TSUNAMI WARNING ISSUED FOR JAPAN, RUSSIA AND OTHER REGIONS

[jfchandler]

Lite Beer posted this CNN item as a link above, but it deserves to be fully shown here... not just linked...

[9:54 p.m. ET, 11:54 a.m. Tokyo] A meltdown may have occurred at at least one nuclear power reactor in Japan, the country's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, said Sunday.

He also said that authorities are concerned over the possibility of another meltdown at a second reactor.

"We do believe that there is a possibility that meltdown has occurred. It is inside the reactor. We can't see. However, we are assuming that a meltdown has occurred," he said of the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility. "And with reactor No. 3, we are also assuming that the possibility of a meltdown as we carry out measures."

Edano's comments confirm an earlier report from an official with Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, who said, "we see the possibility of a meltdown."

A meltdown is a catastrophic failure of the reactor core, with a potential for widespread radiation release. However, Toshihiro Bannai, director of the agency's international affairs office, expressed confidence that efforts to control the crisis would be successful.

Edited March 13, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

And more from CNN's running blog....which now seems to contain a lot of good updates:

[8:47 p.m. ET, 10:47 a.m. Tokyo] A state of emergency has been declared for three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Roughly 180,000 people who live within 10 to 20 kilometers of the Daiichi plant are being evacuated.

[7:40 p.m. ET, 9:40 a.m. Tokyo] Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday that another reactor of its Fukushima nuclear power plants had lost its cooling functions, Kyodo News reports. The utility supplier notified the government Sunday morning that the No. 3 reactor at the No. 1 Fukushima plant had lost the ability to cool the reactor core. The reactor is now in the process of releasing radioactive steam, top government spokesman Yukio Edano said, according to Kyodo News.

It was the sixth reactor overall at the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plants to undergo cooling failure since the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami struck Japan on Friday.

[6:45 p.m. ET, 8:45 a.m. Tokyo] 15 more people in the vicinity of Fukushima Daiichi's nuclear power plants have been exposed to radioactivity, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency has confirmed, according to Kyodo News.

[Lite Beer]

Safety confirmed of passengers, staff on 5 trains that had been out of contact with JR East/RT@DailyYomiuri

[jfchandler]

By way of context, the VOA article that LiteBeer linked to in post #549 on the prior thread page had some good info from American nuclear experts...

Nuclear energy analyst Robert Alvarez of the Institute for Policy Studies says there are many things we do not know about the failure, including whether the containment structure is fully intact. "The information that has been made public, particularly by the Japanese nuclear safety authorities, certainly indicate that radioactive elements from the fuel itself have escaped and entered the environment. And even if the reactor maintains its integrity, there's a possibility that things like open relief valves on the top of the reactor and things like that may still release large amounts of radioactivity," he said.

Ken Bergeron, a physicist who formerly worked for Sandia National Laboratories, says a so-called station blackout - which involves the loss of both off-site electricity and on-site backup power from diesel generators - is viewed in the nuclear industry as extremely unlikely. But he says it happened.

"So we're in uncharted territory. We're in the land where probability says we shouldn't be. And we're hoping that all of the barriers to release of radioactivity will not fail," he said.

He said the first barrier, the so-called fuel cladding that covers the reactor rods, has apparently failed, which he says is shown by the release of radiation into the atmosphere.

Crews are pumping a mixture of seawater and boron to cool the reactor, and these experts say it is essential to keep the water flowing for several days. Analyst Alvarez called the use of seawater a "Hail Mary pass", a term from American football meaning an act of desperation. But he said that with enough water pumped at sufficient volume and rate, the reactor can be stabilized.

[Lite Beer]

Fukushima nuclear plant was tested to withstand 7.9 quake, not 8.9 /RT@BreakingNews

[jfchandler]

And from the CNN blog:

[4:57 p.m. ET, 6:57 a.m. Tokyo] Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea were closed on Saturday to carry out emergency safety checks, Kyodo News reports. The operator said the closure will probably last about 10 days.

[Tywais]

The site boundary · 500μSv / h were measured over the (12th 15:29).

