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Earthquake and Tsunami in Eastern Japan - Largest since 1900

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prkravi
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Post by prkravi » Wed, 16 Mar 2011 11:24 am

I wouldn't want History to record another Nuclear catastrophy in Japan or anywhere in the World for that matter... Oh God how I wish this would end.. I really feel that the response from the authorities is very slack...they are leaving things to chance. Why haven't they started taking any extreme measures of preventing a meltdown like filling up the reactors with concrete or dousing it with Boric acid yet?? The last thing I would want to imagine is that they would not want to do that so the reactor would become useless in Future!!
The situation now is gravely about, any FUTURE for those there.

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Post by k1w1 » Wed, 16 Mar 2011 3:55 pm

Thanks for posting that link, EF. These men are heroes in every sense of the word. I really hope they come out of this ok.

:(

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Post by earthfriendly » Thu, 17 Mar 2011 3:02 am

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiap ... es/?hpt=T1

Now there are 180 of them working on it.

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Post by earthfriendly » Thu, 17 Mar 2011 3:29 am

"BTW, nuclear power plants are always built near plentiful water sources, because of their great cooling needs. Japan has no major rivers like other countries, nor very large lakes. Therefore, plants are built near the ocean. The terrain makes bringing seawater far inland very difficult, but might now be reconsidered, should any more nuclear plants ever be built.

These plants, built by US company GE, were old & outdated, and should have been decommissioned this year. Keeping them online now appears to have been a fatal mistake. As for the 50 technicians still dealing with this, there are only a limited number of radiation suits with sufficient protection, and a limited number of experts qualified to handle this crisis. Plus they must be brave volunteers. Sending in soldiers without proper protection & training would accomplish nothing, except get them killed. Indeed, these 50 technicians may already be dead men."

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Post by nakatago » Thu, 17 Mar 2011 8:51 am

I read something very interesting: there's no looting in Japan!
"A quokka is what would happen if there was an anime about kangaroos."

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Post by tyianchang » Thu, 17 Mar 2011 7:13 pm

Angela Merkel has ordered the closing down of 7 nuclear reactors, some critics say, in time for the coming elections in the green belt of Germany. But , considering that most other countires are new reviewing their nuclear power plants and looking at viable renewable energy alternatives, will they be quick enough to divert the world's number 1 danger?
It's heart-breaking to watch the people going through one hazard after another - earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear meltdown, snow and all that impede humanitarian help. Let's hope more is being done to reach out to all those so much affected.
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Post by Plavt » Thu, 17 Mar 2011 7:59 pm

tyianchang wrote:Angela Merkel has ordered the closing down of 7 nuclear reactors, some critics say, in time for the coming elections in the green belt of Germany. But , considering that most other countires are new reviewing their nuclear power plants and looking at viable renewable energy alternatives, will they be quick enough to divert the world's number 1 danger?
Angela Merkel is obviously indulging in publicity stunt. Should you care to search around you may find the nuclear reactors incorporated some interesting safety features. The problem was that nobody ancticipated a tsunami the size it was if they anticipated one at all. I should add this was not crass stupidy, the sad reality is you cannot always predict what disaster(s) will unfold.
Last edited by Plavt on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 3:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by QRM » Thu, 17 Mar 2011 8:09 pm


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Post by earthfriendly » Fri, 18 Mar 2011 2:47 am

Did not read the article. No time lah. But I like how they organized it into point forms. 27 ways to be fearful of nuclear powers :P .

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Post by k1w1 » Fri, 18 Mar 2011 6:20 am

nakatago wrote:I read something very interesting: there's no looting in Japan!
It's incredible, isn't it? I heard an amazing story on the news here last night that made my jaw drop. Apparently, some people had gone to a shop that was nearly empty and tried to buy some of the last items of food, but the shopkeeper couldn't open his till or something (can't remember the exact details - but the customers couldn't pay anyway). So they put the food back on the shelves and left.

The shortage of food and fuel is a real concern. I read today that even hospitals are running low on food and shelters are being forced to ration food down to one rice ball between two people. That is frightening.

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Post by Plavt » Fri, 18 Mar 2011 7:30 am

k1w1 wrote: The shortage of food and fuel is a real concern. I read today that even hospitals are running low on food and shelters are being forced to ration food down to one rice ball between two people. That is frightening.
BBC news has shown people forming orderley queues only to be handed one small rice ball between two people along with an over-burdened hospital itself short of food and water together with a doctor who had little or no sleep in three days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

(please ignore the word's middle east the link is correct)

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Post by ksl » Fri, 18 Mar 2011 6:53 pm

Plavt wrote:
k1w1 wrote: The shortage of food and fuel is a real concern. I read today that even hospitals are running low on food and shelters are being forced to ration food down to one rice ball between two people. That is frightening.
BBC news has shown people forming orderly queues only to be handed one small rice ball between two people along with an over-burdened hospital itself short of food and water together with a doctor who had little or no sleep in three days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

(please ignore the word's middle east the link is correct)
Certainly a culture to be admired in many ways! My heart goes out to them and my prayers too!

I can't really imagine the difficulty of the task of securing those rods. It must be also to do with the size and weight too, with extreme high dosage inside the plant being around 400 millisieverts an hour, which is dangerous to anything living.

Those rods are over 80 degrees C at present and rising. the danger level is now raised to 5 points of 7.

It's very frustrating for sure, as it's not as if these rods can be removed or transferred into a secure unit for cooling.

