Massive quake hits off the coast of japan, causing tsunamis accross the pacific

[red]

magnitude 8.9 just off the coast of japan. hawaii and california are bracing for tsunami's. massive tsunami already hit the east coast of japan

[SkinBasket]

meh.

[Zool]

In the words of Tool "learn to swim"

[swede]

If you are on the beach and the water recedes suddenly, it would be smarter to run for high ground than call for your wife to bring the camcorder.

People need to learn this stuff.

[Deputy Nutz]

8.9 is pretty serious, I wonder how much damage to Japan?

[mraynrand]

I blame Brett Favre

[SkinBasket]

http://media.jsonline.com/images/375*287/TSUNAMI1-031111.jpg

I'm not fixing that.

[SkinBasket]

Here, this is better:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBt5VlZkdyY&feature=player_embedded

[SkinBasket]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyVJVLuUMMI&feature=player_embedded

[SkinBasket]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4w27IczOTk&feature=player_embedded

---------------------------------------------------

It's just a blob of dirty burning junk (like cars and homes and other crap) crawling across the country.

[SkinBasket]

Those are supposed to be two different videos, but for whatever fucking reason this cock snuggling forum won't do it right, so here's the fucking link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4w27IczOTk&feature=player_embedded

[Deputy Nutz]

Japan is fucked = USA fucked, they are going to want their money that we owe them.

[Deputy Nutz]

I hope my friend has a raft.

[HowardRoark]

Japan is fucked = USA fucked, they are going to want their money that we owe them.


Japan owes everybody...we look like a well run fiscal machine compard to them. mainly, they owe the old folks in Japan who buy their debt. And those old folks need their money now that they are retired.

Showing latest available data. Select another time period: Most recent 2003 2005 2006 2007 Rank Countries Amount Date
# 1 Zimbabwe: 218.2 % of GDP 2007
# 2 Lebanon: 186.6 % of GDP 2007
# 3 Japan: 170 % of GDP 2007
# 4 Jamaica: 126.5 % of GDP 2007
# 5 Sudan: 105.9 % of GDP 2007
# 6 Egypt: 105.8 % of GDP 2007
# 7 Italy: 104 % of GDP 2007
# 8 Singapore: 96.3 % of GDP 2007
# 9 Seychelles: 92.3 % of GDP 2007
# 10 Greece: 89.5 % of GDP 2007
# 11 Sri Lanka: 85.8 % of GDP 2007
# 12 Belgium: 84.6 % of GDP 2007
# 13 Norway: 83.1 % of GDP 2007
# 14 Israel: 80.6 % of GDP 2007
# 15 Côte d'Ivoire: 75.2 % of GDP 2007
# 16 Jordan: 72.4 % of GDP 2007
# 17 Morocco: 67.4 % of GDP 2007
# 18 Hungary: 67 % of GDP 2007
# 19 Germany: 64.9 % of GDP 2007
# 20 Uruguay: 64.8 % of GDP 2007
# 21 Canada: 64.2 % of GDP 2007
# 22 France: 63.9 % of GDP 2007
# 23 Portugal: 63.6 % of GDP 2007
# 24 Mauritius: 63.1 % of GDP 2007
# 25 Nicaragua: 62.9 % of GDP 2007
# 26 United States: 60.8 % of GDP 2007
# 27 Cyprus: 59.6 % of GDP 2007
# 28 Philippines: 59.5 % of GDP 2007
# 29 Austria: 59.1 % of GDP 2007
# 30 Argentina: 59 % of GDP 2007

[mraynrand]

Here, this is better:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBt5VlZkdyY&feature=player_embedded

GET THE FUCK OFF THE BRIDGE!!!!

[mraynrand]

Those are supposed to be two different videos, but for whatever fucking reason this cock snuggling forum won't do it right, so here's the fucking link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4w27IczOTk&feature=player_embedded

OH MY GOD. LOOK AT ALL THOSE CARS! GET OUT OF THERE!

[mraynrand]

Honest to God, I think I am going to be sick. I just saw 40 cars get swamped by that tsunami. Every last person in those cars is dead.

[Deputy Nutz]

Lots of people are dead.

