Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster!!!

[cstaylor]

NEWS ADVISORY: Japan eyes raising level of nuke crisis to most severe

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/

[Coligny]

'As wholesale prices soar, the menu price of cake had jumped from 550 Francs to 990 Francs as of April 1. "I know immediately whether cake is Kippin because I can smell its distinct aroma when I cut it," Marie Antoinette said. "It's disheartening to think I might not be able to eat it no matter how much I pay."'

With any luck these nouveau riche will get just what she did.

I'm pretty sure Marie Antoinette would have used Ecus... Francs being introduced by Napoleon...

[Yokohammer]

The Fukushima nuclear plant accident has now officially been raised to level 7 on the INES scale.

That's the same as Chernobyl (highest on the scale, and only the second time that level has ever been assigned).

I hope Legion and Typhoon are taking note.

[Typhoon]

The Fukushima nuclear plant accident has now officially been raised to level 7 on the INES scale.

That's the same as Chernobyl (highest on the scale, and only the second time that level has ever been assigned).

I hope Legion and Typhoon are taking note.

Simply glowing the with news.

IAEA update: 11 April 2011, 13:00 UTC

[Mike Oxlong]

[vmo]22209827[/vmo]

[dimwit]

It now appears that the secondary waves of the tsunami were a hell of lot higher than originally reported and I am begining to wonder if even a better placement of the diesel generators would have made any difference. In fact, the ground on which the plant was located was too low.

TEPCO details tsunami damage / Waves that hit Fukushima plant exceeded firm's worst-case projections
The Yomiuri Shimbun

Major facilities at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, including reactor and turbine buildings, were flooded to a depth of four meters to five meters during the March 11 tsunami, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The tsunami inundated facilities including the Nos. 1 to 4 reactors and turbine buildings and rose as high as about 15 meters above sea level, according to TEPCO.

TEPCO estimated the coverage of the waves' impact and their height based on physical evidence such as discoloration of walls.

According to TEPCO, facilities at the plant were struck by several tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The first wave arrived at the plant at 3:27 p.m.--41 minutes after the earthquake.

One wave passed over a breakwater that was 5.7 meters above the sea surface, wiping out seawater pumps near water intake outlets.

TEPCO's disaster-scenario projections had not allowed for the possibility of a wave rising high enough to breach the breakwater.

Later, tsunami as high as 10 meters above the sea surface struck turbine buildings, completely submerging the facilities' doors.

The force of the waves sent seawater around the turbine buildings to the far side of the reactor buildings.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110410003477.htm

[damn name]

I'd advise a little caution watching Arnie Gundesens's videos.

70
The number of reactor facilities that Arnie Gundersen claims to have worked for.

0
The number of licenses he holds to operate a commercial nuclear plant.
The number of years he worked in operations of a nuclear reactor or plant.
The number of engineers working under him as "Chief Engineer" at Fairewinds Associates (operated from his house).
The number of items, devices, structures or systems used in construction or operation designed by him. The entire body of his work consists of designing a rack 30 years ago that was rejected as unsuitable for the intended purpose.
The number of engineering consulting jobs he has held that involved construction, design or operation of a commercial facility. All of his "consulting" has consisted of giving testimony at hearings as an "expert witness," paid for by anti-nuclear groups and political action committees.

Math and science
The subjects he teaches as a full-time high school teacher, his job for the last 20 years.

[cstaylor]

Fire breaks out at Fukushima nuclear plant, "soon" extinguished

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the fire occurred at the sampling building near a water outlet at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No.4 reactor and was spotted by a worker.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/84752.html

[CrankyBastard]

The Fukushima nuclear plant accident has now officially been raised to level 7 on the INES scale.

That's the same as Chernobyl (highest on the scale, and only the second time that level has ever been assigned).

I hope Legion and Typhoon are taking note.

Does this mean it was at level 7 and they didn't realize until now or that the situation has deteriorated to level 7?

[Yokohammer]

Does this mean it was at level 7 and they didn't realize until now or that the situation has deteriorated to level 7?

Apparently they based their decision to raise the level on the amount of radiation that has been released and the threat to human health and the environment.

