Japan: 9.0 Earthquake-Tsunami-Nuclear Reactor Status #4

[hockeymom]

Pressure in stricken Fukushima reactor begins to rise again as officials say they may have to douse it with water 'for months'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nt-Fukushima-nuclear-plant.html#ixzz1H9xru82Y


HUGE article.

How depressing. Another aspect of this is the amount of power that Japan gets from this plant and how they won't have that anymore. Where are they going to get power?

 

[Allusonz]

How depressing. Another aspect of this is the amount of power that Japan gets from this plant and how they won't have that anymore. Where are they going to get power?

IIRC when this first happened it was announced that there would be rolling outages for a month. I assume it will be much longer

 

[Quiche]

I read this article yesterday, (can you believe I didn't post it? lol) it has a bit about vending machines and the power they use that I found interesting...

Japan still struggling to restore power to cool down reactors

Excerpt:
Nearly 1 million homes remained without electricity in the quake zone, and rolling blackouts have been taking place elsewhere. As the threat of blackouts has intensified, one activist called on Japan to unplug millions of vending machines that dispense everything from hot corn soup to bouquets of flowers.

Japan has 5.5 million vending machines, each using as much power as an average household, said Canadian speechwriter and publicist John Harris, who is based in Japan's Chiba prefecture. Add that up, and it requires as much power as the entire capacity of the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant at a time when Japanese are being asked to conserve electricity, he said.

The nearly 1 million machines operated by Coca-Cola, which because they use both refrigeration and heating are the "biggest power hogs," are still running even as train service is curtailed, he said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-quake-main-20110319,0,1131441.story

 

[hockeymom]

Who knew that about vending machines?!! I'll have to tell my hubby if he wants to save on energy unplug the machines!

 

[JBean]

'Nothing can prepare you to witness this'

ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Pref. — It's a relatively minor incident that gets me. I'm at a gymnasium in central Ishinomaki photographing members of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) as they unload dozens of corpses from a truck. Each is wrapped in blankets, some with flowery designs far too cheerful for this occasion.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110320x1.html

Intense article... bless the efforts of those searching/recovering.

From your link:

The end of my time in the region is marked by a much-needed story of hope. Among the ruins back in Ishinomaki I am accosted by a bespectacled, middle-aged lady dressed in a blue surgeon's apron and rubber boots.
Yoko Nasa leads me across the most incredible site of devastation imaginable, to first point to where she had found the body of an elderly lady "crying tears of blood" in the rubble, and then to her husband's relatively undamaged gynecology clinic.
"Here, at 2.46 p.m. on March 11, just as the quake hit," she says, "a baby boy was born." What's more, mother and child survived the quake and the subsequent tsunami.

 

[dsntslp]

Is 'duck and cover' still the best we can do?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/20/greene.radiation/index.html?hpt=C2

I remember these safety drills.
As a five year old child, watching those videos and then being told to hide under the desk in school, it was terrifying. Even at five I knew, they would not be teaching us that stuff, if there were not a chance of us being bombed.

 

[coastal]

Quiche, don't you ever sleep?
Don't make me add you to my list of things to worry about!

:slap:

Thanks again for keeping me informed.

 

[not_my_kids]

Is 'duck and cover' still the best we can do?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/20/greene.radiation/index.html?hpt=C2

I remember these safety drills.
As a five year old child, watching those videos and then being told to hide under the desk in school, it was terrifying. Even at five I knew, they would not be teaching us that stuff, if there were not a chance of us being bombed.

We had those drills in school too. For us, it was for tornadoes. Not kidding, the exact same protective pose for bombing drills and for tornadoes...that's a bit disturbing in itself.

 

[Quiche]

Quiche, don't you ever sleep?
Don't make me add you to my list of things to worry about!

:slap:

Thanks again for keeping me informed.

I'm fine, lol-- I got a full eight hours last night! :countsheep:

 

[Niner]

This is the week we are supposed to have the big one here in SoCal, starting to day I believe.(according to the ring of fire theory)
My earthquake alert app just told me there was a small quake in southern Alaska, so are things moving around the Ring of Fire?
Just food for thought is all.

