8.9 Magnitude Earthquake Hit Japan

[nissangirl74]

They just can't catch a break.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_bi_ge/ ... earthquake

The radioactivity in water in one unit of a hobbled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan has tested 10 million times higher than normal, the plant's operator said Sunday.

[themadscientist]

Don't forget all the seawater they pumped in. What happens when seawater evaporates? salt. It's all over everything and hampering efforts.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-24/worl ... s=PM:WORLD

Seawater has been used as an emergency measure after the tsunami that followed the March 11 earthquake left the plant crippled.

When salt water boils and evaporates, it leaves the salt behind. There are some concerns that those salt crystals could adhere to the fuel rods -- insulating them against future efforts to cool them, allowing the temperature to rise and possibly resulting in overheating.

[nissangirl74]

Another earthquake just hit. 6.5 magnitude

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/27/6- ... ry-issued/

[Amays U G37S]

Holy crap!!

[4cefed]

Don't forget all the seawater they pumped in. What happens when seawater evaporates? salt. It's all over everything and hampering efforts.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-24/worl ... s=PM:WORLD

Seawater has been used as an emergency measure after the tsunami that followed the March 11 earthquake left the plant crippled.

When salt water boils and evaporates, it leaves the salt behind. There are some concerns that those salt crystals could adhere to the fuel rods -- insulating them against future efforts to cool them, allowing the temperature to rise and possibly resulting in overheating.

I was wondering if that was going to be a problem. While many of the piping systems are stainless steel (at least over here) the vessel itself is carbon steel. My 240SX is made of carbon steel. Last time I checked, salt isn't good for my car. I wonder what the quasi-long term affects are going to be?

[nissangirl74]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_ear ... BsdXRvbmk-

Highly toxic plutonium is seeping from the damaged nuclear power plant in Japan's tsunami disaster zone into the soil outside, officials said Tuesday, heightening concerns about the expanding spread of radiation.

Officials said the traces of plutonium posed no immediate threat to public health. But the latest finding appeared to feed government frustration with TEPCO, which has failed to stem the crisis more than two weeks after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged the plant.

[asoomal]

Holy s***, this has to be the worst disaster caused by an earthquake.


Stay strong Japan.

[nissangirl74]

The battle continues. This man has devoted himself to the cause, knowing full well that the odds are that he won't survive or at the very least, he will never be the same.

Kohno told De Freytas that as a single man with no children, he felt obligated to answer the call and join the team that the media has dubbed the "Fukushima Fifty." Better that he face the risk, he explained, so as to spare his colleagues who have dependents counting on them. Besides, he added, the workers in the plant are his brothers and sisters, and he feels an allegiance to them.
"There's a Japanese expression: 'We eat from the same bowl.' These are friends I shared pain and laughter with. That's why I'm going," he explained to De Freytas.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookou ... e-his-life

[Dittoz7]

Looks like they just got hit again with a 7 something quake. DAMN IT!

[coupecrazy1232]

yeah i just saw that...

[szh]

There is another tsunami warning in effect.

Z

[ADDirishboy]

Holy crap. Japan just keeps getting raped by mother nature. This is terrible!

[Gold Digger]

Yeah. 7.4 magnitude quake in Miyagi prefecture. It was a 6 on the seismic scale here in Saitama, and it shook for about a minute or so. Kinda spooky. Thought it was going to be a repeat of the big one up north last month.

All is good here on my end.

[ADDirishboy]

All is good here on my end.

Good to hear man. How the hell do you guys sleep with this happening though? I would be scared to death to close my eyes with all this going on.

[nissangirl74]

It's been a month since the initial quake. This is far from over though. There were four quakes / aftershocks just today. Also, this:

Japan raised the severity of its nuclear crisis to the highest level on Tuesday, putting it on a par with the world's worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in 1986 because of the amount of radiation released into the air and sea.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110412/wl_ ... JhaXNlc24-

[Gold Digger]

Quakes have seem to become the daily norm now. Had a pretty decent one this morning about 11:20am. Quick little shake, 5 second pause then it just started shaking. Not sure what the magnitude was. It was in Tochigi prefecture.

It's been pretty hectic over here with all the quakes. We had 3 decent ones in one day last week.

[snwbrdr435]

Bump

Another fire at the reactor

http://theintelhub.com/2011/05/08/massi ... -8th-2011/

[themadscientist]

crap.

[snwbrdr435]

None of the news networks have even mentioned this.

Which i wonder why, the site i linked is also not the most credible source just throwin that out there

[alms24sebring]

saw that thing on Discovery about Japan. Pretty good.

[nissangirl74]

Thought I would post this up. it's really sad that these people still aren't getting what they need to rebuild their lives.

Here's an excerpt:
"On a recovery scale of zero to 10, some parts of Ishinomaki are at zero and some are at one," says the city's mayor, Hiroshi Kameyama. "Nowhere is better than that."
Across the disaster-hit region nearly 100,000 people are still sleeping on the floor in gymnasiums, schools, and community centers. Only half of the 52,000 temporary homes that the government requested have been built. Businesses starved of funds by the lack of a government aid budget – held up in a fractious parliament – are paralyzed. Unemployment rates here have soared to four times the national average.
Some observers blame the size of the tsunami for the slow progress. "The damage is so severe it is beyond the capacity of Japan to mend" without help, says Sayako Nogiwa, an aid worker who is now running operations in the earthquake zone for the nongovernmental organization Association for Aid and Relief.

http://news.yahoo.com/japans-tsunami-re ... 00282.html

Can Neal and Mike chime in here and give us an update on the recovery?

[Razi]

Damn that is horrible.

[themadscientist]

Starting to look like Japan's version of Katrina x10.

[Gold Digger]

Thought I would post this up. it's really sad that these people still aren't getting what they need to rebuild their lives.

Here's an excerpt:
"On a recovery scale of zero to 10, some parts of Ishinomaki are at zero and some are at one," says the city's mayor, Hiroshi Kameyama. "Nowhere is better than that."
Across the disaster-hit region nearly 100,000 people are still sleeping on the floor in gymnasiums, schools, and community centers. Only half of the 52,000 temporary homes that the government requested have been built. Businesses starved of funds by the lack of a government aid budget – held up in a fractious parliament – are paralyzed. Unemployment rates here have soared to four times the national average.
Some observers blame the size of the tsunami for the slow progress. "The damage is so severe it is beyond the capacity of Japan to mend" without help, says Sayako Nogiwa, an aid worker who is now running operations in the earthquake zone for the nongovernmental organization Association for Aid and Relief.

http://news.yahoo.com/japans-tsunami-re ... 00282.html

Can Neal and Mike chime in here and give us an update on the recovery?

Don't know how much I can offer since most of what we get over here is mediated by the govn't. That, and I rarely get home in time to watch any of the news to have the wife tell me what's going on.

One thing I can offer from what she told me Wednesday night was apparently one of the areas that the govn't evacuated Fukushima residents too was just as high or higher in radiation levels, and apparently the govn't knew about it...

Also, the siting just across Naka river from me supposedly has a school where parents are requesting the topsoil be removed and replaced due to high levels of radiation.

No one is telling us little people what the radiation levels. I don't even know if our city is even monitoring it.

Not only this, but it seems the office of Prime Minister here in Japan is a game of f***ing musical chairs. Can't seem to keep anyone in the hotseat for more that about 18 months. 7 Prime Ministers in 6 years since Koizumi left...what a friggan disgrace.

[themadscientist]

makes you want to prescribe Ritalin to our government watching the Japanese government at work, don't it?