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A First Person's Narrative 'I Was Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant When The Quake Hit'
The BBC has released a dramatic recollection of events at ground zero when the Japanese earthquake and tsunami hit on March 11. The source is an unnamed maintenance worker who witnessed and experienced events in real time. Below is his story.
When the massive earthquake occurred it was a little before three o'clock in the afternoon.
The 31-year-old, who runs a turbine maintenance company subcontracted to work at the plant, was doing a regular check-up of the turbine in the No 5 reactor when the quake hit.
"Heavy machinery, cranes were shaking above our heads. After about three minutes all the electricity went out," he told the BBC World Service.
"The shaking went on for about five minutes, and it was very strong.
"I shouted out my colleagues' names and used a torch to try and check that everyone was okay."
The earth started shaking again and they all ran outside.
When it was confirmed that everyone was safe, workers were given permission to go back home to their families.
He got in his car and drove away as quickly as he could.
"I knew there was a tsunami coming," he said. "I saw the warning on the TV in my car, about 20 minutes after the first quake."
However, he said, the scale of it was totally unexpected.
"Although the shaking was very strong, I did not predict the scale of the tsunami, I didn't imagine the power station would be damaged in the way it was."
The man says workers were well aware that the plant, commissioned in the 1970s, was relatively old.
"But even knowing that I did not think the plant would fall into a situation like this.
"If it was only the quake, I think the situation would not so bad. But because of the tsunami, things like the emergency switches were destroyed."
Once he realised that the nuclear plant had been damaged, the worker says his first priority was to warn his family and friends.
"I knew that radiation affected people's health badly, and as soon as I knew that the radiation was leaking, I told my family and friends to escape immediately, as far away as possible," he said.
But, he said, he would go back to work at the plant if he could.
"If it was possible, I would go back and work there. But we cannot do anything. The people working at the site now are expert workers from Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco)," he said.
"We want to go back and help the people working to manage the situation, to stop it getting worse. We cannot go back no matter how much we want to. It's frustrating, but we just cannot help them."
Highly pollutedHe says he is aware there are health risks for those working inside the plant.
"The situation is changing day by day. If they asked me to go back now, I realise there is a degree of risk."
The worker says although he is prepared to go back inside the plant, he would not let his employees work there.
"I am a boss of a company, and I cannot send in my workers knowing that the site is highly polluted."
Despite the disaster unfolding at the plant, he says he doesn't blame Tepco, the company that runs it.
"Although the situation is not good, they are working really hard to minimise the damage. It's nobody's fault, it's not Tepco's fault. They are doing their best to minimise the damage."
Although he is currently staying with friends in Chiba prefecture, well beyond the current 20km exclusion zone, his house is only 3km from the reactor.
He says he wants to go back home.
"If possible I want to go back. There are a lot of memories there. I guess it's a common feeling for all people, to feel sad when you cannot go back to the home where you grew up.
"I think if this disaster happened in another country, people would feel the same as we do."
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What matters is:
1) Will the radiation hit tokyo ? What is the probability of this happens? and...
2) Will the japanese sells its USTs to recover? If so we heaven shall burn. If not. ok economy will hold on for some more time.
1) It already has. It already has hit NYC too!
2) They already are. And they are not the only ones doing it.
No body's fault?
They build a nuclear power station on a seismic fault and its no body's fault?
Maybe we should start with the government of the day, and the designers who didn't allow for a strong earthquake...
knowing it was on a seismic fault...
I'd say it was somebody's fault.
Ahem... the whole country of Japan is located on one big seismic fault.
my point exactly.
I'm sorry.. in today's PC culture, the world "fault" is strictly verboten. The proper term has been changed to seismic "misunderstanding".
In other news, radiation has now been declared "good" for you.
It will certainly change your life, in more ways than one...
"Mistakes were made" will be the extent of the mea culpa after all is said and done. It's become the modern day Get Out of Jail Free card.
Sometimes, just to amuse myself before the usual heavy drinking, I imagine what the world might look like if its central project were not war, or shoveling money to the obscenely wealthy, but rather putting solar panels everywhere the sun shines, beginning with the places on earth that are both high energy consumers and nice and sunny. When people see solar as the fucking POINT of technology - far and away the best thing to do with our money and energy, as opposed to all the stupid, destructive, pointless, suicidal shit we do - instead of hippie dippy nonsense, we may begin to save ourselves.