I hope the theory is wrong; the last thing your state needs is a major earthquake. Sending good thoughts and prayers your way! rayer:

only 6 more days to go... (from geologist prediction) kay:

 

[JBean]

only 6 more days to go... (from geologist prediction) kay:

One of my sons lives in a very rural area of San Diego county. I sent him home with an earthquake backpack last night. I have handed him this same backpack no less than 5 or 6 times in the past and he always "forgets" it. Last night he took it without hesitation. LOL.
So, this press has been good for something because he should have these supplies anyway.

 

[JBean]

Desperation tests taboo on theft after Japan tsunami



KAMAISHI, Japan — Isolated reports of looting by desperate tsunami survivors have emerged in Japan, whose people have been widely applauded for their discipline in the face of appalling adversity.
Other countries have noted with admiration, and some envy, the almost total absence of social disorder following the massive March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that has left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing.

snip

But now, more than a week after the tsunami hit, police say some incidents of looting and theft are being reported from battered and abandoned homes and stores.
The phenomenon is rare in Japan, a country where police crack down hard on petty crime and residents are rewarded with a finder's fee for returning lost or stolen items. Tales of misplaced wallets being returned are legendary
http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...ocId=CNG.1411cd01df64d8f14a45e3962493fb9a.321

 

[Penelope]

We had those drills in school too. For us, it was for tornadoes. Not kidding, the exact same protective pose for bombing drills and for tornadoes...that's a bit disturbing in itself.

I grew up on Long Island, about 35 miles from New York City during the height of the Cold War. In the mid to late 60's we had these kind of drills in elementary school. We even had ID tags that hung on a hook in the classroom (aka dog tags?!) that we had to quickly put on. We had various drills that called for us to hide under our desks, or stand/crouch down facing the wall in the school hallways. We even had one dubbed "the go home drill" where we would actually have to quickly get out of the school and run home in groups!!

It was frightening, because as you became older and more aware, you realized that if we were not killed in the initial bomb blast we would probably be killed by the nuclear fallout or radiation.

I was a pretty sensitive child and was terrified by all of this. I remember telling myself that I did not ever want to have children because I could not imagine having my children grow up in such a world. Years later, I suffered from lots of anxiety-- and I have stepchildren but have never given birth to a child. (Sometimes I wonder if it was because of such things still remembered from my childhood.)

I wonder in the years to come how Japan's earthquake, tsunami and this threat of nuclear meltdown will affect those young children who have lived though it.

 

[not_my_kids]

Desperation tests taboo on theft after Japan tsunami



KAMAISHI, Japan — Isolated reports of looting by desperate tsunami survivors have emerged in Japan, whose people have been widely applauded for their discipline in the face of appalling adversity.
Other countries have noted with admiration, and some envy, the almost total absence of social disorder following the massive March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that has left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing.

snip

But now, more than a week after the tsunami hit, police say some incidents of looting and theft are being reported from battered and abandoned homes and stores.
The phenomenon is rare in Japan, a country where police crack down hard on petty crime and residents are rewarded with a finder's fee for returning lost or stolen items. Tales of misplaced wallets being returned are legendary
http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...ocId=CNG.1411cd01df64d8f14a45e3962493fb9a.321

I can't exactly say that I blame them. I'd likely be looting by now too.

 

[Quiche]

Really quiet on the earthquake front right now...

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/

 

[not_my_kids]

I grew up on Long Island, about 35 miles from New York City during the height of the Cold War. In the mid to late 60's we had these kind of drills in elementary school. We even had ID tags that hung on a hook in the classroom (aka dog tags?!) that we had to quickly put on. We had various drills that called for us to hide under our desks, or stand/crouch down facing the wall in the school hallways. We even had one dubbed "the go home drill" where we would actually have to quickly get out of the school and run home in groups!!

It was frightening, because as you became older and more aware, you realized that if we were not killed in the initial bomb blast we would probably be killed by the nuclear fallout or radiation.

I was a pretty sensitive child and was terrified by all of this. I remember telling myself that I did not ever want to have children because I could not imagine having my children grow up in such a world. Years later, I suffered from lots of anxiety-- and I have stepchildren but have never given birth to a child. (Sometimes I wonder if it was because of such things still remembered from my childhood.)