There have been conflicting reports this morning, some saying they are thinking about raising the level to 7, and some saying that the level has been officially raised. The report I saw this morning on NHK said it was a done deal, as indicated by the link posted above by Typhoon.

Here it is again: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/12_05.html

[Mulboyne]

Anti-Nuclear campaigner Helen Caldicott answers George Monbiot's claims (posted earlier) that she exaggerates the health threat of radiation:

How nuclear apologists mislead the world over radiation

[cstaylor]

Does this mean it was at level 7 and they didn't realize until now or that the situation has deteriorated to level 7?

It means they compiled all of the data over the previous month and realized that 50 TBq (Terabecquerels) per hour was even too much for TEPCO to sweep under a level 5 incident report.

The current reported levels are under 1 TBq/hr.

[dimwit]

Anti-Nuclear campaigner Helen Caldicott answers George Monbiot's claims (posted earlier) that she exaggerates the health threat of radiation:

How nuclear apologists mislead the world over radiation

Helen Calldicott is in the crank scale somewhere between Debito and Benny Fulford. I've always wondered how much funding she lost after the fall of the Soviet Union?

[Yokohammer]

Helen Calldicott is in the crank scale somewhere between Debito and Benny Fulford. I've always wondered how much funding she lost after the fall of the Soviet Union?

It's really difficult to figure out where the middle ground is with this issue. Both sides, even fairly extreme sides, have compelling arguments. At least they sound compelling to me. So who are the level-headed, unbiased commentators we should be listening to?

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

So who are the level-headed, unbiased commentators we should be listening to?

I suppose when all else fails, there's always Dr. NakaMatz...

[damn name]

It's really difficult to figure out where the middle ground is with this issue. Both sides, even fairly extreme sides, have compelling arguments. At least they sound compelling to me. So who are the level-headed, unbiased commentators we should be listening to?

Now that is an excellent comment and question. It deserves some time to construct a reasonable answer.

[Coligny]

I'd advise a little caution watching Arnie Gundesens's videos.

70
The number of reactor facilities that Arnie Gundersen claims to have worked for.

0
The number of licenses he holds to operate a commercial nuclear plant.
The number of years he worked in operations of a nuclear reactor or plant.
The number of engineers working under him as "Chief Engineer" at Fairewinds Associates (operated from his house).
The number of items, devices, structures or systems used in construction or operation designed by him. The entire body of his work consists of designing a rack 30 years ago that was rejected as unsuitable for the intended purpose.
The number of engineering consulting jobs he has held that involved construction, design or operation of a commercial facility. All of his "consulting" has consisted of giving testimony at hearings as an "expert witness," paid for by anti-nuclear groups and political action committees.

Math and science
The subjects he teaches as a full-time high school teacher, his job for the last 20 years.

You seems to have missed one of the implied rule of this thread:

Daguerreotype... or it didn't happen.
Source... or it's just hearsay.

Because, what is shown in this video seems 1- quite legit 2- nothing really out of the ordinary 3- just a backyard demo of something that all source have said is happening in the reactors core: sh1t overheat, is unceremoniously cooled, break, more stuff melt. (more or less)

Here, more on the TMI zyrconium oxydation event:
http://books.google.com/books?id=XIr7EouuelUC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=zirconium+overheat+oxidation&source=bl&ots=f2_TY4gDuB&sig=HbCG-40rA456S1zDf9O-6-FYQho&hl=en&ei=YayjTba7G4TCvQPp_IiTCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=zirconium%20overheat%20oxidation&f=false

[Thug4Life]

They knew a month ago that Fukushima was a level 7. But, in fact, here we have a whole new category: level 8. Chernobyl had 180 tons of fuel at that site, but Fukushima has over 7200 tons. They can call this a Level 7 ad infinitum, but simple multiplication dictates that this is 40 times worse than Chernobyl.

When the reactor in molten state melts through the cement to the ground water (this is happening right now), then the explosive hydrogen gas produced will cause an ongoing, perpetual series of small explosions, forcing radioactive mushroom clouds to rise miles and miles up into the skies. This explosive meltdown will continue until all the fuel is spent. And that will take decades to be burned/exploded because there is 7200 tons fuel on site.

