Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster!!!

[Coligny]

They wouldn't take Cranky. He's too old. I can't go. I have something to do that day....

Got'sa make a money to pay them illitimate child supports...

[CrankyBastard]

Speaking of honor, shouldn't Greji and Cranky be stepping up and joining those volunteers?

I did volunteer.
We all got on the bus and everything was fine for the first hour.
Then we ran out of aspirin, beano and antacid.
Those of us who hadn't forgotten where we were going began showing more interest. Unfortunately we were more interested in going home before we got there.
Anyway, I got home in one piece (two, if you count my dentures)

[Mike Oxlong]

Researchers say meltdown could have been avoided

A group of researchers says the meltdown of a reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant could have been avoided if water injection had been carried out 4 hours earlier than it was.

The researchers at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday reported the finding based on a computer simulation of the accident at the plant's No. 2 reactor.

The core meltdown took place within a few days after the reactor's cooling system failed due to the major earthquake and tsunami on March 11th.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, said earlier that data analysis shows that the cooling system may have stopped working shortly after 1 PM on March 14th.

The utility started injecting water to cool the reactor at around 8 PM that day, after reducing pressure in the facility. But by 8 PM the next day -- around 100 hours after the quake -- much of the reactor's fuel had melted and collected at the bottom of the reactor's pressure vessel.

The simulation suggests that if water had been injected by around 4 PM, it could have prevented the meltdown by lowering the temperature of the fuel before it reached 1,200 degrees Celsius, destroying the fuel's container.

Group leader Masashi Hirano says the damage to the fuel could have been avoided, and that he wonders why TEPCO did not start injecting water earlier despite difficulties.

TEPCO says it doesn't believe the operation was delayed, adding that workers did their best amid high radiation levels and other severe conditions.

Of the plant's 6 reactors, the No. 1 to No. 3 suffered meltdowns after losing cooling functions.

At the No. 2 reactor, a hydrogen explosion on March 15th caused the release and spread of massive amounts of radioactive substances.

[Yokohammer]

Researchers say meltdown could have been avoided

I'm always pleased when abject incompetence and negligence of this type comes to light. The more is known the less chance there is that TEPCO and the other regional power companies will continue to maintain their stranglehold on Japan's energy supply. I doubt that justice will ever be fully served in this case, but the less chance the fuckers have of escaping unscathed the better.

[2triky]

I doubt that justice will ever be fully served in this case, but the less chance the fuckers have of escaping unscathed the better.

When well entrenched corporate interests are to blame, justice is never served.

[Coligny]

When well entrenched corporate interests are to blame, justice is never served.

Sometimes... when it become a matter of survival for some politician carreer... corporate interest become suddenly expandable...

(See Renault in 1945)

[2triky]

Sometimes... when it become a matter of survival for some politician carreer... corporate interest become suddenly expandable...

(See Renault in 1945)

I believe you meant to say "expendable." Notwithstanding your example, it's a rare occurrence.

[Coligny]

I believe you meant to say "expendable." Notwithstanding your example, it's a rare occurrence.

We IZZA in a rare occurence...

At least I hopez...


...hide under pillows waiting for the next earthquake and nukular disastur...


The usual kapitalist fallacy is that risk must be taken to protect jobs and livelyhoods, but if someone with half a brain look at the situation, when said risks are major threats to jobs and livelyhoods per se... maybe some people needs beheading and reevaluations have to be performed...






(I however DO appreciate your usefull correction, showing an understanding of the differenciation between my purposeful use of lolcat english and a genuine lexical mistake.)

[Mike Oxlong]

Japan's shame
The good bureaucrat

THERE are many heroes in post 3/11 Japan. The mayor of Rikuzentakata, who ensured the safety of city residents only for his wife to perish, is one, as are the Tokyo firefighters who streamed up to Fukushima to spray water on the out-of-control reactors. But among those who deserve honour is also a humble bureaucrat at the trade ministry. In a system that prizes remaining nameless, faceless and not rocking the boat, Shigeaki Koga chose to step forward and reveal some of Japan's ugliest secrets.