I wonder in the years to come how Japan's earthquake, tsunami and this threat of nuclear meltdown will affect those young children who have lived though it.

There was one child in my class in school that I am sure was scarred for life by these drills, he had spina bifida, and could neither get under his desk or crouch against the wall. And of course, they never told us they were drills until it was all over, so for all we knew, there was an F5 twister bearing down on us. The best they could do for him was to let him lay flat on the floor behind the teachers desk, and I could always tell that he panicked, but he was a boy...and you know how boys are. I've always wondered how many others there were like him that had to watch their classmates take cover and know that if something did happen, they were essentially screwed.

I'm sorry that you were one of the ones that was horribly affected. I was always the kid that ended up holding someone's hand and whispering calming things during the drills. I didn't catch on till later that they might not have been solely for tornadoes. We live in an area that at the time was nothing but GM factories. Factories that could be easily commissioned in times of war. Factories that if we were at war or under threat might make a pretty good target. And we are only about 60 miles from Detroit, which is chock full of factories of the same type. Only when I got older did I wonder why we never ran to the basement for tornado drills.

 

[not_my_kids]

Discussing the impact of leaking radiation to the United States, Mr. Chu said Americans were “in no danger” and that “it’s unlikely they will be exposed to danger.”

In Japan, however, radiation contamination appears to be spreading. The government said Sunday that it is barring all shipments of milk from Fukushima Prefecture and all shipments of spinach from Ibaraki Prefecture, after finding new cases of above-normal levels of radioactive elements in milk and several vegetables.

Higher-than-normal levels were detected in milk from 4 of 37 dairy farms in Fukushima, said Yoshifumi Kaji, the director of the food safety department’s inspection and safety division at Japan’s Health Ministry. Levels higher than deemed safe were also found in spinach grown in the neighboring Tsukuba Prefecture, as well as canola and chrysanthemum greens in two more prefectures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/world/asia/21japan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Um...not so comforted, really.

 

[not_my_kids]

Tepco was reluctant to use seawater because it worried about hurting its long-term investment in the complex, say people involved with the efforts. Seawater, which can render a nuclear reactor permanently inoperable, now is at the center of efforts to keep the plant under control.

Tepco "hesitated because it tried to protect its assets," said Akira Omoto, a former Tepco executive and a member of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission, an official advisory body involved in the effort to tame the plant. Both Tepco and government officials had good reason not to use saltwater, Mr. Omoto added. Early on, nuclear fuel rods were still under cooling water and undamaged, he said, adding, "it's understandable because injecting seawater into the fuel vessel renders it unusable."

Tepco spokesman Hiro Hasegawa said the company, "taking the safety of the whole plant into consideration, was trying to judge the appropriate timing to use seawater."

"This disaster is 60% man-made," said one government official. "They failed in their initial response. It's like Tepco dropped and lost a 100 yen coin while trying to pick up a 10 yen coin."

Government efforts also were plagued with delays. Japan's military, the Self-Defense Forces, didn't participate in cool-down efforts in a big way until Wednesday, after four of the six reactors had suffered damage and the remaining two showed signs of heating as well. A military spokesman said forces didn't move in because they weren't requested by Tepco. A Tepco spokesman declined to comment on the issue specifically, saying in general the company is in contact with the government.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...12642629904.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_News_BlogsModule

 

[dsntslp]

"A military spokesman said forces didn't move in because they weren't requested by Tepco."

"Weren't requested by TEPCO" ???

Wouldn't it be their PM to request or order military intervention?

Who IS in charge over there?

I have obviously missed something important here...?

 

[Melanie]

One of my sons lives in a very rural area of San Diego county. I sent him home with an earthquake backpack last night. I have handed him this same backpack no less than 5 or 6 times in the past and he always "forgets" it. Last night he took it without hesitation. LOL.
So, this press has been good for something because he should have these supplies anyway.

That was so sweet! I'm glad to know he's alert about what could happen here. I've been busy restocking my earthquake kit too

Keeping fingers crossed that we all stay healthy and safe.

Mel