Major Japan Earthquake!

[warchild]

very awesome.. thanks SrG.. much appreciated

[Kiwikat]

Dreadful...I have no words since watching the helicopter footage of the tsunami destroying the coastline and zooming in on individual pedestrians and drivers without knowing if they survived.

Same here. It felt so wrong watching it. I had goosebumps and felt sick to my stomach. I fear the worst for the death toll. That was a bad quake.

[Allen]

It dosn't sound good.... The have an radioactive material leak at a nuke plant and one of the cores maybe melting down. Meltdown is not conformed.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/76992.html

[deathfromafar]

There are multiple reports that Cesium has been detected outside of the plant. If this is true, that is not a good sign.

[wombat666]

There are multiple reports that Cesium has been detected outside of the plant. If this is true, that is not a good sign.

As usual, the 'Sensationalist Media' have screwed up again.

First and foremost, evacuation of citizens in proximity to Nuclear Power Facilities is STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE.
Japan has the most advanced and comprehensive Earthquake disaster and warning system in place of ANY nation on the planet due to their past experiences, which includes the possible damage to Nuclear Facilities.
Of the four reactors in the effected plant all have shut down automatically, as is standard procedure in Japan.
One (as in '1') reactor has a problem with raised temperatures as the diesel backup generator for its water cooling has shut down due to site flooding.
As of 17:50 AEDST this has been contained.
'Meltdown' will not take place.

The 'Media Person' radiation leakage reporting raised the subject with a specialist from the Nuclear Energy Environment and Safety Group (we do have an independent one here in Oz) only to be told that if one were to stand at the gates of this facility for fifty (as in '50') days the radiation exposure would be below the level of a chest X-ray.

Japan has a first class disaster response team in the Nuclear Energy field, their primary function is to ensure suppression of ANY plant damage, which has been assisted (so I believe) by a swiftly deployed support team from the US.
These plants will take months to come back on line, primarily due to water damaged infrastructure, but the prospects of the much touted 'Nuclear Disaster' by the 'Media' have been all but eliminated.

At this point in time, after shocks are expected to cause greater problems, as they will continue, diminishing in scale of course, but that scale is proportionate, so the next is expected to be in the high 7 range, followed by lower numbers in the 7's and so on down through the entire Richter scale.
It appears set to be an ongoing and perhaps even worse situation, given the vast number of homeless and missing.

A footnote:
In a sad twist of fate, a Japanese S&R team working in Christchurch (NZ) for the past two weeks have been recalled to their homeland to face the same task on a much larger scale.

[deathfromafar]

A local group of 50 American Nuclear Engineer Specialists from the GE/Hitachi Facility at Castle Hayne, North Carolina were on site at Fukushima Daiichi at the time of the Earthquake & subsequent tsunami impact. The lead engineers reported by phone to local media that the tsunami flooding has completely submerged the diesel generators at the plant and that those units are unrecoverable and that only the emergency backup pumps(battery powered) were available. Also, most of the pump intakes are fouled by mud and debris from the floods.

They also stated as fact that both Cesium and Iodine were detected outside of the containment protected area and that control room #1 was seriously contaminated. They continued to say that it is believed that a portion of #1 reactor's fuel was fully exposed due to low water coolant levels and that those fuel segments and perhaps more are believed to have melted down. They indicated that the full extent of the damage is not fully known at this time and that the crisis may not be over as the Chief Japanese Nuclear Authorities are concerned that any portion of the fuel that may have melted and may now be out of range of the Boron Control Rod effectiveness and thus at risk of uncontrolled reaction & heat/pressure generation.

They stressed it is too early to claim both the extent of the damage or that all danger has subsided.

[wombat666]

A local group of 50 American Nuclear Engineer Specialists from the GE/Hitachi Facility at Castle Hayne, North Carolina were on site at Fukushima Daiichi at the time of the Earthquake & subsequent tsunami impact. The lead engineers reported by phone to local media that the tsunami flooding has completely submerged the diesel generators at the plant and that those units are unrecoverable and that only the emergency backup pumps(battery powered) were available. Also, most of the pump intakes are fouled by mud and debris from the floods.

They also stated as fact that both Cesium and Iodine were detected outside of the containment protected area and that control room #1 was seriously contaminated. They continued to say that it is believed that a portion of #1 reactor's fuel was fully exposed due to low water coolant levels and that those fuel segments and perhaps more are believed to have melted down. They indicated that the full extent of the damage is not fully known at this time and that the crisis may not be over as the Chief Japanese Nuclear Authorities are concerned that any portion of the fuel that may have melted and may now be out of range of the Boron Control Rod effectiveness and thus at risk of uncontrolled reaction & heat/pressure generation.

They stressed it is too early to claim both the extent of the damage or that all danger has subsided.

And the source of this information is where??????

[deathfromafar]

UPDATE: Major Explosion has occurred at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant.
Video: Watch frames at 0:47 in the video. Not sure what the hell blew but some reports say the explosion happened at 0800GMT



Edit, CNN is now reporting the explosion as well. Also take note at frames 0:49 to 0:52, it appears that a large black roof section was blown up into the air and back down.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapc...japan.nuclear/

[Allen]

"Public broadcaster NHK and Jiji report the outer structure of the building that houses the reactor has blown off."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...?section=world

[deathfromafar]

This doesn't look good. Since the video surfaced, many news reports are saying that reactor #1 building was destroyed and that the containment is breached. The Japanese Govt confirms the explosion but says it does not know further details at this time. The IAEA is now involved in the crisis. Some nuclear engineers have weighed in on TV discussions here and seemed to agree that the video showed the containment structure of reactor #1 being destroyed in the explosion and that the roof is clearly seen being blown off.