But that would make much too much sense, wouldn't it?!
Check this out, it's genius: http://zerohouse.net/wordpress/
P.S. at the successful completion of Project Mayhem, I vote that we all pitch in to buy Tyler his very own ZeroHouse
I'm sorry - perhaps you didn't get the Memo that in todays world - nothing is EVER anybodys fault. It is the "New Normal" Nobody fails and Nobody Is At Fault for NOYTHING! Now just give everyone a Trophy and let's move on.
sadly yes, how I long for the good old days when a good old fashioned burning or flogging was in order...
...or being ostracized by one's community
These reactor #1-5 are "Mark I" type reactors. They are made by GE. Reactor #6 and all the other reactors in Fukushima daini are "Mark II" type and they are all fine as far as we know. Mark II type reactors were made by Hitachi or Toshiba. That's the difference. Whose fault?
1)Still, there is enough radiation to evacuate Tokyo? There will be? When?
2) Data please.
How are they going to evacuate tokyo? Where will the yens of millions of people go? It's not possible
"yens of millions"
Interesting slippage doc.
There are evacuation plans for Tokyo. In this case, they probably involve the direction southwest. These evacuations are simulated on supercomputers. Depending on the rate of spread, when symptoms appear, the deadliness of the threat, etc., these simulations can turn out very badly for Tokyo residents. I'd like to hear comments from someone familiar with these models about how they're working out with the current set of parameters. I doubt those people are talking much.
Topo map of Japan: click on the map to zoom in, otherwise it's hard to read:
http://www.worldofmaps.net/uploads/pics/topographie_japan.jpg
Seems like a pessimist would have put the reactor on the western side of the mountains, to protect Tokyo.
Didn't understand why i was flagged twice.
First, i just wanna know when there will be enough radiation in tokyo to the city be undeniable evacuated.
And Second, where did you see the japanese is selling their USTs reserves?
Does anybody have this vital data?
The Austrian weather and climate data center prepared an analysis of releases last week, which only estimates iodine and cesium releases that have already happened, and are continuing. They estimated that the plant had released 20-60% of the amount of cesium that Chernobyl did in the first four days after the tsunami. For iodine they estimated 20%.
http://www.zamg.ac.at/docs/aktuell/Japan2011-03-24_1600_E.pdf
For the present, call it the status quo, concentrate on cesium. Iodine can bioaccumulate in the food chain and isn't nice, but cesium is long lived and can result in no grow/no live zones like in the Ukraine/Belorussia.
The simplest analysis is just a direct comparison to Chernobyl. There was initial contamination of 175,000 square kilometers and today about 10,000 square kilometers are indefinitely off limits for various things.
Now, Japan is smaller, but most of the releases thus far have blown out to sea. We saw the panic with the bottled water etc. after a couple of days of onshore winds; 18 water treatment facilities went over the iodine limit for infants.
Here's the bad news: Onshore winds are actually typical in summer there. If we hit May/June/July in the current state, interior Fukushima Prefecture is in for it; it seems unlikely that metro Tokyo, with its water supply lying in the northern Kanto Plain beginning about 100 miles down a mountain valley, will escape.
So expect a bunch of iodine and cesium into Kanto/Tokyo in a few more weeks. If nothing else goes wrong.
You can read about spent fuel pool fires at this link to a Harvard study done for counterterrorism purposes. This is a possible, and very bad, scenario.
http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/364/radiological_terrorism.html
I will put more about this up soon; done waiting for better emission data. We need to work with what we have. For now, here is the Chernobyl mapping from the UN just for a sense of scale (remember, it's just the cesium we're worried about and it all depends on the prevailing winds).
http://www.unscear.org/unscear/en/chernobylmaps.html
Zero Hedge is not a fucking search engine. Go find the data yourself.
http://justfuckinggoogleit.com
I would have evacuated Tokyo 2 weeks ago when the fate of those reactors were already known to 'authorities'. Vital data you ask? There are multiple reactor meltdowns in progress, spewing a toxic radioactive soup, with TEPCO on the verge of abandoning everything. That's some vital data brother. I'd say that's enough reason not to gamble and get the fuck out of Dodge, pronto.
