Japan shook with 8.8 Quake and Hit By Tsunami

cheddar

stuwee wrote: »

I'm ready for it

You should start selling those hats. Could be the best thing since the $400 packs of potassium iodide on Amazon...

Jstas

A more local point of view:

http://slashdot.org/story/11/03/17/1424257/The-Quake-Through-Eyes-of-Slashdot-Japan

treitz3

I was at a nuclear site today to do some repairs and I'm wondering why people look green today...

JustinHEMI

cheddar wrote: »

These are not absolute levels, they are relative levels to whatever is being experienced in Japan. Based, I would guess on predicted wind dispersal patterns. So those blue areas on the graphic could be exposure at .1 times whatever the Japanese are getting, if I'm reading this correctly.

BTW, what is the maximum level a nuke plant is allowed to expose a non-worker to in a year? What is a 'safe' level of exposure in a year? Some reports use milliseiverts, some microseiverts, and I'm not sure that the reporters aren't getting the measures confused.

You mean the public? We don't dose the public.

You get about 300 mrem/year from the natural radiation.


For myself, being a control room worker, I get about an additional 50-100mrem/yr depending on what is going on (at Peach Bottom).

At my new plant, which is a PWR, I will get less than 10 mrem/year additional.


More good news... efforts to fill the spent full pool are working.

And, they've restored a diesel generator.

It appears, for now, that the worst is behind us.

Justin

Zeros

JustinHEMI wrote: »

You mean the public? We don't dose the public.

You get about 300 mrem/year from the natural radiation.


For myself, being a control room worker, I get about an additional 50-100mrem/yr depending on what is going on (at Peach Bottom).

At my new plant, which is a PWR, I will get less than 10 mrem/year additional.


More good news... efforts to fill the spent full pool are working.

And, they've restored a diesel generator.

It appears, for now, that the worst is behind us.

Justin

Is your new plant Three Mile Island 1?

Edit: Ah never mind, you are in Pitt. Beaver Valley maybe?

megasat16

It's nice to know things are under control so far and the worst may be behind us.

Are the new power lines installed and operations now? It'll be a turning point for this disaster.

I don't want to think or downplay about the US radiation exposure but we'll not even notice at this level. If you go to the beach and get yourself baked under the Sun in the Summer heat, it's more than what's coming our way. If we are getting serious and concerning level of radiation here, you can only imaging how worst that Japan has to be now.

JustinHEMI

Concrete puts out more radiation that this so called "plume."

Anyway, Zeros, that is correct... Beaver Valley unit 2.

Justin

Polkersince85

The radium painted numbers on my old 1928 Big Ben alarm clock is more dangerous than what the west coast will receive. Love that green glow.

Sounds like they may have turned the corner on this situation. Maybe the refugees in the area can get the attention from the world now. They are in dire straits in some areas.

megasat16

The operators and workers (Japanese or any other nationalities) battling this nuke crisis deserves a great respect by us all!

While I understand it's their duty to do what they are doing but their bravery and sacrifices are just as heroic as the fire fighters from NY responding to 9/11 tragedy.

And it is now bothering my mind coz why on earth the most developed countries like the U.S and Japan don't have robotic and drones available to do the front line work for one of the most dangerous jobs on this planet?

We have robotics / cybernetics / drones in almost everywhere from picking orders to installations, bomb sniffing, space shuttles maintenance, aerial survelliance and even undersea construction and maintenance.

So, it can't be right that the breathing living beings made with flesh and bones have to be in the front line of defense to battle with the most lethal power of all.

Of coz, I am not saying to TRUST the robotics and human programming to do the important decision making and control the situation. It's up to the humans to do such critical decisions. But robots / drones can be deployed to the dangerous areas where radiation is fatal to human beings.

Or I am just blind not to see a single robot/drone deployed in this disaster to do any of the most dangerous work such as monitoring radiation and accessing damage to the structural works of the reactors, etc?

JustinHEMI

Here is some good news from NISA:

Cable installation to receive electricity from the transmission line of
Tohoku Electric Power Company. Schedule to be connected to Unit 2
after the completion of discharge work. (17:30 March 17th)
・ Emergency Diesel Generator (1 unit) for Unit 6 operable. Supplying
electricity to Unit 5 and 6. Water injection to Spent Fuel Pool through
the Make up Water Condensate System (MUWC) progressing. Schedule
to inject water to the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) after the recovery of
external power source.

Justin

cheddar

Great news. Units 5 and 6 should have most if not all of their systems intact. And unit 2 seems to be the least structurally damaged of the remaining units. So hopefully stabilizing these will allow them to concentrate on bringing the others under control. I just hope the main cooling systems are functional enough in the rest so that bringing the power back on line makes a big difference.

cheddar

megasat16 wrote: »

Or I am just blind not to see a single robot/drone deployed in this disaster to do any of the most dangerous work such as monitoring radiation and accessing damage to the structural works of the reactors, etc?