To put this into perspective: The average exposure per year due to background and man-made radiation for an individual is 3.6mSv or 3600uSv (varies between countries and regions). This comes out to .41 uSv/hour putting the above over 1200 times normal.

For acute (that is, received in a relatively short time, up to about one hour) full body equivalent dose, 1 Sv causes nausea, 2-5 Sv causes epilation or hair loss, hemorrhage and will cause death in many cases. More than 3 Sv will lead to LD 50/30 or death in 50% of cases within 30 days, and over 6 Sv survival is unlikely.

1Sv = 1000 mSv = 1,000,000 uSv

Ioninzing Radiation

[elcent]

a reason they wait as long as possible to inject sea water, is that the minute you do that, the reactor is basically a write-off. The #1 reactor was scheduled to be decommissioned already, so that was a no-brainer, with the #3 reactor they will try everything else first.

Added: About the partial meltdown: apparently the water level dropped below the top part of the fuel rods, causing them to start melting. Nothing unstoppable until the reactor runs dry and the whole thing turns into hot radioactive molten sludge. Like I mentioned above, releasing all pressure, dousing the whole thing in seawater and add boric acid will keep things under control, but it will never be a reactor again afterwards.

These things aren't built overnight and their power is needed to keep the country running, so you don't want to destroy them but as a last option.

Thanks, I understand this point of view, but cooling it with sea-water would have the same effect as boric acid. - The reactor would never be up again. This is talked about since more than 12 hours.

The problems seem to be with the injection of sea-water and boric acid.

I guess, they are just waiting and trying to delay a full meltdown as long as possible.

[sirchai]

Update from Tokyo

Sunday morning in Japan, 3rd day after the big earthquake

Still having aftershocks up to 5 in magnitude.

These are very nerve racking as you never know it it will be a big one again.

It will take time before it settles down on the quake front

Hundred of victims, hundreds more still waiting in precarious and dangerous location to be rescued.

More than a million people are without water, food, electricity, gasoline and it is still winter especially cold near the affected areas.

In Tokyo life is slowly returning to some normality, at least in Tokyo and further south, we have water, food, electricity, gas. gasoline.

We start seeing panic buying though.

The biggest unknown is the nuclear risk. They are doing all they can but as I said yesterday from what we are told it looks like we are not getting the full picture yet

My friend who lives inland 90km north of Tokyo had some of his roof tiles thrown and broken by the strength of the quake. He managed to climb on the roof and cover the holes with plastic sheets waiting for it to be repaired hoping the rain announced for Monday evening will not damage the house,

He does not have electricity and no water so no mobile charging possible but his fixed telephone line is working intermittently .

At least he is alive and has some food to last.

He has also a source of fresh water from the side of the mountain 15 minutes walking from home

As there is no electricity impossible to get gasoline from the station pumps nor eating oil. Shops are not open.

We wish you and everybody there good luck. Can't you get a 12 Volt charger to charge your phone in your car? (Cigarette lighter) Please take care. Chock Dee!!!!!!!!!

Edited March 13, 2011 by sirchai

[powderpuff]

How do you "delay" a meltdown by waiting?

[jfchandler]

It's quite an interesting issue....about what actually caused the system failures at Fukushima....

The normal electrical power went out (as it did over much of the heavily quake hit areas), and that brought down their normal systems.D

Then, Japanese media has been reporting the Daichi plant has/had 13 diesel generators (not sure if they meant reactor 1 only that's had the most problems, or 13 for all 6 reactors there) and supposedly ALL of those generators failed...

I'd really like to know/hear some explanation sometime of exactly how that kind of circumstance could happen. Surely they had some redundancy element built into their backup generators setup... But....???

Fukushima nuclear plant was tested to withstand 7.9 quake, not 8.9 /RT@BreakingNews

[george]

BREAKING NEWS:

Meltdown likely under way at Japan nuclear reactor

For nuclear reactor related news, please continue here:

For tsunami related news and comments feel free to continue in this existing thread!

Thanks!

[elcent]

How do you "delay" a meltdown by waiting?

I think somehow they are able to manage a little progress in cooling just to be followed by another set-back.

