Increadibly sad, hoping
Agreed
Agreed, incrediibly sad and scary. I read earlier today that they were actually pouring sea water onto the fuel rods to cool them down, I believe that may have caused an explosion. They have also been releasing steam filled radiation to relieve the pressure. Definitely thoughts and prayers to all the people in Japan and specifically those near the nuclear power plants, hope they can somehow stop them from a meltdown.
HAIL TO THE VICTORS VALIANT, HAIL TO THE CONQUERING HEROES!
clarification
Pouring sea water into the reactor probably indirectly did cause the explosion, but it was necessary. When water is in the presence of a strong radiation field, it undergoes a process called radiolysis, which separates some of the water into it's oxygen and hydrogen components. Hydrogen gas is explosive. However, it is of utmost important to keep the nuclear reactor covered in water, as this is the only way to remove enough heat to prevent a meltdown. The ventilation system is likely down, so the most likely scenario to cause the explosion was a buildup of hydrogen gas. The explosion did not breach the containment vessel where the reactor is housed.
However, the use of sea water probably tells us one thing: it's doubtful that they are trying to salvage the reactor for future use at this point. This measure likely means the reactor will have to be decommissioned once everything is under control.
This is absolutely
This is absolutely right.
The tsunami most likely knocked out the power source to the nuclear facility. As such, the cooling system would be inoperable, unless there was another power source (battery, generator, etc).
As the material decays, it generates heat, thereby increasing the temperature and pressure in the reactor. These are the two biggest problems going forward. During a shutdown, all the valves and steam pipes are shut to prevent a release. They could, at times, open the pipes to let off some pressure or work to power the cooling system again. Unless a power source was restored, the heat and pressure will continue to rise.
I haven't read the news reports, but sea water would be used to cool the reactor down. Doing so, however, would ruin the equipment in the primary containment and make it so it was inoperable in the future.
My guess is that their procedures are pretty conservative and that they declare an emergency and evacuate very early in the process, which is very good.
derek?
derek?
Bo?
Bo?
Andy?
Andy Sp_____?
not just "douchey" MGoBlog user, but now TRUSTED MGoBlog user
Timmmaay?
Timmmaay?
"I have long thought that anyone who does not regularly - or ever - gaze up and see the wonder and glory of a dark night sky filled with countless stars loses a sense of their fundamental connectedness to the universe."
Earlier in the day,
Earlier in the day, everything was looking ok at these reactors.
I wonder what changed.
Is it just me, or is there a huge number of big quakes happening lately?
As a Pac NW resident, I'm worried.
Most dont realize it but this is an extremely reactive area thats likely to see a major incident in the next 50 years.
Anyways, our prayers are with those in Japan.
Those Who Stay...
Fluid situations...
... I can only imagine the absolute chaos in Japan right now, so I'm not surprised, though worried, the information has changed. We can only wait and hope for the best.
Do Something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn't, do something else.
As a History Channel lover,
As a History Channel lover, I've seen plenty about the Super Volcano beneath Yellowstone. With that baby overdue to go off, I'm hoping all of these earthquakes don't have anything to do with its activity.
"Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football."
-John Heisman
That's terrifying. This might
That's terrifying. This might be a stupid question, but how far will the radiation reach? Is all of Japan in big trouble if the worst happens?
Michigan: 903–315–36 (Best in NCAA)
vs Ohio State: 58-44-6
vs Notre Dame: 23-16-1
vs MSU: 68-32-5
vs B1G: 522-197-24
vs SEC: 20-8-1
vs PAC 12: 48-24-1
vs Big 12: 10-5-1<
Depends on the Weather
If there are no winds the fallout will remain 'relativly' localized. But, high winds will blow any radioactive material that is in the air over a much wider area, any rain that picks up the material will fall on and contaminate the ground, so hope for calm winds...
As of right now, I don't
As of right now, I don't think any significant radiation is making it to the atmosphere. But if it does, it depends on how bad the situation gets and what the weather is doing at the time. Small amounts of radiation are most likely going to be reaching all the way around the entire globe.
Are you a park ranger at Yellowstone? Say hi to Yogi Bear for me. - the_big_house 500th
I may not be a 70 year old man. - Herm
Japan is totally fucked right
Japan is totally fucked right now. I used to live three hours north of Sendai and that's all farm land in those northern prefectures. The tsunami wiped out spring planting, fucked the land for at least this year, and up around Aomori Prefecture, it's still zero, snowing, and no power nor heat. There's no good way to get up north so if anyone is trapped in collapsed buildings and is still alive, they're gonna be stuck for at least a week before S&R gets there.