[Little Whiskey]

numbers that i saw were 1000's dead.

also, on the radio today they were talking about japan being in debt 200% of GDP but most of that is to local investors, unlike Europe and Greece who owed other countries.

on a personal note A friend's son is a school teacher in Japan. luckily he is safe but has no place to live. crazy shit

[red]

first daylight pictures out of japan right now are very ugly. total destruction

there's also reports that that nuke plant is leaking radioactive air already before they wanted to vent the hot air. not good there

[Patler]

there's also reports that that nuke plant is leaking radioactive air already before they wanted to vent the hot air. not good there

Reports are that at least 5 of them are in trouble.

[red]

Reports are that at least 5 of them are in trouble.

i think 4 of those are ok, they were worried about them and shut them down but they are all right

the other one is having all kinds of problems. theres a leak, and the rods keep getting hotter and they can't get them cooled down

[HarveyWallbangers]

Sounds like it's one plant. The cooling system is failing and that could cause a meltdown, but they haven't gone to their emergency cooling system yet. Things could change.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/11/japan-issues-emergency-nuke-plant-leak/

It's not leaking radiation, per se. They are purposely releasing slightly radioactive vapor to lower the pressure to protect it from a possible meltdown, so the area immediately around the plant has higher levels of radiation.

It's all pretty confusing, but it doesn't appear a disaster is imminent. Now, if they go to the emergency cooling system and that fails, then shit will hit the fan.

[MJZiggy]

Sounds like it's one plant. The cooling system is failing and that could cause a meltdown, but they haven't gone to their emergency cooling system yet. Things could change.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/11/japan-issues-emergency-nuke-plant-leak/

It's not leaking radiation, per se. They are purposely releasing slightly radioactive vapor to lower the pressure to protect it from a possible meltdown, so the area immediately around the plant has higher levels of radiation.

It's all pretty confusing, but it doesn't appear a disaster is imminent. Now, if they go to the emergency cooling system and that fails, then shit will hit the fan.

Good god, when you read THIS and think to yourself well at least that's good news...that is incredible stuff. My kid and I were sitting here looking at the images on the Post and the AP video. Absolutely horrible.

[swede]

The only thing that could compound this disaster is to have to watch Kathy Griffin host a Tsunami benefit.

[HowardRoark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhJzdtzl6KY&feature=player_embedded

[HarveyWallbangers]

That's insane.

[Jimx29]

http://i53.tinypic.com/156zrt1.jpg

[red]

i'm pretty sure i'm shit myself if i saw a bunch of building moving like that

but that is exactly what they are suppose to do in an earthquake, if they didn't, they would have fallen

now we had an explosion at a nuke plant, that can't be good

[red]

they just announced that 9,500 people are missing in one of the areas

[Patler]

From this morning (3/12):


Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it lost control of pressure building at three reactors at one of its nuclear power plants, and radiation levels are rising at another after a powerful earthquake shut down the plants’ cooling systems.

They also intend to start venting at the second plant according to the article.

[Iron Mike]

I don't know why we worry about the Japanese when the tsunami is wreaking devastation here in the USA:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MDnlcbRMaQ

I hope that poor omg lady doesn't suffer any post-traumatic shock by seeing a wave in the bathtub.....maybe she can stick to showers.

[MJZiggy]

A tsunami wave is coming. Let's all stand right on the edge of the channel in case it washes over where we're standing.

[red]

I don't know why we worry about the Japanese when the tsunami is wreaking devastation here in the USA:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MDnlcbRMaQ

I hope that poor omg lady doesn't suffer any post-traumatic shock by seeing a wave in the bathtub.....maybe she can stick to showers.

wow, thats actually really impressive.

it just looks like any other 1 foot wave, but man that thing had some power

[red]

A tsunami wave is coming. Let's all stand right on the edge of the channel in case it washes over where we're standing.

natural selection

just sit back and watch the stupid people remove themselves from the gene pool

its a good thing ziggy

[MJZiggy]

natural selection

just sit back and watch the stupid people remove themselves from the gene pool

its a good thing ziggy

Point taken.

[mraynrand]

The only thing that could compound this disaster is to have to watch Kathy Griffin host a Tsunami benefit.

