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And Back To Fukushima, Where Fresh Steam Is Rising From Debris, Which "May Be An Explosion" Or It May Not
This is just getting way too deja vu'ish. From Reuters: "White smoke or steam was rising from three reactors, Nos. 2, 3 and 4, at a quake-damaged nuclear plant in northeaster Japan, the nuclear safety agency said on Friday. It said it believed there was still water in the spent fuel pool at reactor No.3." But isn't the whole point of this exercise to get bloody water in the spent fuel pool? And then this: "Smoke or steam rising from the crippled No.2 reactor in northeastern Japan could be coming from the spent fuel pool or from an explosion in the suppression chamber, the nuclear safety agency said on Friday. It said it hoped to fix a power cable to two reactors on Friday and to two others by Sunday." Oh, it could be an explosion. Well, that's ok. It might not be... At least someone somewhere knows something. It sure as hell ain't the nuclear safety agency. But at least the Nikkei couldn't care less about its troubles as it wakes up with a St Paddy's day hangover: a few days of breathing room have been bought. As to how the can is kicked next week, that's a bridge Bernanke's glass house can worry about crossing on Monday.
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a... is false.
Nothing goes bankrupt anymore
In fact, any day now they will get a $700 billion injection of liquidity provided by whatever central banker is hanging out with Charlie Sheen at the time.
Only if TEPCO becomes a bank holding company. They do have experience dealing with toxic waste, so that's a big plus on the application.
We needed a Lehman replacement anyway.
I hear Overlord Blankfein has offered to foot-er, tentacle-the bill.
He's one big-hearted Overlord.
D all of the above..., and The Last American Taxpayer
Why would you need to ask?
The US. But you already knew that.
I knew that, you have the faith. My next question is when our printing does not convince anyone, then what?
There will come a point, when the financial crash kicks in (deflation, hyperinflation, take a pick, it does not matter), that we will not be able to service more subtle debts, like this one (there are more of them). They may just kill us. Could be before or after the starvation, dunno.
I am not trying to be a smartass, just real.
Holy Christ this is getting ridiculous-- the whole global system is just one big fucking circus. The end of the world will come and the only thing these assholes can do is to inject more fake paper into the system. I can't wait til we rid ourselves of these scum-sucking jackals.
The commodity complex won't care about nuclear meltdowns, middle east genocides, G-g-g-g-ghadifi and da jets until silver hits $36.50. BTW, me thinks that Citi is behind the short per their latest call on silver.
Banker, meet Sniper.
What surprises me is that this doesn't seem to be happening yet.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8389415/Japan-nucle...
good close up picture of reactor 4 wall blown off for the room where the fuel rods are cooled
article states it is boiled dry and should have water 45 feet deep to keep the rods cool
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01850/reactor4_1850941b.jpg
This picture is unreal. What's clear is the explosion at the number 4 reactor has taken place in the very vicinity of the spent fuel rod storage pool. Its hard to imaging it is now capable of holding any water at all - the thing must be cracked to fuckery. So dropping water from helicopters or spraying it from fire trucks really does seem like futile excercise.
Calling Travis777 - assuming there is no practical way of cooling the spent rods in this pool for the next few days (weeks?) what's the worst case sceario here in terms of radioactive leakage and how far could it spread? Also, does the fact this storage pool was apparently being used to store 'un-spent' fuel rods from the reactor core (due to reactor maintenance) make any difference?
Well at least the overhead crane is still there, but is it meant to glow that strange green color?
Unspent rods have more chance of going critical than spent rods. Spent fuel rods have more nasty nucleotides. Pick your poison.
I thought I answered this already...?
The color would come from light emitted from the water.
The last guy asked what would happen if the rods don't get cooled.
I cited a technical publication from DOE that studied precisely this scenario(in response to of all things a drained SFP). I can't keep citing the same stuff, taking 3 junks and NO REPLIES, suggesting that nobody read the fuckin thing.
Suffice it to say that they wordily wrote that hot zircaloy plus oxygen = big ass muffuggin fire.
Calling Travis777 - assuming there is no practical way of cooling the spent rods in this pool for the next few days (weeks?) what's the worst case sceario here in terms of radioactive leakage and how far could it spread?
Worst case leakage? All of it.
Spread should be limited to Japan and the Seas around it. Worst case.
Charlie Foxtrot.