Tokyo Evacuation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Weao6HS9SI&annotation_id=annotation_772187&feature=iv
No need to panic. First, the wind has been blowing out to sea. The plant was built on the coast so that the inhabited regions were up wind. Second, the sea water used to spray on the reactors has returned to the Pacific Ocean where it will dissipate. Even so, I wouldn’t eat sea food from there for a year. Third, the amount of radioactive material released has been small. I doubt seriously that anyone outside the plant has gotten a high radiation dose. Fourth, It appears that radiation inside the plant is very bad and a substantial number of employees will get sick. Fifth, there has been a melt down. But...
This not a repeat of Chernobyl where there was no containment dome and the carbon moderator blocks caught fire. That sent radioactive Zirconium hundred of miles down wind. The Soviets had to scrape eight feet of soil off the land and dump it. Nuclear power got a black eye at Chernobyl when it was the Soviets performing an idiotic test with most of the safety mechanisms disabled.
So, what kind of radiation is there, where is it coming from, how long will it last, how dangerous it? Should we panic? No. Should there be mass evacuations if the wind shifts toward Tokyo? No.
The uranium or plutonium chain reaction stopped when the control rods when home. Not even a melt down will restart it.What is producing the heat to cause a melt down is from secondary radiation: mostly Xenon and Cesium. Xenon has a half life of 8 days, so it will be completely gone in five half lives or 40 days. Cesium has a half life of thirty years, so it will be around for 150 years. But, very little of either was released; most remains inside the reactors. It will be a huge clean up but the area can be reclaimed.
No doubt, you have heard of plutonium being released into the sea. That was a natural consequence of using sea water as a cooling agent on melted cores. Plutonium is water soluble, is chemically very reactive and is a deadly poison. It is perfectly reasonable that some of the water escaped.
There is much we have not been told. We have no idea what shape the containment domes are in. It seems likely now that all six reactors will be written off as unsalvageable. We have not been told what TEPCO’s plans are yet. Their method of operation seems to be to prevent any further damage while they wait for the radioactivity to decay. And it will in a few months.
There is plenty of blame for TEPCO in this situation. But, we need perspective. The reactors were old and should have been replaced with safer designs a decade ago. There are current designs which would have survived unharmed. But Fukushima was not designed for a 9.0 earthquake and a 70 foot Tsunami. We will look back to see that most of the damage from the earthquake will be from the Tsunami. Fukushima nuclear power plant #1 won’t kill more than 50 people, most of them workers at the plant. The collateral damage will be less than the Hiroshima bomb and Hiroshima has been rebuilt. So, let not lose our heads.
Does anyone have links to Independent monitoring?
Only beta and gamma monitoring, as I understand it: http://radiationnetwork.com/
1. possible groundwater contamination worse than airborne. But can radioactive water be filtered out with reverse osmosis? something I read.
Will the japanese sells its USTs to recover?
03/23/2011 Jim Willie sez:"The YCTrade unwind is to be assured by the heavy Japanese selling of USTreasurys by a wide assortment of Japanese financial entities. Call it a major unintended consequence. The unwind spells major problems for the Japanese export industries, but also for the USTreasury Bond complex."
UST will be worthless sooner or later, Japan might as well sell USTs to recover.
He has a TV in his car??!? Oh, the Japanity.
very common..........the Japanese dont want to miss their baseball games....
I've spent quite a bit of time in Taipei the last few years working. The cab drivers generally have TV in the dashboard with the sound over the car stereo. So, while they zip in and out of clouds of scooters they either watch baseball (all Yankees all the time) or movies, often with subtitles. Amazing, really.
I recall a story about how when radios were first introduced into cars the fear was that inattentive drivers fiddling with the knobs to find a station would cause accidents.
I'm sure that actually happens. Not only do I not have functioning radios in my cars, I refuse to engage in lengthy conversations while driving. I see someone talking on their cell phone while driving, I give them lots of room.
And now, televisions.
Civilization is not going to blow itself up someday with nuclear weapons, rather it is going to have one massive 3 billion car pile-up.
Do you ever see these fools texting on the highway? They steer with their elbows! Darwin in action.
I used to know this old hippie who steered with his knees. It freed up his hands so he could roll a joint.
I've, um, seen that too.
I saw a guy riding a Harley ... texting.
