesterday they had to evacute somewhere to higher ground and weren't allowed to leave. I haven't heard from him since yesterday but I read today that the Marines are now being mobilized to help out on the mainland. :up:
 
God Part III said:
I am in Japan now and has been for two weeks.

The country has been at a virtual standstill (at least here in the east) until a couple of hours ago, when the trains started running again.

I was stuck in a small town for 18 hours and had to sleep in a high school gymnasium, with small bits of rubble dripping from the ceiling throughout the night...
Quite an experience.
Back in Tokyo now, and many shops are shut, and not as many people are out on the streets as usual.

Everyone is a bit shaken, no pun intended.
All eyes are on the nuclear plant in Fukushima now, apparently it has started leaking small amounts of radioactivity.

I'll post some updates later.
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I hope you are safe !!! just saw the photo on flickr.... :(
 
lemonfly said:
The core of a nuclear reactor overheating is seriously scary stuff - I mean science fiction scary. Aside from the terrible long-term contamination of the surrounding region, back in the 50s nuclear physicists hypothesized that an overheated reaction could - theoretically - melt right through the earth's crust and emerge out the other side. I think this theory has now been safely debunked, but the fact they were actually talking about it happening shows just what scary technology it is.
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"The China Syndrome" is still somewhat real: A nuclear reactor meltdown burns down into the ground hitting an aquifer and then turns the water into an instant radioactive steam geyser that puts the nuclear material into the air.

Not high on my list of worries, but I'm not a fan of nuclear power either.
 
It's probably a pathetically inane sentiment, but this disaster has definitely heightened my sense of the awful power of rushing water. I'd seen many, many photos of the aftermath of tsunamis, levee breaks, etc. before, but to see that live footage of a towering wall of water smashing inland and tossing aside mansions, trains and huge ships as if they were toothpicks, that was just horrifying.

Prayers to everyone in the affected areas.
 
Reuters UK, Mar. 12:
Japan battled to contain a radiation leak at an earthquake-crippled nuclear plant on Sunday, but faced a fresh threat with the failure of the cooling system in a second reactor. Operator TEPCO said it was preparing to release some steam to relieve pressure in the No.3 reactor at the plant 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo--which would release a small amount of radiation--following an explosion and leak on Saturday in the facility's No. 1 reactor.

The government insisted radiation levels were low following Saturday's explosion, saying the blast had not affected the reactor core container, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had been told by Japan that levels "have been observed to lessen in recent hours". But Japan's nuclear safety agency said the number of people exposed to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi plant could reach 160. Workers in protective clothing were scanning people arriving at evacuation centres for radioactive exposure. Around 140,000 people had been evacuated from areas near the plant and another nuclear facility nearby, while authorities prepared to distribute iodine to people in the vicinity to protect them from radioactive exposure...Before news of the problem with reactor No. 3, the nuclear safety agency said the plant accident was less serious than both the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. An official at the agency said it has rated the incident a 4 according to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). Three Mile Island was rated 5 while Chernobyl was rated 7 on the 1 to 7 scale, the official said.

As strong aftershocks continued to shake Japan's main island the desperate search for survivors from Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami continued, and the death toll was expected to rise. Thousands spent another freezing night huddled over heaters in emergency shelters along the northeastern coast, a scene of devastation after the 8.9 magnitude quake sent a 10-metre (33-foot) wave surging through towns and cities. Kyodo news agency said the number of dead or unaccounted for as a result of the quake and tsunami was expected to exceed 1800. It also reported there had been no contact with around 10,000 people in one small town, more than half its population...[Kyodo] said about 300,000 people were evacuated nationwide, many seeking refuge in shelters, wrapped in blankets, some clutching each other sobbing...5.5 million people were without power, while 3400 buildings had either been destroyed or damaged. Four trains were unaccounted for after the tsunami.
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From my very, very limited understanding, the earlier explosion had nothing to do with a "meltdown," but was "just" a hydrogen explosion generated when coolant water they were pumping in came into contact with the extremely overheated reactor core container.

ETA (several articles later...) -- OK, make that the extremely overheated fuel rod containers, not the surrounding core container itself.
 
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^ Right, it's a question of the better of two grim options. Hopefully lowering the temps by allowing a hydrogen steam explosion now will prevent the uranium fuel pellets from melting. A reactor core container can survive a hydrogen explosion, but not melting uranium, which would eat right through it, creating a much larger explosion (and disseminating a hell of a lot more radioactivity).
 
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yolland said:
It's probably a pathetically inane sentiment, but this disaster has definitely heightened my sense of the awful power of rushing water. I'd seen many, many photos of the aftermath of tsunamis, levee breaks, etc. before, but to see that live footage of a towering wall of water smashing inland and tossing aside mansions, trains and huge ships as if they were toothpicks, that was just horrifying.

Prayers to everyone in the affected areas.
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It is incredible to think that the tsunami wave probably travels around 500 mph in the ocean, around the same speed as a jet airliner. Of course it slows considerably on land, but still it is amazing to consider.
 