Why is this USDJPY pump outliving it's usefulness? It's been 20 minutes since I sold, and I'm getting worried. Plus, I'm almost outta beer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM7LR46zrQU
Finally bringing out the equipment I thought they should have tried first.
I think the company intentionally delayed this so that evidence of their incompetence would melt away.
All employees! Front and center! Prepare to piss! Piss!
That be Nippon.
straight from kyodo news:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/
'some evacuees' being fukashima residents in the danger zone??
When gov't "mulls" anything, run fast and far in the other direction. Mulling is good only for cider and wine.
More shit is about to HTF.
I need a(nother) green beer.
cnt finnd th spel chk butttn
Mulling is a good action in the case of making bad wine taste better....
<<<BREAKING NEWS>>>
JAPAN NUCLEAR AGENCY DECLARES CRISIS A CATEGORY 2 EVENT.
This IS getting serious!
2 is such a small number these days. Call me when it gets into BoJ injection territory.
Let me get my Delorian.
does it have a bag of coke in it?
We are in BoJ injection territory. I am now taking serious nite-nite drugs. This is BS.
Radiation must be bullish. Futures racing upward
7 ain't the top, anymore? 'Course you have been slamming Boilermakers....
You might have missed the not-so-subtle sarcasm.
You are correct; I drank them. this is more BS that will take me 2 days to get out of.
If we could just kill all Libs now, we might have a market.
What does it take to be a category 1. I have to imagine when the 1 hits there is no one left to declare it.
Shouldn't it have been increase to 6 ?
See, no one can even figure out which way the scale is supposed to go. And we think we got problems.
Hah!
Intentionally understated to give MSM doublespeak ammo and say those magical words "better than expected". Future is so bright I gotta wear shades cause there's Nukes glowing and blowing in my face.
Besides MSM doesn't want to cause panic and go nuclear with the numbers. It's only a number with nothing materially backing its representation. It's like raising the debt ceiling another Trillion dollars. Right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrriKcwvlY
FIx The Problem already !!!
All you need to do is find somebody, who knows somebody, who knows something about it !!
<sarcasm off>
Dude, relax. They went to Sam's Club and got some additional drop cords and some buckets.
Christ, don't over-react.
And a few Nerf Super Soakers as well.
Just be thankful we have the Internet. Otherwise, we would be buying into all this Banking/Central planners horseshit.
Uh....oh? Or 'new normal'? Breaking now on NHK:
Tokyo Fire Dept. sends units to Fukushima plant
The Tokyo Fire Department has sent 30 emergency units and special fire engines to the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The 139 fire-fighters, including elite rescue teams, left for Fukushima in northeastern Japan shortly after 3 AM on Friday.
The dispatch order was given by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara after a request from the Japanese government at 1 AM Friday.
The Tokyo Fire Department says one of the fire engines has a 22-meter-high water discharging tower, used to put out flames in high places or sites that are difficult to get close to.
Also among the vehicles is a truck usually used for airplane disasters, which can discharge 5 tons of water per minute. Another one can supply large amounts of water from the sea or rivers.
The emergency unit is due to arrive at the plant on Friday morning. It is expected to start operation along with Self-Defense Force fire engines after consulting with the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, about safety measures.
Friday, March 18, 2011 10:22 +0900 (JST)
Someone in charge at (of) Fukushima finally got their ego (pushed) out of the way and admitted they did not have a clue what to do next. Send in the Tokyo Fire Department?
Good luck firefighters. This is not a "fire", it's a uranium fuel rod meltdown.
I need mor greeeen beers. splchek?
These firefighters are going to be sacrificed. Some asshole needs to commit fucking seppuku right now.
That's the cream of the Tokyo Fire Department. The best.
Entomb those units!!!!!
Everyone on site probably has lethal doses already. It'll take a few months and a lot of opiates.
The firefighters are (being sacrificed) there to keep up the appearance of "doing something".
US futures way up...that shit's funny right there...I don't care who you are.
Just force them up with overt FX manipulation. Why didn't they just think of that earlier? Seems so simple.
What do you mean earlier? You mean before the '87 crash?
No, I meant abandoning the gold standard in the 70's. But, who tracks that shit?
I thought that FX manipulation was the reason Nixon closed the gold window. That or he watched Goldfinger over a fifth of scotch the night before...can't really remember now.
How strong was the USD then compared to now?