After 3/11, Mr Koga decided speak out about the awful practices he had experienced while working on Japan's energy policy. The disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant, run by TEPCO, is symptomatic of a wider malaise. The utility companies buy the academy by sponsoring research, buy the media through mountains of public-service advertisements and junkets, buy big business by paying top-dollar for everything, buy the bureaucrats and regulators by handing them cushy post-retirement jobs.

Talking to him one gets a chill down the spine. Often, bureaucrats are regarded as lemming-like self-interested do-nothings or devious micro-managers. But Mr Koga's brave words and deep understanding of how energy companies pad their costs, block competition, keep energy prices high and ultimately strangle Japan is an antidote to that image. Instead, the figure that emerges is a deeply intelligent, hard-working civil servant who wants the best for his country.

In the spring he devised his own restructuring plan for TEPCO that was utterly ignored by the ministry (which has long been in the pocket of the energy companies), though it won him plaudits from a handful of reformist politicians. He advocates opening the energy monopoly to competition and separating the power generation and transmission operations of today's ten regional monopolies.

If only his country would listen. His private views to colleagues landed him in the wilderness. Superiors told him to resign. Yet since going public with his revelations and criticisms, he has been placed into an even darker solitary confinement. His current assignment is, well, nothing. When he asked the previous trade minister, Banri Kaieda, for a meaningful post, Mr Kaieda was noncommittal. (When The Economist asked Mr Kaieda about Mr Koga's views, the then-trade minister dismissed it as something for "the long term". Translation: "Never".)

"I believe this is the final chance for Japan to change," Mr Koga said in May, when I asked him during a wide-ranging interview why he was speaking out. "If I shut my mouth and obtain a good post in the ministry—even if I did that, in a few years Japan's economy would plunge," he said. "That is why I am taking on risks, and I don't care if I have to resign. Because if I don't speak out, Japan will not change. It is meaningless for me to be in the government if I cannot advocate reform."...

[Yokohammer]

Japan's shame
The good bureaucrat

This Koga guy really is a breath of fresh air.
To hear him talk you'd think he was a left-leaning journalist or academic ... and then you remember he's a Nagata-cho guy and get all confused because bureaucrats simply aren't supposed to be that outspoken or make that much sense. Good stuff. If only there were more like him.

[Ganma]

[quote="Mike Oxlong"]Japan's shame
The good bureaucrat
It will be a true pity if Japan loses one of the few men who could actually improve the country considerably. It will be a shame]
That's the way, aha aha, they like it, aha!
Without secret handshakes and backroom cigars the poor politicians would lose their identity. Reform? Ba humbug!

I hope he finds a way to make change even if he does find himself on the outside.

[Russell]

I tend to give the man the benefit of the doubt, though I am far from convinced that the solutions he advocates (opening the energy monopolies and separating power generation and distribution) will work for Japan. But at least he is willing to discuss issues openly, which is indeed a fresh breath of air.

Now and then people like this pop up in Japanese bureaucracy, like Masao Miyamoto (now deceased), who wrote this interesting book "The Straightjacket Society" in the '90's about his experiences in the Health Ministry. In the end people like this become ostracized by their colleagues, and that is an unfortunate characteristic of Japanese society.

It will be interesting to see how it works out for Mr. Koga. If the DPJ is serious about their reform plans they had better give him a chance to have more influence. The country needs such people now!

[Yokohammer]

This is encouraging news. Looks like the screws are being applied little by little:

Tepco scraps plan to hike power charges 10 to 15%

I really like this part:

But committee members decided they would not allow Tepco to hike electricity charges unless it considered cost-cutting measures, such as reducing pension payments and employees' salaries.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I really like this part:
But committee members decided they would not allow Tepco to hike electricity charges unless it considered cost-cutting measures, such as reducing pension payments and employees' salaries.