I know an old acid guru who drove for a couple hours with 3mg in his head. That's about 20-30 hits, depending on who's counting. He doesn't remember the drive, but there was no damage to the car. Amazing, considering that another guy drove on one hit knowing the road wouldn't be too woogly, but he got the idea that he could telepathically change the lights. It worked for the first couple lights so he figured he didn't need to slow down for a red, he would just change it at the last minute. You know the rest.
You haven't been paying attention. Between DARPA and Google, self drivers are only a few years away. You'll be able to drive while you sleep. Safely.
Normally I'd laugh at an idea like that.
But you mentioned Google. So yeah, I guess people will be sleeping at the wheel some day.
Not a fan of the DARPA grand challenge I take it?
I once saw someone driving down the road while reading a book. Seriously, they were holding the book directly over the 12 o' clock portion of the steering wheel. I pulled over and waited for 5 minutes before resuming driving.
I once played some guitar for my friends in the car while driving. They were neither amused nor impressed. It might've been OK if I actually knew how to play.
I am Chumbawamba.
have you ever driven between Oklahoma City and Kansas City, I can read a book, knit a sweater, take a nap and do pushups in the floor board while driving without seeing another soul for a hundred miles at a time, it's brutal.
Back in the 90's, I saw a Vietnamese woman driving on I-59 while eating corn on the cob. No shit.
Knew a guy who used to read the paper on his daily commute from Williamsburg to Richmond. Folded it all nice a neat lengthwise and propped it on the steering wheel. Fortunately, the local papers in Tidewater were never that engrossing. Almost as crazy as continuing to reside near a smoking nuclear reactor...although he had a choice; maybe some of the folks in coastal NE Japan, not so much.
"Back in the 90's, I saw a Vietnamese woman driving on I-59 while eating corn on the cob. No shit."
i have to admit it spoils the corn flavor...
-
nice one ("oh the Japanity")
My monk watches TV in his Prius.
Is Illinois outside of the danger zone? Just askin
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/03/31/radioactive-material-found-in-ill...
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN) - Radiation believed to be from the nuclear plant disaster in Japan has been detected in Illinois.
The radioactive iodine similar to what was released in Japan was found in a grass clipping in the Joliet area by the Radiological Assessment Field Team, which regularly checks on vegetation, air, milk and eggs to determine if any radiation is leaking from Illinois’ nuclear reactors.
How long until J6p begins to feel this isn't a joke?
Obama's promised you it won't be there, so don't worry...
Fuck me, Obama's fan just junked me...
surely not...
Obama's got two fans everybody...
They're both online...
Illinois is outside the danger zone, as is all of the USA. Radiation from Fukushima will eventually be detectable everywhere on Earth in some degree - it's going to quickly become academic as to whether one state is hit harder than any other.
This is for US midwest, today and tomorrow.
http://tinyurl.com/468qzff
But don't worry, the gov has taken steps to protect us:
EPA ready to increase radioactive release guidelineshttp://tinyurl.com/4lxysnf
Relax Homey. "Ow my Balls!" is on.
For 3 weeks, juvenile and 1 year old bluefin tuna have been swimming around inside the 25 klic Fukushima exclusion zone; wonder what declaratory judgements and conclusions the authorities have planned to make when these and other fish are seen floating belly up off the Honshu coast ???
I'd be more worried about the 10 degree area just southeast of the plant which has been swept several times since the disaster with waves of radioactive iodine. Sure the pacific is big, but that 10 degree square on the map has been saturated continously with fallout since this started. Wonder when the fishing in that part of the Pacific will be opened up for human consumption? Glowfin Tuna, new japanese delicacy!
last night on CBC news the science guy said when asked about the seawater contamination numbers, "more of a perception problem, because they just started measuring"!!!! translation...when they didn't know about it, it wasn't a problem!!! think his name is Jay Ingram. He has lost all my respect.
tokyo is lucky so far - but how long. In the meantime radioactiv fallout is contaminating the pacific - and, basically is driving against the US-westcoast
currtent forecast of the movement of the atomic cloud:
http://www.mmnews.de/index.php/etc/7597-atomwolke-vorhersage
http://oldtownalexandria.patch.com/articles/virginia-tells-residents-not...
None of Virginia’s radiation monitoring systems has detected a level of radioactive material that would pose a public health concern, according to the state’s health commissioner. However, the state's health department is advising residents that although the state’s drinking water supplies remain safe, they should "avoid using rainwater collected in cisterns as drinking water."