I believe that we have supplied a military drone to survey the reactor area. And we've also supplied radiation monitoring pods affixed to aircraft to monitor radiation in a wider area. But the work many of these humans are doing is back breaking and requires constant adaptation to problems they never anticipated. It's the out of the box problem solving that requires the most human sacrifice.

When this is over, I'd rather see them put resources into removing some of the design problems at these plants. (Present in our USA ones as well.) An obvious one being the storage of old cores in open pools right next to the reactor housings. If those pools weren't there, not only the radiation danger to the public, but the radiation danger to the workers would be greatly decreased.

JustinHEMI

cheddar wrote: »

I believe that we have supplied a military drone to survey the reactor area. And we've also supplied radiation monitoring pods affixed to aircraft to monitor radiation in a wider area. But the work many of these humans are doing is back breaking and requires constant adaptation to problems they never anticipated. It's the out of the box problem solving that requires the most human sacrifice.

When this is over, I'd rather see them put resources into removing some of the design problems at these plants. (Present in our USA ones as well.) An obvious one being the storage of old cores in open pools right next to the reactor housings. If those pools weren't there, not only the radiation danger to the public, but the radiation danger to the workers would be greatly decreased.

Done. Open Yucca Mountain.

Justin

fatchowmein

Please remember that. I want this message to reach even just one more person. Everyone at the power plant is battling on, without running away.

Insider blog. Removed but was hacked and translated by The Straits Times Online.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_646210.html

cheddar

JustinHEMI wrote: »

Done. Open Yucca Mountain.

Justin

Somehow I think there's going to have to be a lot of political garbage to go along with these design changes as well. But at least the public now knows the dangers we face if we don't move on some of these issues.

mrbigbluelight

fatchowmein wrote: »

Insider blog. Removed but was hacked and translated by The Straits Times Online.
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_646210.html

Bushido. Right before your eyes. Awesome.

Jstas

Crazy video from a dashcam of a car getting hit by the tsunami wave.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Cpt0WKZI9D8&quot; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Fireman32

Wow thats insane. I could not even imagine being in that car.

dkg999

I would of been taking a hard left to get the bow of the ship (ie my former car!) headed with the direction of the wave! That's of course right after I changed my shorts!

exalted512

I would have not been driving next to the coast line when a bunch of tsunami warnings were going off...
-Cody

Polkersince85

That would make a good Rainex commercial. Notice he didn't even have to use his wipers. He was lucky to not get drawn into the sea.

Danny Tse

Polkersince85 wrote: »

He was lucky to not get drawn into the sea.

Or had his/her car flipped over (under water)

megasat16

I don't think anyone in the hard hitting area really had time to run from Tsunami. Even if you are driving on the roads near the coastal area, you won't likely have time to change route and drive away from the raging water. It's scary to see that water suddenly surrounded your car and lift you up like you are sitting inside a plastic bag.

On another note, this is pretty cool radiation suite.

http://news.yahoo.com/video#video=24573433

Justin, will this suite work for you guys?

bobman1235

megasat16 wrote: »

I don't think anyone in the hard hitting area really had time to run from Tsunami. Even if you are driving on the roads near the coastal area, you won't likely have time to change route and drive away from the raging water.

There was about an hour between the earthquake and the tsunami.

Ron-P

bobman1235 wrote: »

There was about an hour between the earthquake and the tsunami.

But, was there a warning of an impending tsunami right after the quake? I don't think so.

cheddar

Ron-P wrote: »

But, was there a warning of an impending tsunami right after the quake? I don't think so.

I believe residents in the hardest hit areas had maybe 15 minutes of warning. Japan's early warning systems are among the most advanced in the world. You can even get earthquake warnings on cell phones. Although only a few seconds to a few minutes before because the energy travels so fast.

megasat16

A survivor found in the rubble after 8th days since the earthquake.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110319/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_earthquake_rescue

bobman1235

Ron-P wrote: »

But, was there a warning of an impending tsunami right after the quake? I don't think so.

Oh, really? I kind of assumed that in that area of the world earthquake always meant tsunami. Had no idea there was little warning. I stand corrected.

cheddar

15 minutes of warning should have been enough to get away from the sand on the beach even by foot. But maybe not clear of the complete flood zone unless you panicked early and went for the hills as fast as you could in a car. That area of Japan isn't like Texas. It's not completely flat. The elevation rises very quickly. That's why the nuclear reactors in Fukushima are so isolated and hard to get to at the coast. My guess is that in Japan, like in this country, people have very short memories of disaster and thought they had more time and were safer than was actually the case.

But you can't look at the giant sea walls every day and not know that earthquake is almost synonymous with tsunami. They did have that good hour to think about the tsunami that was coming. And even the smallest town and village, even if only a few thousand in population, has town wide PA systems and sirens. And they work because they are often used for town wide morning physical fitness broadcasts. Even in the smallest towns, they have disaster drills.

megasat16

megasat16 wrote: »

A survivor found in the rubble after 8th days since the earthquake.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110319/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_earthquake_rescue

Damn media. False alarm. And they got me.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110319/wl_nm/us_japan_survivor