Kathy Lee Gifford has penned a radioactive tsunami song and is ready for a TV special, as soon as her plastic surgery scars heal:

http://www.medicinehatmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/kathie_lee_gifford_tag.jpg

That wave rolled in and shook the reactor,
Some nuclear children are in the hereafter,
Please won't you get out your Visa card,
Save the CHILDREN, it's not that hard....

Sung to the tune of "Mommy, I have a noble, happy, life-affirming dream" written by Kathy Lee and Regis for a cancelled TV special circa 1997.

[swede]

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this garment will be donated to various Children's Charities.

...to the tune of seventeen cents an hour to Hangzhou's finest charity, Diligent Young Peoples' Textile Cutters Factory #238.

[red]

does anyone else feel like people are way too calm over there? i mean, they have to know the worst is yet to come

i mean they had a massive earthquake fallowed by a nuclear power plant right next to the ocean leaking radiation

those folks should know more then anything else what will happen when you get radiation into the oceans around japanhttp://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/images/2008/11/23/godzilla1.jpg

[mraynrand]

Down goes reactor 1:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMEV-_X5b_8&feature=youtu.be

[wootah]

Incredible... I was in Japan last September and I must say they are extremely prepared for quakes, hence the skyskrapers with the flexible structures.

Latest reports still indicate multiple trains missing and apparently one village of 10k inhabitants that has been completely wiped away; there has been no sign of them.

Some of the videos online show the amazing force of the water:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqvsykuwh88

Edit: There are also problems with a 2nd reactor at the moment apparently.

[Iron Mike]

Whatever they do, STAY AWAY FROM THE MUSHROOMS!!!!!!!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9HQIhv7kBA4/SQVp62aQoeI/AAAAAAAAAsU/URfkUIJt0U4/s400/Matango2.jpg

[red]

and we now have a meltdown

cnn just reported that theres has been a statement released saying they believe a meltdown is underway

now this is the same place that also has another reactor if very bad shape. if there's a full blown meltdown, would that end any hopes of saving the other one too?

[Jimx29]

Here's a pic I snagged of FB tonight. Amazing the assholes out there. In particular, a "Jack Simmering" really takes the cake. I can't decide if he's really that stupid, or trying to be cute.

http://i54.tinypic.com/23ius2h.jpg

I just linked the URL because of the size of the pic:
http://i55.tinypic.com/20jgylw.jpg

[red]

Here's a pic I snagged of FB tonight. Amazing the assholes out there. In particular, a "Jack Simmering" really takes the cake. I can't decide if he's really that stupid, or trying to be cute.

http://i54.tinypic.com/23ius2h.jpg

I just linked the URL because of the size of the pic:
http://i55.tinypic.com/20jgylw.jpg

ummm, thats from animal house

"was it over when the germans bombed pearl harbor? hell no"

[red]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lT1o0sDwI

[Iron Mike]

http://cdn.ksk.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/sploosh.gif

[Scott Campbell]

With momentum building over the last decade for increased nuclear power development here in the US, it should be interesting to see how this plays out. Lots of lessons to be learned.

[red]

With momentum building over the last decade for increased nuclear power development here in the US, it should be interesting to see how this plays out. Lots of lessons to be learned.

well, this was a really massive earthquake, but i've also been wondering how this will affect the whole nuclear shift. this was a freak event. the massive quake didn't mess it up, it was the massive tsunami the fucked things up, which is something we usually don't have to worry about in most of the US

there's definitely things that can be taken away from this, like if you're going to build a new plant on the shore line in a tsunami prome area, then maybe you should build a big dike around it, or enclose it in a giant waterproof dome

[Little Whiskey]

With momentum building over the last decade for increased nuclear power development here in the US, it should be interesting to see how this plays out. Lots of lessons to be learned.

I was thinking the same thing. it was similar to when there was talk about increased drilling for domestic oil then the BP thing happened. you don't hear the talk anymore.

[Scott Campbell]

I was thinking the same thing. it was similar to when there was talk about increased drilling for domestic oil then the BP thing happened. you don't hear the talk anymore.


I'm oddly encouraged so far. If a 9.0 earthquake, a Tsunami and an explosion all happening close to simultaneously can't cause a catastrophic nuclear event, that bodes pretty well for the safety efforts of nuclear engineering.