Well, IIRC, it cost $1.98 for a Saturn V rocket, and to top off the tanks was a quarter a dime and two pennies. Alan Shepard had to cough up the quarter, because the guy who was supposed to pay had a hole in his pocket. But astronauts were paid a whopping $22.50/month so he could afford it.
But as to strength, a wet one could hold up a coffee cup, just like in the Bounty commercials...about the same as today.
Either that or they ran out of gold.
Hey fuck yeah, everything's gonna be A-OK...
Firefighters on way to the core meltdown (Where the flames are a symptom, not the problem.) (Good fucking luck with that 5,000 degree Kelvin shit)
The UN voted to do something or other in Libya, so that'll calm the MENA shit down what with western military intervention. Solid decisions. Everybody welcomes western democracy with open arms.
All the central banks just agreed to print more money at double secret light speed twice that pace heretofore preceding. Panacea for too much money creation.
Barry is taking another looking for his birth certificate vacation this time in South America.
No new news is no new worse fucking news meaning nothing for the better with regard to the stability of the PIIGS, the Euro or even the very European Union of Incredibly Lost Souls In Way The Fuck Over Their Heads.
Meanwhile back home, everybody has decided that the best way forward indeed is to hold hands, sing Kumbaya and come together in amiable compromise on every and all topics and points of social, political and economic discourse and disagreement.
Washington is no longer in need of adult supervision.
Monsanto has reassured us that Genetically Modified Food is A-OK.
Somebody else said that there was no war on terror anymore.
And certain types of cancer are spread by blow-jobs.
Everything is just hunkie-dorie.
Any moment now I'm expecting the Pentagon to hold a small press conference to announce that by the way, we've misplaced two trillion dollars. Again.
But then tomorrow is another day.
US futures way up...that shit's funny right there...I don't care who you are.
Just force them up with overt FX manipulation. Why didn't they just think of that earlier? Seems so simple.
War is bullish.
US futures are obliged to go to infinity at end of days. Get over it.
hey }
Can someone make up a shirt for me that says......
GOT FUKU?
E = MC SCREWED!!!
We can be partners on the rights.
Cheers
GOT FUKU?
E = MC SCREWED!!!
Pay me.
E = MC SCREWED!!!
Pay me pussy.
Ben would've solved the problem in 15 minutes.
I believe that window was 30 minutes ago....
Man, think I will have to start small time:
Plastic ware, get your plastic ware here! Great for enjoying Soylent Green!
anyone ever read the story of the poor firefighters sent to Chernobyl
No, but am part of the poor taxpayers that feed the beast.
I'd rather die of radiation. At least that has an end.
Fresh steam was considered a good sign by some because it meant the fuel rods werent completely dry. When there is no steam from a leaking reactor core or broken cooling pool then that is the time to get worried
From an email received sent by a friend:
Bomb dropped on Hiroshima = 64 kg of uranium (less than a kilogram underwent nuclear fission) and 63 kg of U235 was dispersed over the area.
Bomb dropped over Nagasaki = 2 1/2 pounds of the 13 in the pit (about 20% of the 6.2 kilograms [14 lb] fissioned) means about 5 kg of Pu239 was dispersed over the area.
_______
Fukushima Daiichi = 13,000 pounds of Pu239
3,000 pounds of Pu240
10,000 pounds of U235
_______
65,000 pounds total
Yes, Hiroshima and Nagasaki sustained delivery by bombing, but the aggregate material of radioactive material at risk of being released into the atmosphere at Fukushima is on the order of magnitudes greater than Nagasaki and Hiroshima combined.
The key issue will be whether it gets released into as high an atmosphere as the material from Nagasaki and Hiroshima were, but even if it doesn't, there is a far, far greater aggregate amount of radioactive material at Fukushima Daiichi.
Just some food for thought.
The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were constructed of highly refined materials, shielded by other materials that caused a lot of fallout - beryllium being just one. You cannot compare them on a volume-to-volume basis with a reactor with very low grade fuel, and the inability to create a chain reaction explosion. The fission explosion caused a trermendous amount of fallout, that was first ejected in the upepr atmosphere. The two are not comparable.
Forgot to add - 1900 metric tons of spent fuel is on site at Fukushima, but less than a third is stored in the reactor buildings. That leaves over 1.3 million pounds of uranium oxide and fission by-products to keep cool in those pools.