Narita airport scenes. Minus 3 degree C in the morning outside

[jfchandler]

Good explanation Tywais.... I think yesterday was the first time in my life I ever heard the term "milliSievert." Had to look it up after one of the TEPCO reports used the term "mSv"...

So Sv is a sievert, mSv is a milliSievert... What's the name for "uSv"???

1Sv = 1000 mSv = 1,000,000 uSv

Ioninzing Radiation

[elcent]

Good explanation Tywais.... I think yesterday was the first time in my life I ever heard the term "milliSievert." Had to look it up after one of the TEPCO reports used the term "mSv"...

So Sv is a sievert, mSv is a milliSievert... What's the name for "uSv"???

1Sv = 1000 mSv = 1,000,000 uSv

Ioninzing Radiation

μSv - micro sievert - must bee that

[jfchandler]

OK.. Thank you George... I'll officially move all my future reactor stuff over to the other thread....

Saw that hint yesterday, but it didn't seem to take....

BREAKING NEWS:

Meltdown likely under way at Japan nuclear reactor

For nuclear reactor related news, please continue here:

http://www.thaivisa....uclear-reactor/

For tsunami related news and comments feel free to continue in this existing thread!

Thanks!

[Tywais]

So Sv is a sievert, mSv is a milliSievert... What's the name for "uSv"???

micro-Sievert or 1 millionth of a Sievert. I work in nuclear physics for about 40 years but being American normally use REM, mRem and uRem so have to think a bit about the relationship between the two units. You know, like kg/lbs meters/feet.

[elcent]

AFP says the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, where a second reactor system is overheating, says there is a risk of a second explosion. We'll keep you updated right here.

[Lite Beer]

We are finally getting to look at the damage near Sendai Airport. It is a stunning scene. Planes and cars are under water./RT@daiwaka

[Lite Beer]

Whole towns gone--no cars or people seen

My linkhttp://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=17872&sec=1

[Lite Beer]

Kyodo: April local elections to be put off in quake-hit regions/RT@mpoppel

[PST]

Look carefully at around 9 seconds towards the top right of the picture nearer the bigger white grow tents.

There appears to be an airborne object (with shadow) travelling as fast,if not faster than the tsunami,coming from top to bottom of the picture.

After a few more looks at this,there looks as if they're are 2 more coming from further left,again travelling at great speeds.

Strange.

PST.

Edited March 13, 2011 by PST

[Lite Beer]

Fukushima rated a 4 on the nuclear emergency scale, Chernobyl a 7. RT @nytimesworld Nuclear Emergency Worst in Decades http://nyti.ms/fZ9faw/RT@markmackinnon

[Lite Beer]

A wave approaches Miyako City from the Heigawa estuary in Iwate Prefecture after the magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck the area March 11, 2011. (Reuters)

http://producermatthew.com/post/3824534318/a-wave-approaches-miyako-city-from-the-heigawa

[Lite Beer]

Quake moved Japan by 8 feet: USGS

WASHINGTON - Japan's recent massive earthquake, one of the largest ever recorded, appears to have moved the island by about eight feet (2.4 meters), the US Geological Survey said Saturday.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/03/13/11/quake-moved-japan-8-feet-usgs?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[Lite Beer]

Most gas stations on road from Tokyo to Fukushima are either closed or have lines hundreds of cars long./RT@markmackinnon

[Lite Beer]

This is still Japan - long queues for petrol, a nuclear emergency unfolding nearby, and no one so much as honking their horn./RT@markmackinnon

[Lite Beer]

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese police say they have found another 200 bodies in quake-hit coastal areas./RT@mpoppel

[canuckamuck]

Look carefully at around 9 seconds towards the top right of the picture nearer the bigger white grow tents.

There appears to be an airborne object (with shadow) travelling as fast,if not faster than the tsunami,coming from top to bottom of the picture.

After a few more looks at this,there looks as if they're are 2 more coming from further left,again travelling at great speeds.

Strange.

PST.

sea gulls

[brahmburgers]

Just speculation, but there was the big quake at Christchurch last week, now the much larger quake alongside Japan. Perhaps there will be a big one further north, going up the 'Ring of Fire' - near Russia's Sakhalin Island (in a week's time) perhaps?