"The U.N. nuclear watchdog said it is aware of media reports of an explosion on Saturday at Japan’s Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant and is urgently seeking information from the country’s authorities.
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An official at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Vienna-based U.N. atom body, gave no further details.

Jiji news agency said there had been an explosion at the stricken 40-year-old Daiichi 1 reactor and TV footage showed vapor rising from the plant, which lies 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

Japanese media said an explosion blew the roof off the reactor, raising fears of a disastrous meltdown at a nuclear plant damaged in the massive earthquake that hit Japan.

“We are aware of the media reports and we are urgently seeking further information,” the IAEA official told Reuters.

The blast came as plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) worked desperately to reduce pressures in the core of the reactor that, if not contained, could lead to a release of radiation into the atmosphere.

Nuclear expert Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said an explosion would be a “physical shock” to the plant that could increase the danger of a breach of the containment and of radioactivity getting out.

“We don’t have any information from inside the plant. That is the problem in this case,” he said.

“If it melts down the probability that there would be a breach or that radiation would get outside of the plant because of weakness of the structure of the plant ... is much greater,” Hibbs said.

Explosion confirmed

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano confirmed on Saturday there has been an explosion and radiation leakage at the plant. "

[Stratobat]

Just heard on the radio that people in the general area have been told to stay indoors.

Regards,
Stratobat

[deathfromafar]

Confirmed, the containment of Reactor #1 was destroyed in the blast

Photos:
Attachment 33068Attachment 33069

[Rami]

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those in Japan or who have family there. Prayers also go to past earthquake victims of th last couple of years, including Chile and New Zealand.

Prayers also go out to those close to or who work in those nuclear reactor sites.

[igacci]

Right now, the gov spokesperson told that the nuclear reactor is not in critical situation (though, there is low level leak of radio-active material.)

The video of the building blown off was casused by an explosion of leaked hydrogen mixed with atmospheric oxygen, according to the spokesperson said.
The cause of hydrogen leak is not specified yet.

Residents within the 20km radius (13 miles?) from the nuclear plant is evacuating just to be safe.
Engineers and JDF's mechanics are now trying to settle down the situation.
The utomost-worst case is avoided for the mean time.

Regards

Daisuke

[Francois]

I know officials said 'not to worry' when Chernobyl was ablaze.... just sayin'

[PRB]

This is how the news media, trying to disseminate information, sometimes makes things worse. They have a “nuclear expert” on the phone, commenting on the explosion. He says: “As I understand it, this explosion was caused by gas inside the core, but the containment is made of steel and concrete and was not breeched, so (blah, blah, blah…” Of course, given that “the containment” contains (hopefully) “the core”, that statement is contradictory and makes no sense, and at best can only cause confusion.
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Then he was asked about the Japanese government’s decision to start handing out iodine. He answer best I can recall, was: “Umm, well, iodine is used to, in terms of, for helping to, um, it’s to help, radiation, for to help in eliminate, in terms of, it’s better for, and in terms of exposure, for the radiation.”
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You gotta love experts, in terms of answers to questions.

[Ferry_vO]

Impressive set of photos over at Boston.com's The Big Picture:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/201...its_japan.html

[txnetcop]

I have a retired college professor friend and his family that lives near that nuclear facility and have not been able to get in touch with him by phone or SKYPE...worried!
Ted

[Francois]

Ted, he's probably on the move. I too have some friends in Japan (Tokyo and Nakayima areas) and haven't had replies. I guess most people are busy with other things right now.. but yes, it does make you worried.

[Allen]

Had to get some sleep. I see it did not go full meltdown.

[deathfromafar]

Japan's NSA has confirmed the partial meltdown of the reactor and that initial reports are, 1 fatality and 3 acute radiation exposure injuries. The latest official reports are that engineers are pumping sea water and boric acid into the reactor vessel and that the total process could take 10 days to cool the fuel in the damaged core to a static safety state.

Looking at the damage photos, my immediate concern is that with an explosion of that magnitude which instantly disintegrated thousands of tons of steel and concrete, how much damage has occurred to the cooling/exchanger piping systems and valves/valve actuators which may inhibit the ability to pump in coolant? In scenario, it is possible for the fuel to melt and do so out of proximity of the control rod range of effectiveness. If that occurs, it is quite possible for further meltdown and core exposure which would immediately react to open atmosphere and begin to burn & release massive amounts of radioactive particles/gas.

Hopefully, the damage is not severe enough to prevent the water & boric acid being added and the 10 day window for permanent cooldown can be met.

It's still too early to call where/how this situation will go. We all hope for the best as the situation and future for the people of Japan is very sadly & already bleak.

[Allen]

Well if this is the meltdown, lets hope it better than 3 Mile and pray it never close to Chernobyl.

Edit: Damitsomuch.....

"The emergency cooling system is no longer functioning at the No.3 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7EB02D20110312

[Dangerousdave26]

Looks like at this point they are assuming they had a meltdown in Reactor 1 and they believe the same will happen to reactor 3.

This is looking like it will be far worse than any of the past incidents.

[W. Bleddyn]

I know this is irrelevant in the circumstance and I would not bother posting this on a non-flight forum, but I think people here will find this sad.





These are images of Matsushima Air Field, which besides obviously being an active base with a collection of vintage aircraft, is also the home to the Blue Impulse display team. No word on their planes being present or damaged.

Like I said, small potatoes compared to meltdowns and thousands of people still missing but it is a small sadness in it's own way.

[Ickie]

They just said on CNN that the whole Island of Japan moved 6-8 even 10 feet, I think this may be a big problem with GPS and other nav equipment.