So, if [his] math is right, about 13,000 pounds of Pu239 and about 3,000 pounds of Pu240 is at risk of melting down or otherwise being released to the world. And even though the levels of U235 have been reduced to the naturally-occurring level before enrichment, there's still about 10,000 pounds of that left over. And five percent of the weight of the spent fuel is expected to be other fission by-products. That's somewhere around 65,000 pounds.
It is actually almost impossible to compare the two on a bulk basis. The effects of a bomb compared to a relatively slow release of radioactive contaminants from a (assumed) burning volume of fuel rods is really apples and oranges. The fuel in the reactor cannot undergo a fission explosion, so you get none of the immediate high neutron and gamma flux, nor do you get the explosive effect or the thermal impact of the fireball. If you go on a one-to one basis for possible fallout, then the volume in the reactors can certainly cause more, if you assume a 100% conversion, and dial in the conditions for that to happen, which best I can see, are not likely. A bomb is much more death-efficient than a melting reactor, as it is designed to be. Fallout from a bomb (assuming air burst) can take radionuclides high into the air, and become a global event. Chernobyl did this to some degree from a massive steam explosion in an un-contained reactor. I do not see this happening on the same scale as Chernobyl, nor with the Hiroshima bomb. And the bottom line is, radiation exposure over time is less harmful than the same dose in a short period. Volume is only one factor in an event's overall impact, both locally and over a wide area. To my mind, is is almost impossible for the total volume of active material in these reactors to be converted into fallout or create human damage over a large area.
I do not have the total volume numbers of the fuel both in the reactors and in spent fuel pools readily available, and maybe your friend took this into account, but the MOX fuel, when removed from the core, typically has 0 - 1% of the plutonium left, since it is consumed by the thermal process. The rods new to a core, in this reactor, should be around 30%, knowing how much plutonium is left in them would require knowledge of the time in-vessel, and the reactor duty cycle.
BUT A NANOGRAM OF PLUTONIUM ENTERING THE JET STREAM WILL KILL EVERYTHING ON EARTH! or so I've read on these boards the last couple of days.
Let's not be melodramatic.
Well, I'll cut the sarcastic melodrama when others who SHOULD have cooler heads and clearer minds stop hyperventilating.
"The best estimate for plutonium's LD-50, or the dosage at which 50 percent of the victims die, is around ten nanograms."
'The culture of make believe' By Derrick Jensen. Page 431
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=v2l39w5AtIMC&pg=PA431&lpg=PA431&dq=p...
I'd quote the next few pages too (amazing and relevant) but the google text cannot be cut'n'pasted.
Thanks for the attitude check. Friends do this kind of thing for friends. Perspective matters.
None of us know shit (especially those in the thick of this) but all of us can agree, this is fucked.
Entombment, if possible.
Hey Jim in MN, I'm gonna whisper this in your ear if you are reading this crap post. Ready? I think it's too late.
You're in Japan?
I hear your sarcasm and ridicule, but I'm a dumbfuck. Why don't you spell it out for me. Pretty fucking please?
For me, too late means that radiation is leaking into the environment at such an aggressive pace that I don't think any of these workers can get close enough to "entomb" this thing without sacrificing themselves. I think this is a wound that is going to bleed for a long time and it is going to need to be tended to long after you or I are dead. The situation is going to have to stay in transistion and be responded to WITH THE RIGHT ANSWERS for a very long time, or else it gets unfriendly as all get out.
Hey, maybe that's right. But where is the planning and risk analysis from which we can draw that or any other conclusion?
Yo, international community: How about a new initiative--Global-Local Options Working Model for Entombment? For all reactors in the world, some up front scoping, scenario and logistical studies would be prepared and updated. Then when things go bad the entombment feasibility, supply chains and critical bottlenecks are already in hand.
Yes, this is my suggestion to those managing this episode:
GLOWME
Unfortunately, I think this is the opening part of the dialogue. And it may NOT be enough to generate the kind of (wise) conversation you suggest. It seems we are reactive, not proactive.
Whose dialogue? You think that TEPCO is reading your words of wisdom? Perhaps the DIET or the UN? What utter clap trap. "We need to have a dialogue about this on a web chat board and SOLVE this PROBLEM, people!"
I'll run out and grab some donuts. Maybe dust off the bong, and have a real ol' dorm room bong-storming session.
Sheesh...