[Jimx29]

ummm, thats from animal house

"was it over when the germans bombed pearl harbor? hell no"

good gawd.....i'm completely embarrassed for myself for over-thinking that line :doh:

Animal House is in my top 2 movies of all time.....yikes


There's also another collage of asshat posts, although i'm now suspecting that maybe people are creating/p-shopping these posts

http://urlybits.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Facebook-Japan-Tsunami.jpg

[MJZiggy]

People are stupid sometimes. If this were revenge for Pearl Harbor, imagine the revenge for Hiroshima? No revenge for Hitler? Shall we go back further? Revenge for slavery, how 'bout for slaughtering Indians? I think it had more to do with two of the earth's plates getting hung up and then breaking free of each other. Call me crazy...:crazy:

[wootah]

there's definitely things that can be taken away from this, like if you're going to build a new plant on the shore line in a tsunami prome area, then maybe you should build a big dike around it, or enclose it in a giant waterproof dome

The way I understood it, the problems aren't linked to a tsunami hitting the building, but rather to the tsunami messing up the water supply that was used for cooling. The fact that it's one a shoreline now is more an advantage than a disadvantage, since they can use the seawater for cooling purposes now as an alternative.

[pbmax]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/at-two-reactors-a-race-to-contain-meltdowns/2011/03/13/ABtdVDU_story.html

Reasonable rundown of current nuclear situation. My question: are they flooding the interior containment unit (the one closest to the nuclear fuel, the vessel surrounded by steel) with seawater or are they pumping seawater AROUND that vessel, in an outer containment vessel?

Because steam forming (causing pressure which need to be vented) means water is boiling away, and if the water boiling away is around the fuel rods and that water cannot be replaced, then it would seem a meltdown, even more than the partial meltdown that was reported, is very close to a reality.

[Scott Campbell]

Sounds like the spent fuel rods pool might be the graver risk than the reactor.

[pbmax]

Sounds like the spent fuel rods pool might be the graver risk than the reactor.

Yes, but that seems a theoretical risk right now. And if seawater can be continued to pump into the outside chamber, its sounds like those will be OK. What I would really like to know is if there are only a matter of hours before the water INSIDE the reactor chamber is boiled off.

One report I read said seawater used in the method they were employing would take ten days to bring temperatures down.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Sounds like the risk to the general public is being a bit overblown. Some by people that are opposed to nuclear energy.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576198421680697248.html


None of this amounts to "another Chernobyl." The Chernobyl reactor had two crucial design flaws. First, it used graphite (carbon) instead of water to "moderate" the neutrons, which makes possible the nuclear reaction. The graphite caught fire in April 1986 and burned for four days. Water does not catch fire.

Second, Chernobyl had no containment structure. When the graphite caught fire, it spouted a plume of radioactive smoke that spread across the globe. A containment structure would have both smothered the fire and contained the radioactivity.

If a meltdown does occur in Japan, it will be a disaster for the Tokyo Electric Power Company but not for the general public. Whatever steam releases occur will have a negligible impact. Researchers have spent 30 years trying to find health effects from the steam releases at Three Mile Island and have come up with nothing. With all the death, devastation and disease now threatening tens of thousands in Japan, it is trivializing and almost obscene to spend so much time worrying about damage to a nuclear reactor.

What the Japanese earthquake has proved is that even the oldest containment structures can withstand the impact of one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Things could change obviously, but there are safeguards for the Japanese nuclear power plants that weren't there for Chernobyl.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14health.html?_r=3&ref=science


Although several plant workers are ill from radioactive exposure in Japan, the radiation risk to the public appears low so far, experts said.

“At least as of now, what we’re looking at is rather more like Three Mile Island than Chernobyl,” said Dr. David J. Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University.

The radiation release from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, where the entire reactor blew up and vaporized its radioactive fuel, was about a million times the amount released from the partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979, he said. The Chernobyl accident led to an epidemic of thyroid cancer and increases in leukemia, he said.

But from Three Mile Island, Dr. Brenner said, “There is no evidence that anybody at all got sick, even decades later.”