Yeah, screw the rank-and-file who obviously must have made all the decisions that led to this cock-up.
Meanwhile, all those former white collar executives who collected dividends for decades at tax rates considerably lower than they are for income are really feeling the pinch having already missed a payout once this fiscal year...

[Yokohammer]

Yeah, screw the rank-and-file who obviously must have made all the decisions that led to this cock-up.
Meanwhile, all those former white collar executives who collected dividends for decades at tax rates considerably lower than they are for income are really feeling the pinch having already missed a payout once this fiscal year...

Well hang on ...
I realize that much more has to be done, but this is a start. Gotta start somewhere. And I doubt that this means that only the employees will suffer. If that happens there's likely to be even more resistance. I'm interested to see where this goes.

[Ganma]

Well hang on ...
I realize that much more has to be done, but this is a start. Gotta start somewhere. And I doubt that this means that only the employees will suffer. If that happens there's likely to be even more resistance. I'm interested to see where this goes.

Agreed. I do feel sorry for the average schmo working for Tepco, but milking the victims (and general public) to pay for Tepco's mistakes is just wrong. The ones responsible should take the brunt of the payments but that is unlikely to cover it all. So it makes sense that Tepco employees should bear some of the load before the general public does. By all rights, if it wasn't for the fact they have a mess to clean up, Tepco should no longer exist.

[Coligny]

Yeah, screw the rank-and-file who obviously must have made all the decisions that led to this cock-up.
Meanwhile, all those former white collar executives who collected dividends for decades at tax rates considerably lower than they are for income are really feeling the pinch having already missed a payout once this fiscal year...

It's a bit near those case of "just following orders". They didn't take the decisions, but benefitted from the situation anyway...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Making only TEPCO workers pay is a sham and nothing more than a symbolic gesture (which isn't to say that it shouldn't be done anyway, but don't expect much more action than this...)

If people are serious about retribution for the nuclear disaster, then they should take a strong look at everyone responsible from the politicians and bureaucrats that decided to build them in the first place, the company executives that built the plant, the media for fawningly supporting nuclear power generation and even the U.S. military-industrial complex, which had a role and can be blamed for every ill on the planet (said with tongue firmly in cheap and written slowly so Mericans can understand I'm not really slagging them...). In short, this aint gonna happen. Once again, this cuntry decides to pick up a scapegoat, slap them on the wrist and ignore the fundamental problem.

And in other news, this is what happensin a cuntry where class and crass are pronounced the same and therefore probably prone to confusion between the meanings of the respective words...

[Ganma]

Making only TEPCO workers pay is a sham and nothing more than a symbolic gesture (which isn't to say that it shouldn't be done anyway, but don't expect much more action than this...)

If people are serious about retribution for the nuclear disaster, then they should take a strong look at everyone responsible from the politicians and bureaucrats that decided to build them in the first place, the company executives that built the plant, the media for fawningly supporting nuclear power generation and even the U.S. military-industrial complex, which had a role and can be blamed for every ill on the planet (said with tongue firmly in cheap and written slowly so Mericans can understand I'm not really slagging them...). In short, this aint gonna happen. Once again, this cuntry decides to pick up a scapegoat, slap them on the wrist and ignore the fundamental problem.

I'm not sure that all those parties hold responsibility for the accident. They may be responsible for pushing through and supporting nuclear power but is not TEPCO solely responsible for safety measures at their own facilities? OK so the bureaucrats who rubber stamped TEPCOs flawed safety measures and passed the aging facilities every year (namely the LDP) are also responsible and should be held accountable, but that's as far as it goes.

Japan to use disaster area food for overseas aid

??? Unbelievable. Look forward to mutant human variations appearing in Africa over the next decade.