Quote the Telegraph:At one point, readings near the plant briefly topped 400 millisieverts an hour, a level high enough to cause radiation sickness and long–term damage to health if workers had not been wearing protective suits. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... evels.html

Certainly needs to be contained very quickly. How tolerant the NBC suits are I have no idea, and those volunteers are on a suicide mission without a doubt. Part of military training is wearing NBC suits and gas masks, on maneuvers though what tolerance of NBC fallout is beyond me. But it's frightening enough having to wear it all for 30 minutes.

I'm surprised that everyone is not issued with suits and gas masks to be honest. If that thing blows it's going to be bad for those exposed. Another major disaster for mankind by mankind with inadequate security measures for the worst scenario. Let the world learn from this, but they will not, as it's extra cost.

I also wish people to be aware that the chernobyl nuclear blast effected the North of Enland and Wales. I was there at the time and I was mesmerised by the rain clouds that lit up in the night, as they drifted over the North of England 1500 miles away from the blast.

Though the dosage is weakened by the distance, it doesn't stop the contamination of the nature and even today you can see nuclear fall out warning signs in the Lake District area.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 20059.html

http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2006/5/4/183436/4053 I personally started having health problems and could never pin point why other than the Nuclear and biological warfare trials I had been on.

The acid rain that fell could be seen on the washing lines, clothes had to be rewashed, though governments declared the dosage wasn't damaging to health, some areas had higher concentrations than others in UK and signs put up.

They are not admitting to the higher than national average of cancer deaths in the North of England to the fall out from Chernobyl in 86, or it's own Nuclear power stations leaks in 1984.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/date ... 521673.stm

The fact i have a much lower white blood cell count than normal people is not explainable by any specialists, just that I have auto immune problems which i have had forever and providing it's not painful I don't worry too much about it. But never trust a government to tell you the truth, when it could cause panic, just take precautions and don't be lead into a falls state of security, after all the world is over populated.

The sense of humour in Morecambe goes like this, if you want to swim in Morecambe bay you can, it's unusually quite warm in the water when they are discharging from the power station, you go in and come out glowing!

It's a great place to go for social networking on the promenade, take a fishing rod like everyone else, has the place used to be great for fishing, though now, it's a place for pensioners pass the day discussing, the atrocities of government over 60 years.

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Post by earthfriendly » Sat, 19 Mar 2011 1:39 am

Yeap that is what I have come to expect of the Japanese culture, extreme stoicism, self reliance and dignity. But everything in moderation lah. Public citizens are questioning why the govt has not enlisted international help? US govt on standby ready to provide the assistance but the Japanese govt think they can do it by themselves. It is a very proud nation. Although the size of the ego is sometimes directly related to the magnitude of the ineptitude. Japan has a long history of big appetitie and humiility to learn from the best around the world. They were eager to learn from the Americans post WWII.

Emperor Akihito gave a public speech for the nation to "share the burden". The last major public speech by an emperor was delivered by Akihito’s father, Hirohito, in August 1945, when he announced Japan’s surrender in World War II when he told his nation "Now is the time to bear the unbearable" .

The nucleur facility is owned by TEPCO, one of the largest utility company in the world, formed after WWII. The mistrust of the government and TEPCO was already there before the crisis, and people are even angrier now because of the inaccurate information they’re getting. TEPCO had many cases of falsification of records and the govt always been complicit with the nuclear industry. In the last 5 years, Japan had changed 4 prime ministers whereas TEPCO had been around for 60 years. Who is more poweful? Democracy has allowed them to pick one inept leader after another. There is no continuety that the current administration can fall back on. And right before the crisis, PM popularity was at an all time low. The govt does not have direct monitor on the nuclear site. Where are they getting their info from??

They are woefully unprepared for this. Crisis management has turned into management in crisis. Are we the citizens of the world supposed to take this the "quiet way" ? A nucleur event? Obama's administration has been very patient with the Japanese administration the whole time. France and USA are interpreting the severity worse than the Japanese.

My girlfriend in Tokyo finally able to buy bread, milk and meat. Bread has never tasted so good!

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/201 ... mpany.html

Machio Kaku advocate pouring boric acid and concrete. He should make a phone call to the Japanese PM. I volunteer to facilitate this call, a little ego stroking and cajoling may get the job done!

http://vansantos.com/2011/03/17/dr-mich ... ar-crisis/

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Post by ksl » Sat, 19 Mar 2011 3:57 am

Though this link was passed on too me, I believe the fall out will be too weak and scattered by the time it hits UK in 2 weeks. USA are seeing weak radiation in california.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... posed.html

Taiwan I'm afraid is only 1500 miles from the disaster area, so I have told my in laws to be prepared and purchase the necessary masks and tablets if possible, until the winds clear the area. I'm pretty sure there is no need for panic as it has not been blown up into the atmosphere, but preparedness and children should wear masks while outside, has the accumulation in the lungs over several hours maybe not a good idea.

One can see by the fall out of Chernobyl in 1986 that England, Scotland and wales was effected to a degree 1500 miles away from the blast and that a very high incident of illnesses are blamed on the Nuclear facilities in Heysham and Sellafield up where I come from when they discharge waste into the sea.

It's kind of sick joke that people have to live with, it provides jobs and heated swimming, dead fish and deformed fish too the last 2 years I have lost 15 school mates and friends all under 60, to cancers and illness in Lancaster though there is still no connection to Nuclear power stations according to government investigations.

People are expendable in a world of defence and power, the damage ratio and risk factors are guaranteed before building these dangerous units, though i doubt they will ever be made public. This stuff hangs around for generations.

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Post by earthfriendly » Sat, 19 Mar 2011 8:05 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sakN2hS ... r_embedded

Cartoon that explains the nuclear crissis for kids.

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