The earthquake was pretty big and looong (or so it seemed) even where I'm at. No problemsin my place but a couple of stupid people in the barracks who had huge TV's (1 was 60") on bookshelves came home from work to a broken TV.
But anyway... the tsunami situation is pretty bad. Not here, but I'm sure I'm gonna feel it in the form of produce prices skyrocketing!
Just broke my personal record for number of consecutive days without dying!
> The earthquake was pretty big and looong (or so it seemed) even where I'm at. No > problemsin my place but a couple of stupid people in the barracks who had huge TV's > (1 was 60") on bookshelves came home from work to a broken TV. > > But anyway... the tsunami situation is pretty bad. Not here, but I'm sure I'm gonna > feel it in the form of produce prices skyrocketing!
Just starting to see the footage of the aftermath on TV over here in Oz at the moment. It's only on the ABC, and SBS. The main commercial stations aren't showing any footage, as it's probably too far to get their morning show hosts into the fray to act concerned, and cry fake tears. Some of the footage is quite terrifying. My familys' wishes are with everybody over there.
> The earthquake was pretty big and looong (or so it seemed) even where I'm at. No > problemsin my place but a couple of stupid people in the barracks who had huge TV's > (1 was 60") on bookshelves came home from work to a broken TV. > > But anyway... the tsunami situation is pretty bad. Not here, but I'm sure I'm gonna > feel it in the form of produce prices skyrocketing!
Holy Shit. I thought you were referring to the 7.0 the other day.
I was just reading something the other night about a guy who predicted th last major quake in New Zealand getting all twitchy about something "massive". I'm going to put that guy on speed dial...
> > The earthquake was pretty big and looong (or so it seemed) even where I'm at. No > > problemsin my place but a couple of stupid people in the barracks who had huge TV's > > (1 was 60") on bookshelves came home from work to a broken TV. > > > > But anyway... the tsunami situation is pretty bad. Not here, but I'm sure I'm gonna > > feel it in the form of produce prices skyrocketing! > > Just starting to see the footage of the aftermath on TV over here in Oz at the > moment. It's only on the ABC, and SBS. The main commercial stations aren't showing > any footage, as it's probably too far to get their morning show hosts into the fray > to act concerned, and cry fake tears. Some of the footage is quite terrifying. My > familys' wishes are with everybody over there.
Plenty of coverage on Channel 7, 10, 9, etc tonight.
Good luck over there to all MAMErs in Japan and families. Stay safe.
> The earthquake was pretty big and looong (or so it seemed) even where I'm at. No > problemsin my place but a couple of stupid people in the barracks who had huge TV's > (1 was 60") on bookshelves came home from work to a broken TV. > > But anyway... the tsunami situation is pretty bad. Not here, but I'm sure I'm gonna > feel it in the form of produce prices skyrocketing!
Oh God, you can see cars in the second video driving along roads while the wall of water and debris comes at them. I can't even imagine what it must be like, seeing that coming at you.
> Oh God, you can see cars in the second video driving along roads while the wall of > water and debris comes at them. I can't even imagine what it must be like, seeing > that coming at you.
Didn't hear about it until I got to work. (Not a morning person, barely make it to the car fully clothed some days.) The first thing I said when told was, "You are fucking with me."
If anyone in the US knows of a better charity than the Red Cross to donate to the relief efforts through give us a link, 'eh?
Well consider that I was at work when it happened, and I work at a market-making house. You aren't watching a TV - you're watching a trading screen. The first thing you notice isn't, "Oh shit, earthquake in Japan!" but "Nikkei 225 has gone nuts!" and adjust what you're doing accordingly. My ability to house and feed my family depends on making money at work.
When I saw the news videos later I was saddened. One thing that stood out to me was just the state of panic the people were in. There was a piece of video showing people trying to escape the tsunami in their cars. But they were just driving randomly. Some of them were driving towards the approaching wave. Then when they realised, they were trying to turn around in an orderly fashion, rather than just driving off the road. When panic sets in, your brain just stops thinking logically.
> Didn't hear about it until I got to work. (Not a morning person, barely make it to > the car fully clothed some days.) The first thing I said when told was, "You are > fucking with me." > > If anyone in the US knows of a better charity than the Red Cross to donate to the > relief efforts through give us a link, 'eh?
I've been lead to believe that the Dumping Union is undergoing an effort to relief Japan of some rare arcade boards.
> Japan has nuclear reactors on a known fault line. So does the USA. In fact multiple > reactors on fault lines. > > Numerous other American reactors sit on or near earthquake faults. > > > Does this strike anyone as a particularly "doh!" moment ? Or suicidal or insane in > any way ?
30 seconds in. First collapse I've ever seen to create a shockwave.
Sorry boys, time to suck up the pride and call a spade a spade. Take pride in the fact that had this happened in any other country, there wouldn't be a reactor standing. It's gone, get the hell outta there.
A volcano as well ?! Now all we need is aliens to invade and Godzilla to come out of the ocean (awoken by the radiation from the reactors, u know).
> There was a piece of video showing people > trying to escape the tsunami in their cars. But they were just driving randomly. Some > of them were driving towards the approaching wave. Then when they realised, they were > trying to turn around in an orderly fashion, rather than just driving off the road. > When panic sets in, your brain just stops thinking logically.