[red]

The way I understood it, the problems aren't linked to a tsunami hitting the building, but rather to the tsunami messing up the water supply that was used for cooling. The fact that it's one a shoreline now is more an advantage than a disadvantage, since they can use the seawater for cooling purposes now as an alternative.

i don't think it was the water supply, its the pumping system that recirculates the water and keeps it cool. the pumps run of the regular energy that the plant supplies, they shut that down after the quake. then they went to the backup diesel generators to run the pumps, those were knocked out by the tsunami. they had a 3rd backup, batteries, but those only had a life of 8 hours.

my thinking is that in the future they should put those diesel generators way the hell up in some tower, so they are far away from any flooding risk. if those diesel generators had survived none of this would have happened i think

[red]

Things could change, but it sounds like the precautionary features of the Japanese nuclear power plants are much better than Chernobyl.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14health.html?_r=3&ref=science

not only that, but they were able to evacuate everyone that lived within like 15 miles of the place before anything serious happened. at chernobyl it happened in the middle of the night and the population had no idea the plant was about to blow

[HarveyWallbangers]

Didn't the Russian government try to hide what was going on? Unlike the Japanese government.

This picture is amazing.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/03/13/world/asia/20110313_JAPAN-slide-ACAK/20110313_JAPAN-slide-ACAK-jumbo.jpg

[red]

yes, they try and hide everything in russia. i think we detected all the radiation in the air with a satellite and called them to ask what was going on or else they never would have acknowledged it

[Scott Campbell]

i don't think it was the water supply, its the pumping system that recirculates the water and keeps it cool. the pumps run of the regular energy that the plant supplies, they shut that down after the quake. then they went to the backup diesel generators to run the pumps, those were knocked out by the tsunami. they had a 3rd backup, batteries, but those only had a life of 8 hours.

my thinking is that in the future they should put those diesel generators way the hell up in some tower, so they are far away from any flooding risk. if those diesel generators had survived none of this would have happened i think

That's exactly the kind of engineering design type stuff you learn in a disaster like this.

Though generators in a tower might be more susceptible to hurricanes and tornadoes. Maybe you need 2 sets of generators.

[pbmax]

Sounds like the risk to the general public is being a bit overblown. Some by people that are opposed to nuclear energy.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576198421680697248.html

Except that your excerpt fails to account for the melted fuel rods descending into the ground. Where radiation will be more problematic, localized and severe than steam.

Chernobyl, if I recall correctly, was an experimental design. This design is old and highly tested. Three Mile Island had a partial meltdown where partially liquefied fuel material collected in the bottom of the containment structure. A full meltdown, might compromise that structure more than occurred Three Mile Island.

And its worth noting that two of the external containment structures have already been damaged by explosions, so they are already partially compromised in the event of more steam release.

[pbmax]

Allow me to paraphrase from respected media industry leader The Hindustan Times:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Japan-battling-chain-reaction/Article1-673474.aspx


Reactor #2 now has a fully exposed core and the pump system failed. They are working to restore presently.

EDIT: I am way behind. NYTimes has Tokyo Electric saying that they got seawater back in. Fuel rods were exposed for several hours.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world/asia/15nuclear.html?hp

[pbmax]

People within a 20 km radius of the reactors are being told to stay indoors with a/c and ventilation off.

Dental X-Ray indeed (from Times story above), but still basically good news:


By Monday night, officials said that radiation readings around the plant reached 3,130 micro Sievert, the highest yet detected at the Daiichi facility since the quake and six times the legal limit. Radiation levels of that magnitude are considered elevated, but they are much lower than would be the case if one of the container vessels had been compromised.

[pbmax]

3rd explosion reported, Reactor 2, now they are three for three. This link makes a leap to worse than Three Mile Island, but its unclear how they confirmed a total meltdown other than a comment that it was impossible to rule it out. Haven't seen word whether the explosion was expected as part of a pressure release. Also unsure if water is still getting to the fuel rods.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8382139/Japan-crisis-third-explosion-raises-spectre-of-nuclear-nightmare.html

Water is being pumped in to No. 2, lending plausible that the steam release and subsequent explosion were planned.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/explosion+rocks+Japanese+nuclear+plant/4438546/story.html

[Scott Campbell]

I thought they could have a relatively safe "meltdown" as long as the containment facility wasn't breached.