The "event" is the begining of the dialogue. You are not this dense. You are manipulative dishonest as hell. Nice try.
I was responding to your implication of being in the thick of things. Funny how internet posters think they're in the thick of things, really.
And as well, since you're obviously NOT in the thick of things, how would you KNOW. But I don't share your terror and fear.
"None of us know shit (especially those in the thick of this)"
Then you read too fast and assume too quick (or did you?). When I wrote "those" that indicated someone other than me. None of "us" (in that part I indicate me) knows shit. Especially "those" (that indicates an "othering") in the thick of things. To spell it out, those handling the crisis. I never claimed to be in the thick of things, you just decided to attribute that to me to discredit me.
You knew that already and typed what you chose to type, didn't you? You are not that dense. You just lack integrity. Deliberate. It holds no water, much like some of those holding ponds for those rods.
Funny, I am not in "terror and fear." How long are we going to be dealing with this? A week? Does that sound plausible? A month? A year? A decade? Longer is more like it. I call this getting real.
I'm just trying to figure out if the planet has herpes or AIDS. You have to treat both for the rest of your life. One is more terminal than the other. They are both probably a disaster for your life if you get them.
You do realize that this is a top ten financial blog with tens of thousands of regular readers that frequently breaks major stories, don't you?
Hope your hair's alrite tonight, cuz you're on Candid Interwebz!
Michio Kaku, well-known physicist and author, was just on MSM and when he was asked what to do, he said to entomb them like Chernobyl. Good for him!
Didn't see you down here when I posted this above:
I think it's too late.
I would have taken your prior later post into account but my ZH temporal inverter blew a frisbee.
It's not too late. It's too late when the 'grease fire' sends particulate matter plumes across the Kanto Plain and Tokyo.
Which is about when they'll form a committee to discuss it.
I don't think it's too late. I do think this group of decisionmakers lacks the capability to manage it.
Thus it is too late. Could be the physical world side could be worked out, but our social processes are fucked.
Ode to Nuke power:
"It's Too Late"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSep7QJXKlE
it's not too late. All they need to do is hose this shit down.
Really, they could take "volunteers" and get this done.
If they can JUST get the SFRs underwater, the rad levels will decline markedly, then they can remediate the other problems (which will involve some entombment).
I am reminded of the GOM disaster and how the hysterical public expected THIS SHIT TO GET SOLVED THIS MINUTE.
I mean, WTF, "why don't those scientists just think of something??" It really isn't that easy sometimes to fix shit. It's very easy to run around calling TSHTF and TEOTWAWKI.
Notice however, when assessing people's credibility on this forum, who the hell has said "they will do this" or "they need to do this" "beacuse of xyz" and then when it happens a day or two later, take that FWIW. And take the doomer apocalyptics whose total calamity killing all life in Japan is now overdue for what their predictions are worth.
The situation in Japan has moved from dire to desperate...but finally NOW they are doing what they should fucking do 2 days ago. All they talk about now on NHK is the propiety of cooling SFPs. They simply have to prevent fire. This will buy them time until more appropriate engineering solutions can be concocted that will get the SFRs underwater so that further efforts can be expended.
I mean, look at it this way...nothing has blowed up in a couple of days, which is itself a positive sign. Why must we always root for total disaster? There are people clamoring for a yen or dollar or market collapse...wtf is up with that?
Sounds reasonable trav. I hope you are right and they are not lying. My worry is that we don't know everything and it is far worse than we think, all melty and shit. If lots of hoses can buy time, hose away.
On the economy, something has to collapse. It is unsustainable. Your peak oil sensibility knows this. I don't want to see it, but I am a fool not to think something big and bad is coming down the pike as a result of the middle east situation, the earth quake, tsunami, and reactor issues. Never mind the ponzi scheme all the central banks have up and running.
Not sustainable and mother nature is an obdurate bitch who has no love of Tim or Ben or Japan or the US or you or me.
Rome collapsed over centuries.
Even let's look at a modern-day collapse, the USSR or Argentina.
Look, people still live there. The lights are still on. There is a functioning society. Yeah a lot more people at the margins starve and there are a lot of issues. But life goes on.
It isn't going to be as bad as people think. It isn't as if the USSR collapsed and everyone died. People still lived their lives, they were born and they loved and they even grew old.
