8.9 Earthquake has struck Japan

[Darren Addy]

Curious: Where did all of the "experts" go who were "not worried" about the Japanese reactor situation?

 

[Jim Saueressig]

This is a must read: DCBureau

The problem is if the spent fuel gets too close, they will produce a fission reaction and explode with a force much larger than any fission bomb given the total amount of fuel on the site. All the fuel in all the reactors and all the storage pools at this site (1760 tons of Uranium) would be consumed in such a mega-explosion. In comparison, Fat Man and Little Boy weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki contained less than a hundred pounds each of fissile material.

I know I don't believe anything coming from Tepco or even Japan officials at this point but now you don't know what is factual or not.

With #5 and #6 pools also heating up????

BTW was all of the rods on top of #3 blown into the surrounding area?

 

[Darren Addy]

Four people now reported dead from the Shizuoka 6.2 quake.

 

[Benjamin Smith]

Curious: Where did all of the "experts" go who were "not worried" about the Japanese reactor situation?

For real, I was watching fox news last night and they had some supposed nuclear expert on there saying that this whole thing was overblown. I was like, things have been consistently getting worse, how can this thing be overblown?

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78352.html

Due to high radiation levels at the No. 4 reactor, workers on Tuesday were unable to prepare for the pouring of water into the troubled pool. Difficult conditions have led the utility to evacuate around 730 of the 800 workers from the site, according to TEPCO.

The firm said its workers were only able to remain in the central control rooms at the Fukushima plant for 10 minutes to avoid exposure to excessive radiation levels. They have retreated to a remote site to monitor data on the reactors, it added.

 

[Andrew Stoller]

http://www.radiationnetwork.com/

http://www.stormsurfing.com/cgi/display_alt.cgi?a=npac_250

Sweet; if these 4 reactors blow up like a dirty bomb, the fallout will head right for the continental US! maybe we'll see some nuclearnaders this weekend...

 

[Darren Addy]

Reportedly a blast of some kind at the No. 4 reactor (reportedly involving spent fuel rods).

 

[Greg Campbell]

This is a must read: DCBureau]

The problem is if the spent fuel gets too close, they will produce a fission reaction and explode with a force much larger than any fission bomb given the total amount of fuel on the site. All the fuel in all the reactors and all the storage pools at this site (1760 tons of Uranium) would be consumed in such a mega-explosion. In comparison, Fat Man and Little Boy weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki contained less than a hundred pounds each of fissile material.

Typical scaremongering media nonesense.

Fortunately, a large scale fission explosion is not possible. The 'insertion time' (the time it takes to go from sub-critial to substantially super-critical) is far too slow. What you could get is a criticality accident (the whole mess is barely critical) that would potentialy melt the fuel, set it burning, maybe even heat it enough to generate a VERY low level nuclear explosion (equivalent to a few pounds of high explosive) that might be enough to scatter the material around the site.

Needless to say, an small explosion that flings flaming fuel assemblies over several acres would be bad enough! That's the sort of scenario that might actually be as bad as Chernobyl.

 

[Greg Campbell]

Does anyone else find themselves asking, "Cripes, how much worse can it get?"

 

[Jim Saueressig]

Does anyone else find themselves asking, "Cripes, how much worse can it get?"

Nope, not in the grand scheme of things because my personal beliefs include full belief in God and the Bible and that this is only the beginning of the greater pains.

As far as the localized scheme of things related to Japan I do find myself asking how much more that island can take before we find ourselves listening to "For Spanish, Press 1, For Japanese, Press 2, For English, Please Hold." when we call someone for business purposes. Now I don't mean that against the Japanese in any racist way but to point out that I wonder if things keep going the way they are if there will be a habitable island left for them to live on.....

Listening to the kids screaming in some of the footage coming out as the tsunami was ripping the city out from under these people on rooftops was really heart wrenching....

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Heh, from AP:

"-The operator of the nuclear plant said it may use helicopters to pour water into a containment pool for spent fuel rods, a spokesman said."

Guess they're thinking outside the box when it comes to how to get water into that pool.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

How soon before the panic causes a full evacuation of places like Tokyo?

As the scale of the nuclear disaster unfolding at the stricken Fukushima’s nuclear plant begins to be finally realised, despite the Japanese government’s continued underplaying of the situation, mass evacuations are are underway with people fleeing Tokyo and North Eastern areas of the country in order to avoid a toxic cloud of radiation heading their way.

China became the first government to issue a mass evacuation order of all its citizens from the entire north east of Japan late last night.

Citing “the seriousness of and uncertainty surrounding the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant at present”, the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo announced that it would be sending buses to evacuate all Chinese nationals from the Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki and Iwate prefectures.

There are thought to be over 22 thousand Chinese nationals working in those areas. Those that are bussed out will be flown out of the country via China Southern Airlines on huge 272 seater jets.

Austria followed suit by announcing it would be moving its embassy from Tokyo to Osaka, over 250 miles (400 kilometers) away, due to radiation concerns. France and Finland have also urged their citizens to leave Tokyo and either move to the South of Japan or get out of the country altogether.

The Czech military has reportedly sent in planes to evacuate its nationals, While Russia says it is preparing to remove all of its soldiers and civilians from the Kuril islands, which are disputed with Japan.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

As the scale of the nuclear disaster unfolding at the stricken Fukushima’s nuclear plant begins to be finally realised, despite the Japanese government’s continued underplaying of the situation, mass evacuations are are underway with people fleeing Tokyo and North Eastern areas of the country in order to avoid a toxic cloud of radiation heading their way.

Wouldn't trust an article from PrisonPlanet farther than I can throw it. Maybe even less far.

 

[David Wolfson]

Well, now they're thinking outside a harmful radiation zone, since otherwise they'd just drop a hose into it. What engineering geniuses decided to put open spent-fuel pools near the top and outside the main containment? Oi.

 

[Greg Campbell]

Aaron:
Pretty good write up:
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/1...e-explanation/

Greg:
Where's the 'Thanks' button? That's the first coherent writeup I've seen.
Without going off on a big rant, I'm very discouraged by the mainstream 'news' media's coverage.

(Edit)

Upon further review, it's clear the author GREATLY over reached his knowledge, drawing conclusions from thin air.

The article's authoratative tone swayed me far more than it should have.
"There's always some idiot on the interwebs that will be happy to tell you what you want to hear."