Yikes
How about Tokyo? Are they doing okay?
Yeah the damage in Tokyo was minimal
The only real problem in Toyko is that they have lost power, the train systems have been shut down and the highways are closed. So really the biggest problem is people trying to get anywhere, lots of people stranded. As far as I know no buildings are highways collapsed and thankfully the tsunami didn't reach the city.
HAIL TO THE VICTORS VALIANT, HAIL TO THE CONQUERING HEROES!
The *good* news is...
that Japan uses, I believe, light water reactors. It's a different beast than the reactor in Chernobyl. Apparently, the effects of a meltdown are significantly less with light water reactors.
dispersion models!
IF there is a meltdown AND loss of containment, there will be a significant release of radiation. weather is a huge factor, but it will spread regardless. there would probably be a measurable increase in radiation levels across a significant portion of the globe. however, no one outside the immediate vicinity of the reactor is likely to receive a significant radiation exposure. this gives you a bounding worse case scenario:
I hope everything turns out
I hope everything turns out all right and people stay safe.
Here's hoping for a bright future. This team does try hard and I will continue to support them.
Was watching CNN after I saw
Was watching CNN after I saw it on MSN. They had a guy on that said the radiation you get from a CT scan is 1000 times more then whats happening now.
Even if that is the case
No one lives in a CT scanner 24 hours per day.
The total dose you would
The total dose you would receive from a CT scan is far greater than the total dose you would receive from a radiation release, unless you were in the immediate vicinity (<20 miles) of the reactor. This isn't a dose rate comparison.
CT scans aren't exactly safe,
CT scans aren't exactly safe, anyway; so, you're saying that walking through and breathing the Japanese atmosphere right now is more safe than an unsafe thing? That's not especially informative.
"I have long thought that anyone who does not regularly - or ever - gaze up and see the wonder and glory of a dark night sky filled with countless stars loses a sense of their fundamental connectedness to the universe."
ignorance is unsafe
A single CT scan is not unsafe. Multiple CT scans clearly is an unneccessary exposure to radiation, but a single CT scan gives you roughly the same radiation dose as you get from natural background radiation each year (that's right, you're being irradiated right now, run for the bomb shelter!!!), which does not pose a quantifiable risk.
Furthermore, this is not a comparison between the dose RATE froma CT scan and the atmosphere in Japan. This is a comparison of the TOTAL dose you would receive.
Hopefully they can cool the reactor!
Still a partial meltdown and sea water is being pumped in! If there's a total meltdown and the radiation stays below the tropopause we could see some radiation contamination here in the US. May be by the time it makes it across the pacific it will be in the stratosphere.
expect the best
It's only a matter of time
Until godZilla come.
Too soon?
posted from iPhone
Second thought and more reading - too soon! No edit on iPhone! My bad, neg as req'd
Dude...
Japan is suffering through a disaster of biblical proportions, a disaster many of us will never see again in our lifetime.
The time for jokes is not now.
Flush twice - it's a long way to Columbus.
Biblical?
3 of 90 tested positive, they will lose less than 1 percent of the people lost in Haiti or Indonesia tsunami. Not the time for jokes but definitely not the time for hyperbole.
While there may not be as many lives
While there may not be as many lives lost in Japan as there was in Haiti or Indonesia, this could definitely be a disaster of biblical proportions. The area hit is probably 15 times more populated, three different nuclear power plants are on the verge of a meltdown, and a shit load of there farmland and crops are under water. I wouldn't be surprised when more time passes by that tens of thousands of people have lost their lives. So while biblical proportions be a little to strong, it is very likely we may never see another disaster like this in our lifetimes. Unless the world breaks out in nuclear war, which for the sake of the world I hope never happens, especially since i'm in the military and i'd probably be in the middle of it.
HAIL TO THE VICTORS VALIANT, HAIL TO THE CONQUERING HEROES!
For starters, never say
For starters, never say never. Japan will likely see far fewer deaths simply due to their infrastructure being designed to handle earthquakes. Nothing is designed for a 8.9, but even at that most buildings are built in hopes of with standing just about anything.
The nuclear plant is not under going a full melt down mode as of yet. When the concrete trucks start rolling in then it is time to freak out a bit. Hopefully this situation will be fixed as power is restored and they can begin to focus on the clean up effort.
Edit: Upon reading the latest news, I would have to agree with the rest of you, this is definitely the worst natural disaster of my life time. I was trying to be on the optimistic side of things but this is really awful for the people of Japan.