It's like from Heart of the Matter,
There are people in your life, who've come and gone,
they let you down, maybe they hurt your pride...
you gotta put it all behind ya baby, 'cuz life goes on
you keep carryin that anger, it'll eat you up inside
Life will go on. People will have to find meaning outside of crass consumption growth.
"People will have to find meaning outside of crass consumption growth."
This is my project too.
See you around.
G7 jerkoff...
funny thing is oil spiked when those bozo's did the money pump. ES screens have bOJ all over it, no doubt the Fed organised massive swap lines with the ECB which is a f****** joke..
winter in japan and the japanese energy bills got an extra tax thanks to the braindead zombie money printers.
...
Now the word is they will no longer be doing helicopter water drops.
Also, they are flying in Harrison Ford so that when Operation Extension Cord is complete, and they flip the switch to restart the cooling systems, and absolutely nothing happens, he can be on hand to say, "It's not my fault" in authentic Han Solo style.
Later, he will be signing autographs for the children of those workers who are out pissing on this mess and getting a snootful of radiation.
Figure t-minus 4 days before they just bury the suckers? Another week, maybe?
It all depends which way the wind blows ... really !!
Is this frickking Friday? Midnite, and I have to sniff my own news? More uppers, Tyler! There is a bunch of meaningless noise out there!
Well, that's a good point for sleeping.
Never mind.
Let us all not forget that defending equity markets from tanking is The Bernank's last stand. He's Custer with a six shooter, and he's fired many bullets. Does he feel lucky?
If equity markets tank, which has been the ONLY policy goal originally intended (and later confirmed) by The Bernank (after all, the stock market = the economy and the welfare of the nation if The Bernank's words are to be taken at face value), then the Bernank will go down as the biggest failure of any Central Banker since...ever?
Another bogus dup meant to discredit me...
bogus dup
For you numbnuts that are totally helpless:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cETrNUB9Aog
I got 2% of this bitch, and she won't blow me. Time to sell.
to be fair, there is an ocean thing, and our schedules never mesh. Deliberately on her part, I'm sure.
Does anyone NOT think that the Japanese Yen will be printed in vastly larger sums than any other currency on the face of the earth over the next year?
If so, let me know why.
And I'm speaking of developed nations.
I'm speaking as a dumb-shit going for a stronger Yen. Whip me more, you badass!
So thought 71 would occur. Only a moron in Japan would want to weaken the Yen when THEY HAVE NO FUKKING EXPORTS, THANKS TO A NUCLEAR MELTDOWN! Yes, it is tough being rational anymore. FUKKING MORONS! GO FOR THE STRONG YEN! yOU HAVE NO EXPORTS! MORONS!
But, doesn't a strong yen reduce the value (in yen) of all the shit the Japanese are trying to sell on foreign markets to get cash in hand?
Put another way, if the famous housewives sell their fx positions too fast, doesn't it screw up the elites trying to unload real estate and repatriate the proceeds?
Simply put Japan is low on natural resources, hence has to import pretty much all commodities/raw materials, and to pay for this, they have nothing of their own, so have to manufacture and export to maintain a trade balance.
Now given the disaster, Japan will need more than usual amount of natural resources to help in rebuilding and at the same time their exports will not keep up/balance of trade, so if I was going shopping big time, I would prefer to buy more with less, hence a stronger Yen in the short term is desirable, and once Japan is up and running/back to normal, you can balance by weaking the Yen.. just my thoughts - IB456
You make a good point.
But what's more beneficial on balance?
Less volume of exports due to a higher yen, at a time when they can ill afford to see exports and economic output drop further, or a weaker yen, allowing them to export as much and produce as much as possible, in order to avoid literally falling into a depression?
The Japanese have printed more money and poured more concrete and asphalt, and they have done more infrastructure projects than any other nation on earth over the last 20 years, and by a wide margin (yes, even more than the Chinese, in equal weight dollar terms). They are no stranger to massive spending and money printing.
You realize when we get to these questions that it's fucked...right?
Sadly, yes.
This assumes that they HAVE anything to export, which, well, is questionable.
They may have 'no exports' (close to it) for a long time as in thousands of years, if the wind blows the wrong way at a bad time. (It will.)
Wanna buy a slightly radioactive Toyota?
Something that isn't so obvious, but potentially more serious - at what level of background radiation does it become very difficult to manufacture fine resolution integrated circuits, flash memory and DRAMs that don't drop bits, etc?