This is so completely horrifying.
It's so cold and all these people unable go into homes or buildings, water and fires all over the place and people already getting sick from radiation leaking from the plant.
I can't help but cry. :sad:
 
God Part III said:
I am in Japan now and has been for two weeks.

The country has been at a virtual standstill (at least here in the east) until a couple of hours ago, when the trains started running again.

I was stuck in a small town for 18 hours and had to sleep in a high school gymnasium, with small bits of rubble dripping from the ceiling throughout the night...
Quite an experience.
Back in Tokyo now, and many shops are shut, and not as many people are out on the streets as usual.

Everyone is a bit shaken, no pun intended.
All eyes are on the nuclear plant in Fukushima now, apparently it has started leaking small amounts of radioactivity.

I'll post some updates later.
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Wow. Thanks for posting. Hang in there help is coming!
Lots of people praying for everyone in Japan!

PS.
I just saw a local story here in Seattle on the news of a fire fighter who has traveled to disaster zones such as Haiti, New Zealand and New Orleans after Katrina. Now he is off to Japan. I mentioned this because he is using his own money to get there, support himself and even gave up vacation time as well to go help his fellow human beings in need. That's the human spirit we should focus on! We are all one big family right? :hug:
I know there are plenty of others doing the same!
God Bless them all!:heart:
 
It's quite incredible how callous some people can be. I just stumbled across this site where there's a cartoon of whales surfing the tsunami and then high fiving each other with their flippers. Nevermind that a tiny, tiny percentage of Japanese people actually eat whale meat. Quite incredible.
 
Six FEMA "SAR" (Search And Rescue) dogs from Virginia Task Force were deployed today. The dogs sniff and dig through rubble to point out trapped humans.

5518444432_de9070797e_z.jpg
 
^ I was wondering about that--there's been lots of articles about UN officials putting together an international SAR team for Japan, but nothing I'd seen mentioned dogs, which are presumably perfect for this situation.


Now Japan's Cabinet Secretary is saying that, prior to yesterday's hydrogen steam venting/explosion, there had indeed been a partial meltdown in that reactor, and that they also suspect a partial meltdown in the second overheated reactor, which they just vented a few hours ago (without an explosion this time, apparently, though again some radiation was released).
 
petrifying, heart-breaking, my god... how fragile we are...
 
yolland said:
^ I was wondering about that--there's been lots of articles about UN officials putting together an international SAR team for Japan, but nothing I'd seen mentioned dogs, which are presumably perfect for this situation.
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Apparently the US has two teams that they deploy internationally and this is one of them (however I think more than that ended up in Haiti so I'm not sure how that works...perhaps they went on their own dime).
 
Nuclear fears have led to most vending machines, grocery stores and supermarkets to have a shortage on bottled water, and bread. There are helicopters hovering over the city constantly, and some afterquakes still happening. It's bit better today than yesterday though. Tokyo is not exactly back to normal, but people are working and shops are slowly opening again. Because many nuclear power plants are down, there will be planned blackouts today. Pretty weird. I'm thinking of getting to high ground so I can get a good picture tonight.
I'm not too scared about the nuclear situation, it seems that within the circumstances, they have it somewhat under control.

Here's a photo I took from the emergency shelter in Kanuma.

It's a very strange situation to be in, things are a bit in limbo at the moment, I hope things will normalize sooner rather than later.

But anyway, so far, everyone is ok where I am.
 
God Part III said:
Nuclear fears have led to most vending machines, grocery stores and supermarkets to have a shortage on bottled water, and bread. There are helicopters hovering over the city constantly, and some afterquakes still happening. It's bit better today than yesterday though. Tokyo is not exactly back to normal, but people are working and shops are slowly opening again. Because many nuclear power plants are down, there will be planned blackouts today. Pretty weird. I'm thinking of getting to high ground so I can get a good picture tonight.
I'm not too scared about the nuclear situation, it seems that within the circumstances, they have it somewhat under control.

Here's a photo I took from the emergency shelter in Kanuma.

It's a very strange situation to be in, things are a bit in limbo at the moment, I hope things will normalize sooner rather than later.

But anyway, so far, everyone is ok where I am.
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GPIII! Glad you're safe. That photo is really touching.

It's been a long time. . .(God Part III was one of the very first people I ever "met" on Interference when we were both looking to score tickets to the 2006 U2 show in Japan).
 
maycocksean said:
GPIII! Glad you're safe. That photo is really touching.

It's been a long time. . .(God Part III was one of the very first people I ever "met" on Interference when we were both looking to score tickets to the 2006 U2 show in Japan).
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:D

Yeah, and ever since then, I've been fascinated with Japan. My third visit, although you could say it was a bad time to visit... But yeah, I'm good.
If I remember correctly, you lived in the Phillippines, or Fiji or somewhere else in the Pacific, right? Have you been affected?
 
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