Reminds of Dante's Peak where the Brosnan character drives across that river (using his engine breathing tube) and those folks follow him (with cars not fitted with engine breathing tube). Plus the bit where he goes apeshit and just drives straight into that mine in order to escape the pyroclastic cloud. Fiction of course but who can tell how anyone is really going to behave in this kind of thing ?
When the Iceland volcano went off I was convinced we were all going to be poisoned by fumes from the volcano and that the government were covering it up. Looked a bit deeper and found out that is was very unlikely. Still, having had some of my training in this esteemed bin I've decided that being loony / crazy / mad boosts my survival chances by a large percentage.
> > Japan has nuclear reactors on a known fault line. So does the USA. In fact multiple > > reactors on fault lines. > > > > Numerous other American reactors sit on or near earthquake faults. > > > > > > Does this strike anyone as a particularly "doh!" moment ? Or suicidal or insane in > > any way ? > > 30 seconds in. First collapse I've ever seen to create a shockwave. > > http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.nuclear/index.html?hpt=T1 > > Sorry boys, time to suck up the pride and call a spade a spade. Take pride in the > fact that had this happened in any other country, there wouldn't be a reactor > standing. It's gone, get the hell outta there.
Whoa there, Hoss:
"Officials say the explosion was caused by hydrogen interacting with oxygen outside the reactor. The hydrogen was formed when the superheated fuel rods came in contact with water being poured over the reactor to cool it and prevent a meltdown."
I have a theory. The people who failed to blow us away in the Cold War with nukes. They lobbied to have all nuclear reactors placed on active fault zones. Problem solved.
> > Whoa there, Hoss: > > "Officials say the explosion was caused by hydrogen interacting with oxygen outside > the reactor. The hydrogen was formed when the superheated fuel rods came in contact > with water being poured over the reactor to cool it and prevent a meltdown." > > http://www.scpr.org/news/2011/03/12/officials-monitor-radiation-after-blast-reactor/
They had been calling it a collapse most of the night, changed their tune a few hours later. You've got to wonder about containment now, after setting off a poor mans H-bomb just outside your reactor core.
I get it, coolant system isn't functioning properly. Gotta vent steam. Just curious why they aren't able to (or have decided to) scram it. Now they have a bigger issue.
> I get it, coolant system isn't functioning properly. Gotta vent steam. Just curious > why they aren't able to (or have decided to) scram it. Now they have a bigger issue.
Trouble is, it's a first-gen BWR - it was designed before the term SCRAM was coined. They've fully inserted all control rods (as you would in a SCRAM). This happened automatically when the vibration sensors were tripped. It can't generate any electrical power in this state, but the core still generates considerable heat. It needs external power to continue cooling the core. There are on-site diesel generators to supply this, but the earthquake damaged them. I think the USAF lent them some choppers to airlift in generators from elsewhere. Other aspects of the first-gen BWR design are also becoming problematic: low primary coolant capacity, hydrogen-generating reactions with control rods, and lack of secondary containment. Kind of sucks to be early adopters with this stuff.
I was shocked when I heard that they had problems with their backup generators.
I worked in a US nuke plant back in the early nineties. The plant was built in the sixties. It had 6 diesel locomotive engines for backup power. They did maintenance on three engines at a time so that there were always at least 3 available for emergencies. Each engine was in a separate building with reinforced concrete walls that were 5 feet thick. All normal access had to be from inside the building. It only had limited access from the outside through a 4x4-foot opening that was normally sealed with huge steel hatches bolted on both sides of the opening. There was no way in hell the engines could get flooded because the rooms were considered part of RCA (Radiologically Controlled Area) and the room was water and air tight to the outside. I'm not exactly sure where air came in and exhaust went out, but I'm sure it was probably on the roof somewhere and would be well above tsunami levels even though the plant was in a location that would never experience a tsunami.
When they designed the buildings that housed the generators in for that nuke plant, did they consider a potential tsunami? Also, that site has 6 reactors, they should have had generator redundancy out the wazoo. The only way I can fathom that all the generators got flooded is if there was come major negligence on the part of the people who planned and built the place.
> When they designed the buildings that housed the generators in for that nuke plant, > did they consider a potential tsunami?
I'm sure they would have. There are massive rock walls and a harbour built in front of each of the plants. I don't think the Tsunami hit the nuke plants ? I haven't seen any film of this, and the grounds and roads around the plants (that I have seen on TV / YouTube / etc) look spotlessly clean - unlike the nearby towns.
As I understand things (and I could easily be wrong), the quake itself caused the shutdown / issues at the plant.
The current assessment is that this isn't yet as serious as Three Mile Island - but that can easily change. If the fuel isn't cooled, it will melt through the casing.
Even more frightening: One of the reactors also uses a uranium / plutonium fuel - and plutonium is one of the most frightening, toxic, and dangerous of substances.
>Also, that site has 6 reactors, they should > have had generator redundancy out the wazoo.
I agree. I cannot understand how this situation occured.
Even if all the first line pumps and generators were knocked out, there should have been levels of redundancy. Beyond all that, what about sticking some resovouirs of water ontop of nearby hills - just in case all of the pumps fail, all levels of the redundant pumps / generators fail, and the power grid is knocked out.
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