I am not sure you guys understand
Death tolls in japan are about 1000 right now, let's just say they get to 2000 for some reason. 1976 Tangshan earthquake in china was reported by the Chinese government to have killed over 242,000 people, which most people know was a lie with expert numbers around 650,000. Haiti last year killed 316,000 and Indonesia was 230,000. Surely your lifetimes are longer than 4 years by know. It is very sad that any lives were lost, but seriuosly we are talking about a very large population that as well prepared for this happening both on a personal and infrastructural level. And don't give me any "cost of damages" numbers.
[T]he police chief of badly
[T]he police chief of badly hit Miyagi Prefecture, north of Fukushima, said the death toll was certain to exceed 10,000 in his district alone.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/japan-tsunami/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503051&ob...
"[T]here were a lot of people predicting glorious heights for Rich; mostly the same people who are predicting doom and gloom [for Hoke]. Excuse me if I doubt their prognostication skills." -- M-Wolverine
I agree that the Haitian
I agree that the Haitian earthquake was worse than this. In proportional terms, Japan would have to lose a couple million people to equal that population loss, to say nothing of the fact that Haiti simply doesn't have the money to rebuild. But this is still really, really bad.
It's only a partial meltdown
It's only a partial meltdown because the hydrogen bubble didn't explode, exposing the core like what happened in the 1986 accident at Cherynobyl. Without a doubt this is the most devastating national disaster I have witnessed.
I SAID "M" AS IN MANCY...
at 4:34am CNN reports
a partial meltdown has occured. What a shame. Nuclear power is the safest and cleanest power source. This will set the industry back 50 years. The Nuke free freaks will have a field day.
May God touch the soul of everyone affected by this disaster.
From the Red Cedar Message Board: "God hates us." Yes He does Lil Bro, yes he does. Everyone hates you.
In defense of the nuke free freaks...
The thing did just melt down.
But only after the largest
But only after a brutal tsunami following the largest earthquake in the recorded history of an area of the world known for earthquakes. I believe the original point here is that people will point to this as a reason not to build nuclear powerplants in, say, Nebraska, where an event like this is practically an impossibility.
Go Blue!
no
they don't know if a meltdown occured or not. and if it did, it was contained. how many people were killed by this meltdown? the same number that were killed by the three mile island meltdown: 0. how many people die in coal mines every year???
Thanks
for the question. I didnt think of that. Nuclear Power is a great source of energy. Although building them on a fault line may not be very smart.
From the Red Cedar Message Board: "God hates us." Yes He does Lil Bro, yes he does. Everyone hates you.
Solar
I'm not a "nuke free freak," but wouldn't you have to say that solar energy is the "safest and cleanest power source?"
yes
It certainly is, but technology is not advanced enough to make it practical for providing our base load power right now. As technology advances (especially storage efficiency), it will become more practical and cost-competitive, but we're still a ways off from that right now.
Solar power is very dirty
Solar power is very dirty once you factor in the pollution from the process of making making solar cells.
Great point K2
There are many different components to solar panels including plastics. Not very clean to process and manufacture this. We get lost in the hype sometimes
From the Red Cedar Message Board: "God hates us." Yes He does Lil Bro, yes he does. Everyone hates you.
Is it me
or does it not seem like these kind of devastating events are happening at a much higher clip than ever before. Granted, I have not been alive that long, longer than I would like to admit, but still not that long. But it just seems like devasating natural disasters are a once a year thing right now.
Well, as the population
Well, as the population continues to grow exponentially, these kinds of events will continue to seem even more devestating.
Via facebook, the only person I know who lives in Japan is ok, so I'm relieved. Still, Japan is going to need a lot of aid to recover from this.
Photography Facebook Page. Lots of Michigan sports photos. And planes, lots of planes:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barron-Photography/13379
The Earth's population isn't
The Earth's population isn't really growing exponentially anymore. It was about 30 years ago, but now it's just gradually trending upward overall (though a handful of countries are growing like crazy). However, the global population is urbanizing at unprecedented rates (about 50% of human beings now live in urban areas, for the first time ever), so natural disasters can have a greater toll if they strike the wrong place.
Thoughts and Prayers to everyone in Japan
Just read this morning the U.S. has mobilized humanitarian forces to get aid to Japan. We've sent a few nuclear experts, so hopefully they'll be able to help out with the power plant situations. Here's the link if you want to read on.
This is incredibly sad. I
This is incredibly sad. I can't imagine living through something so utterly devastating. My family and I are praying for those people.
Meanwhile, MSNBC, just as they were about to go to break showed another clip of that asshat Charlie Sheen. What a disgrace.
Increadibly sad, hoping everyone can stay safe.