I recall that dense memory chips require special care to produce wafers and encapsulation with very low residual radiation. Because single decay events can cause data loss, and it's all about statistical rates of errors.
Also, I'm now kicking myself for not buying a large solar electric panel installation months ago. Might become pretty rare soon.
Cat's right, you know. They also have to import a whole lot more stuff...so.
I have not whipped nor junked you.
Schrodinger's cat is in the building!
Is it alive or dead?
They don't want to open the box so we will just sit here for a while.
exactly!
Not if no one saw it.
'Cause it was moving
I've seen stupid, and I've seen even more stupid. But for a country that can't export in the near future to want to trash their own currency is stupidest fucking thing I have ever seen.
Long live the frigging pissant banks!
Excuse me while I puke.
agree..especially with increasing energy requirements..oil/NG
...and the equity markets on the TSE and NYSE futures are....
Who said Japan can't export for the medium term?
There are ports and significant areas in Japan that were unscathed (for the record, I believe that if they do not get a handle on this Daiichi plant soon, given the massive amount of material there in the form of SPRs, it has a significant chance of causing a global contraction larger than 2008, which is why print-print-print is in effect) and considering that not exactly all of Japan's industry was wiped out (maybe something significant is still left? Yes, I'm sure that's the case), a higher yen would be particularly damaging to the bulk of the Japanese Companies (many of whom are exporters - as Japan is heavily export reliant), and really pose problems.
But maybe I'm wrong. That whole Orwell thing...
well the premise is there is more to this disater than what we have learnt so far, maybe you have a manufacturing base, no human capital...well ..have to wait and see..Japan will be doing a lot of shopping soon and a stronger Yen may help
Who is going to import anything from that radioactive wasteland? China is going to be the big winner. Too bad, the US could have benefited greatly from Japan's tragedy.
Very local example of how this is affecting industry short-term and I think the medium-term might be some plant shutdowns:
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/955276--toyota-cancels-overtime-here-for-another-week
How is that skeleton crew holding up?
Did they plug the power cord into the power plant yet?
...skeleton crew is literal.
oh man that's funny..."plug" and "power cord" hahahah
jeez...more tequila....
LMAO. Red wine please.
Actually its not all that funny. There are people (like real people with real lives and real families) made out of flesh and blood which doesn't go well with gamma rays, currently spraying water from fire trucks onto the smoldering remains in an attempt to prevent an apocolyptic disaster. They'll likely be skeletons soon. I wish them the best of luck, its easy mock from the safety of a keyboard. These men's actions are likely too little too late and in vain but at least they are trying and it certainly wasn't their fault that this disaster is unfolding.
You are, of course, correct.
And I still laughed.
Cracks me up how a macro question on ability to export turns into micros of who can get condoms out first. Guess that is what ZH is all about.
WB7 is on to something with top kill. I'm a layman and I've thought that entombment was the solution. Let them make their futile effort and then get out of the way while the US takes over and engineers a permanent entombment. The floors are 6-10 feet of concrete. Set up several batch plants and start pumping in cement. The financial loss is what the Japanese are trying to avoid---losing the re-use of the reactor facility totally. Could actually become a prime site for a landfill.
I think engineers KNOW the timeline and the outcome, but they don't want to force a trillion dollar loss onto the Japanese without letting them spit in the wind.
All is under control on Amazon, thanks to MSM and Homeland Secuirty LLC. KI tablet price just came back down from $400 to $37.5.
http://www.amazon.com/iOSAT-Potassium-Iodide-Tablets-130/dp/B00006NT3A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300423500&sr=8-1
Trav7777
Why have you not answered any of my questions?
Because....
This situation is apocalyptic.
Whether or not anyone on these boards wants to accept the fact that this is the death of Japan is up to them.
Is this an extinction event? That is the question we need to be asking.
I don't think Travis will be joining us again after I showed he's a fucking accountant with a University of Phoenix (online) degree. He just happens to work in a Mechanical Engineering firm.
Ah fuck, seriously, he's a douche. I posted his linkedin profile in the earlier comments.
I thought he was a male prostitute that serviced well-connected federal officals.
No, he's just your average garden-variety dildo posing as a nuclear energy expert.
ROTFL...you haven't gotten one thing right. I don't know why you believe that my name is even Travis. I'd love to see what steps you took that led you to that profile and how you could have possibly thought you were being clever by posting some poor guy's page and claiming it was mine.