[Coligny]

I'm not sure that all those parties hold responsibility for the accident. They may be responsible for pushing through and supporting nuclear power but is not TEPCO solely responsible for safety measures at their own facilities? OK so the bureaucrats who rubber stamped TEPCOs flawed safety measures and passed the aging facilities every year (namely the LDP) are also responsible and should be held accountable, but that's as far as it goes.

??? Unbelievable. Look forward to mutant human variations appearing in Africa over the next decade.

Did it occurs to anyone that maybe there never was any accident at Fukushima Daiichi and it's just all a viral marketting setup for a previously unpublished James Bond adventure from Ian Flemming ?

Because sure as hell Tepco and the JGov looks more and more every passing day like unbelievable over the top cold war era boogie men disguised as metaphorical James Bond villains...

Whatever movie coming out of this should better play the Austin Power or Johnny English card, because if they try to do it in a serious fashion a la XFiles it's going to ask way too much suspension of disbelief to be any good...


(btw, any of youz got nudez picz of Scully, I losted them in a previous HD crash...)

Edit: Just after posting I fall on this news from ex-skf

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/09/japanese-government-to-invite.html

Jgov to invite 'influencial' Facebookjocks and twitterclowns in Japan to say how safe it is...

You just can't make that shit up...

Seriously... I don't think I can take it from this planet anymore... Iceland sounds cool these days... no ? Looks like the surface of the moon already...

[Mike Oxlong]

[ythq]8vywZ84mixs[/ythq]

[MrUltimateGaijin]

[ythq]8vywZ84mixs[/ythq]

Basically the truth, when you look at how many reactors there are in the world it really is very safe.

[Coligny]

Basically the truth, when you look at how many reactors there are in the world it really is very safe.

I'd say more 'reliable' than 'safe'.

Safe usually include resilience toward out of daily use specced situations.

A landrover Defender and a Renault Megane 2 are both reliable.

In case of crash
you can walk away from the Megane (safe)
They can usually id your body from the Defender wreckage.

Coal and nukular plants are reliable and don't blow on a daily basis.
If a coal plant blow, once the fire is over everything IS over. Sort of safe.
Nuke plant blow, 6 month after you still try to get the full picture and what to do. All poisonned by shareholder driven crisis management.

When there is an oil spill, nobody contest the restriction on fishing and selling of seafood. Here we got nuclear fuel spill and promotion of locally grown food. The stupidity is cranked to 11 on every direction diluting the debate and ridiculing the usual single normal response to an accident: "better safe than sorry".

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/09/japanese-government-to-invite.html

Jgov to invite 'influencial' Facebookjocks and twitterclowns in Japan to say how safe it is...

You just can't make that shit up...

I'm with you...WTF are they thinking?
They have been lying to people for years about Japan being a safety cuntry...considering everything that's happened since March 11 why would people even dream of believing what the government here says?

[Coligny]

From a slashdot post:

http://bos.sagepub.com/content/67/5/37.full

Fukushima: The myth of safety, the reality of geoscience.

Basically... When you factor out all the external threat... Fukushima was really safe...

[MrUltimateGaijin]

[Coligny]

Fuel Fatalities Who Deaths per TTY
Coal 6400 Workers 342
Hydro 4000 Public 883
Natural Gas 1200 Workers and Public 85
Nuclear 31 Workers 8

Yeah, that's the good thing with numbers and statistics...

There is always a way to find a formula whose results will cheer you up...

[Greji]

Yeah, that's the good thing with numbers and statistics...

There is always a way to find a formula whose results will cheer you up...

I think they should replace the Fukushima plant by building a brand new facility in Toyohashi, right up close, where you can keep a close eye on it Coligny!

[Coligny]

I think they should replace the Fukushima plant by building a brand new facility in Toyohashi, right up close, where you can keep a close eye on it Coligny!

Anytime... Izza ready...

[Iraira]

Anytime... Izza ready...

How long you been waiting for the right moment to post that?