Given these circumstances, and all the information and data that has been published, what is underway now is unstoppable. The full spectrum of isotopes recently found in pine needles in Vietnam gives insight into what is to come for the entire globe for decades to come. All corrective actions now underway have only slowed down the ultimate final conclusion. We must give thanks to the very brave heroes who have given their lives to buy Japan and the world some more time to prepare for a whole new way of life.

Tell all your family members that you love them.

This is the end of the world as we know it.

[Coligny]

waaaargaaaarrrrbllll

Ok, now I must confess... This guy make me miss McTojo and his bicycle seat sniffing addiction...

[Yokohammer]

They knew a month ago that Fukushima was a level 7. ... blah, blah, freak-out, doomsday fantasy ...
This is the end of the world as we know it.

Is your real name Benjamin Fulford, by any chance?

[damn name]

After some thought, I'm going to suggest to Yokohammer that it may be better to avoid "commentary" and speculation altogether.

I think this site has very neutral language and no speculation: http://mitnse.com/

[Yokohammer]

After some thought, I'm going to suggest to Yokohammer that it may be better to avoid "commentary" and speculation altogether.

I think this site has very neutral language and no speculation: http://mitnse.com/

That's good. Thanks.
Although comments like this are a bit worrying:

We have no information on the current level of concern about hydrogen buildup.

Anyway, I have bookmarked that and will refer to it regularly.

According to the daily radiation measurements being made in my town, the reading yesterday (April 11) was 0.16 µSv/h, compared to 0.26 µSv/h on April 1. The ambient levels are dropping, but there's always the fear that a badly timed/placed geological event, another in the long line of "unexpected" obstacles at the plant, or simply a bad decision could cause more dispersion.

Right now I choose to believe that somehow, in spite of the problems, the radiation will eventually be contained. Can't be complacent though, because there is a danger of things getting out of control again. I'll keep checking the facts and numbers.

[John Dillinger]

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/

Oh shit! It looks like I was wrong about the accident's severity not being as bad as Chernobyl.

It's times like this I hate having become an agnostic. I'd pray for Japan, but I don't know if it'd do any good. For what it's worth, I'm hoping you guys and gals, and the rest of Japan are going to pull through this alright.

Man, this sucks, nobody deserves this.

[cstaylor]

We'll be fine... except for Yokohammer, who will need to fend off dogzillas with a blackjack.

[Yokohammer]

We'll be fine... except for Yokohammer, who will need to fend off dogzillas with a blackjack.

Jeez ... thanks for that.

[Coligny]

Daini water flood, two pics before the "GET TO DA CHOPPAAAAA"
http://martynwilliams.posterous.com/fukushima-daini-tsunami-images#!/

[Catoneinutica]

Here's a modest proposal: TEPCO should build all future nuclear reactors...at the Dai-ichi site! It's already a post-apocalyptic wasteland, so, you know, in for a penny, in for a pound. Of course, the facility staff will be mildly irradiated from the lingering aftereffects of the current unpleasantness, but with all the money TEPCO could save from locating all its reactors at one place, it could buy its regular staff the sensual services of their very own AKB48 member.

-catone
-contract laborers would have to make do with one of greji's sloppy seconds?
-second hundreds?

[ichigo partygirl]

Scientologists Touch-Heal Japanese Tsunami Victims (Gawker)

Since the disaster struck, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Japan Disaster Response Team has helped more than 48,000 displaced persons in dozens of shelters distributing food, water and supplies and providing Scientology assists. Assists, often described as "spiritual first aid"..

[Yokohammer]

Scientologists Touch-Heal Japanese Tsunami Victims (Gawker)

Hey, can we get these guys to go to Fukushima and heal the reactor?

If their faith doesn't make them impervious to the radiation, perhaps they could all line up and lay their hands on the fault line.

[Coligny]

Scientologists Touch-Heal Japanese Tsunami Victims (Gawker)

I was wondering how long it would take for those scums to creep out of the mud...