I don't even have a linkedin profile. Now, you can find some other person on the web named "travis" and pretend that's me too, go right the fuck ahead.
You are a complete idiot who has been shown up every way from sunday...fuckin M.E. Did you HONESTLY believe that you could put that shit over on me, dude? HAHAHAHAHAHA.
Now STFU and let the adults talk.
trav is always right.....so he posts the truth for all to hear OR reprimands those who are off base.
there is no need for him to respond to his hecklers.
Trav7777 suffered a stroke due to many of heroe's non-speeches.
He's busy working his seasonal tax preparation job for H&R Block in a suburban Kroger. A man has to pay his bills.
Trav's canned first line of all his responses of "JFC, WTF is wrong with you fucking imbeciles" has worn quite thin.
I'm all for blatant and frequent profanity and insults, but use some imagination and mix it up a little.
dude...I have done yeoman's work here trying to keep people abreast of the realities of the situation in Japan using my brain, technical publications, research, and deductive analysis based upon facts as they become available.
But, that said, this may shock you...my life does not revolve around zerohedge! I am not paid for this shit. I post here in my spare time.
Don't state shit as FACT unless you can support it with evidence. As for evidence, you have NONE.
Sure, it is possible that there are fuel rods blown halfway to China, but it is up to you to provide EVIDENCE for that OTHER THAN "well, sheeit that reactor building blowed up real good."
If you want to review a timeline, with when I said things and when NHK started talking about them, you will see approximately a 2-day lag in between when I recognized a problem using my BRAIN and offered a proposal for solution and when suddenly it's all that NHK talks about and what TEPCO is doing. TODAY they are launching water into the reactors, stating SPECIFICALLY that they are trying to get water into the SFPs and WHY they are trying to get water into the SFPs, which is PRECISELY what I told you fucking TWO DAYS ago that they needed to do and WHY!
I am not going to apologize for being smarter than you and having the ability to diagnose, reason, deduce, and conclude. I have a long history of making prognostications which come true. I have said for days now that the primary concern is the SFP problem, how it can be remediated, and what the consequences will be for failure to do so.
You may get your apocalypse, dude, that you crave so badly. I dunno if you are really that misanthropic, hysterical, or whether you're just rolling the dice like an asshole hoping to be able to say "I told you so." The problem is, yeah, you told us...but your predictions are sourced from your ass, and that is why NOBODY with any real expertise or knowledge in this subject takes them seriously. They may turn out to be true, but that will be like my broken Rolex being right twice per day. Hell, it even gets the day and date right periodically too.
I would pay you with respect...
...if you could actually answer maybe 1/10th of the questions I propose to you.
But you don't, and you won't, and I'll see you tomorrow when the situation is much worse!
same time? k...see ya there.
then don't ask questions like "how do you account for the fuel rods blown all over the parking lot of my local walmart" when none of those things are true!
Ask me questions that aren't themselves nullities, or else I will just respond with a random answer because propositional logic A=>B, B can be anything, bob, if A is false.
So what do I think about Japan being reduced to a smoking nuclear pile, I think monkeys.
oh ok...
Trav-
whats 2x +2x?
double penetration
peace, c'mon...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI
The nuclear thing is gonna go away in a couple of days anyway. Today we (the U.S.) got a pass to bomb the Beanie. New war, new morass closer to people who really hate us, and closer to 2900 on the SPX. We'll continue to root out those money grubbing freeloaders in Wisconsin though. 65 of em out of work will free up enough jingle to buy a spare tire for one of those bombers.
They keep reporting the radiation level near the west gate of the plant for some reason...but anyway its about 300 millisieverts per hour....or a third of a sievert per hour...or a sievert per 3 hours of exposure. A sievert or even a fraction of one will fuck you up pretty good, thusly:
So once a worker so much as passes the gate into the plant, they will be getting dosed enough to be sick within an hour. Taking into account the time to get from the gate to any actual work and back, it doesn't seem like it's possible to get much done...the suits might be able to extend the 'shift' some but man.....that's rough
How much does it take to get better 'stamina'....uh, a friend wants to know. It's not for me, of course...no problems in that area...everything's cool....in fact, nevermind.
Maybe a bungie jump from 10,000 feet into and back out of 'the area' will get your 'friend's motor running.....esp if the cord's a little embrittled