[Patler]

i don't think it was the water supply, its the pumping system that recirculates the water and keeps it cool. the pumps run of the regular energy that the plant supplies, they shut that down after the quake. then they went to the backup diesel generators to run the pumps, those were knocked out by the tsunami. they had a 3rd backup, batteries, but those only had a life of 8 hours.

my thinking is that in the future they should put those diesel generators way the hell up in some tower, so they are far away from any flooding risk. if those diesel generators had survived none of this would have happened i think


That's exactly the kind of engineering design type stuff you learn in a disaster like this.

Though generators in a tower might be more susceptible to hurricanes and tornadoes. Maybe you need 2 sets of generators.


These are 40 year old reactors built with 50 year old technology. Current state of the art doesn't require pumps in the backup cooling systems. Cooling is based on convection flow, so will keep circulating without any source of external power at all.

[Scott Campbell]

These are 40 year old reactors built with 50 year old technology. Current state of the art doesn't require pumps in the backup cooling systems. Cooling is based on convection flow, so will keep circulating without any source of external power at all.


Outstanding.

They've proposed a nuke plant here in UT.

[pbmax]

I thought they could have a relatively safe "meltdown" as long as the containment facility wasn't breached.

Well, that is a matter of some conjecture. Chernobyl was entirely different and Three Mile Island has a partial meltdown. A full meltdown, fuels rods and control rods liquefied, burn very hot without cooling. Harv's article pointed out that a normally functioning reactor operates just over 500 degrees. But an uncooled one can get well past 1000.

A liquefied fuel source could, under the right conditions, get even hotter as the control rods would likely not be as effective once the pellets melt. It would still take a tremendous amount of energy to get through the main containment fixture (made of steel and concrete), but its theoretically possible. No one has tested the possibility live before. The good news is that it seems all three reactors are still being fed seawater (a technique called feed and bleed).

There Mile Island had a shorter period of time with one reactor with exposed fuel, suffered a partial meltdown and was found to have some fuel collected at the bottom of the containment structure.

If the main containment structure hasn't been compromised (and radiation levels seem to indicate it hasn't) they stand a far better chance.

[Scott Campbell]

I thought they'd conceded the meltdown a while ago now. Breach of containment would be the only really bad surprise at this point.

But I'm not following it that closely.

[pbmax]

They conceded that a partial meltdown had probably happened. But there was no way to be sure.

However, bad news on the containment front. The last explosion has been discovered to have damaged the main steel containment structure of Reactor 2. They are evacuating the site.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world/asia/15nuclear.html?hp

[pbmax]

Not a bad read for the basics:

http://allthingsnuclear.org/

Worrisome point: Reactor 3 has MOX fuel, which is recycled Uranium Oxide plus Plutonium. Plutonium and its heavier cousins are far more lethal in the radioactivity released than uranium. If workers need to leave the entire facility, the Reactor 3 sea water operations would stop. If the MOX melts, its the most dangerous should any radioactivity from it be released. Only a percentage of the fuel in 3 is MOX though.

[pbmax]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/15/japan.nuclear.reactors/?hpt=T1

The number 4 reactor building fire caused radiation to spike, but readings have come back down. Quoted one expert that they should know something about whether the containment vessel at 2 will hold in the next 24 hours.

Numbers five and six are having pump problems, but have cooled significantly in the meantime. I think it takes on the order of 10 days of cooling to move the reactor to a safe point. Still, according to their sources, a complete failure of cooling and then the worst case scenario are still unlikely.

[Scott Campbell]

Regarding the remaining 50 workers at the plant:

"Their situation is not great," said David Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University in reference to the remaining workers. "It's pretty clear that they will be getting very high doses of radiation. There's certainly the potential for lethal doses of radiation. They know it, and I think you have to call these people heroes."

[Little Whiskey]

its amazing their dedication to country. have you heard any stories of looting and shooting? nope.

[Freak Out]

its amazing their dedication to country. have you heard any stories of looting and shooting? nope.

I was just listening to a radio story about the same thing. In the USA you would see people looting big screen TVs amongst the ruin....not in Japan.

[Scott Campbell]

I was just listening to a radio story about the same thing. In the USA you would see people looting big screen TVs amongst the ruin....not in Japan.


Hey, don't lump all Americans in with Madtown.

[MJZiggy]

its amazing their dedication to country. have you heard any stories of looting and shooting? nope.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/japans-victims-struggle-to-understand-whats-happened/2011/03/14/AB3XCOV_story.html