Just avoid water in general.
If it contains water stay-away
And pray tell, what do those vegetable and fruit thingies grow in? I'm sure all the farmers will begin using bottled water for their crops. Same for those cattle and chicken ranches. Rainwater has no impact on them.
/sarcasm
On a similar note, I bet the tobacco from VA won't need a lighter to smoke.
Because...why? I suppose he's saying that rainwater off your roof is likely to contain more radioactive particles than what you get from a reservoir, but either there is danger or there isn't. He knows there isn't, and says there isn't...but then goes and implies that there is. Dumb.
Radioactive fallout + giant whirlpool of plastic mid-pacific + sealife = GODZIRRA!!!
I'm curious how you can look at this computer simulation and conclude that fallout "is driving against the US-westcoast". It accurately shows the cloud dissipating with distance. Please note that it fades away to "nothing*" within some hundreds miles of Japan...several thousand miles short of Hawai'i, much less the US west coast.
*"nothing" is not zero. Somebody needs to model the whole planet with pretty color densities to reassure those who are concerned about this.
Please, someone stop this insanity. They are pressuring people to bring back their innocent children to these contaminated areas to save face.
"Japanese elementary school starts in April. The commencement ceremonies are coming up. The national government’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science & Technology (MEXT) is putting pressure on the Fukushima Prefectural education board to hold the ceremonies as scheduled. This is silent pressure bearing down from the national government on the prefecture.
In these areas, the parents have self-evacuated about 90% of their elementary and pre-school age children. However, because of this national government’s directive to hold the commencement ceremonies on schedule, right now the parents are getting their children to come back and this is happening rapidly."
Sometimes you just have to be a grown up...
Sometimes you just have to say no.
I'm sure that one day these same spineless parents will come asking for my sympathy and I'm afraid it may be sadly lacking.
Who's life is it anyway, yours or your governments?
Harlequin001
"Who's life is it anyway, yours or your governments?"
Guess it depends on which side of a Capitol building you are on.
can't argue with that...
but I do like to think I make my own decisions though, and that I am responsible for my own actions...
One day of exposure is not a big deal even at the current levels.
Until one day it isn't... Only God should play God...
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IYY69bExSwU/TYriXhhAahI/AAAAAAAAEh8/Rons82tDho...
What a furphy. Exposure to sources in the environment which can be ingested or inhaled is not the same as short term exposure. You shouldn't conflate the two its somewhat disingenious.
Comparisons between environmental exposure and exposure to short term sources such as x-rays etc is part of the big lie - its disinformation at its best.
More damned lies and statistics from AP, Reuters, etc... "1000mSv/hr was detected which is 4 times the safe limit for Japanese nuclear workers", well no, the current maximum exposure limit for Japanese nuclear workers is 250mSv/YEAR which makes 1000mSv/hr 35,000 times this limit - but this comparison really doesn't make any sense. The biological safety of radio isotopes is complex and much of it statistical, its not cut and dried. Different types of radiation have different effects, different isotopes have different biological half lifes and are metabolised in different ways.
Even though governments and the media would seemingly have you believe that there is such a thing as a safe dose of radiation which can all be boiled down to a single number like a mSv - it can't.
Shocking that a tsunami would happen after an earthquake in Japan and wash away the pump stations.
Shocking. Couldn't have been predicted.
<sarcasm off>
Funny thing is that none of the photos or videos after the event showed any damage nor water. Spin spin spin.
I have seen satellite photos, before the first reactor building roof blew off, that clearly showed debris around the blocks that I assumed was washed up by the tsunami. (Might have even seen them on ZH.)
Yeah, the digitalglobe satellite photos showed lots of damage to the water intakes and even some of the large cyclindrical fuel tanks moved a considerable distance.
Gotta link? All the photos I've seen here were post explosions. Thanks.
zooming in on Fukushima using Google Earth will give you enough pre-tsunami detail for comparison.
Someone posted the before/after shots on a thread the first week of the disaster, can't find it right now. But IIRC it originated from another blog but you can get the photos on the digitalglobe site and as mentioned use googel sat photos.
Thanks. Found this one:
http://www.digitalglobe.com/downloads/DG_Analysis_Japan_Earthquake_March...
Can anyone with the right background shed light on this?
Another plant worker recently came forward with this info--
http://abcnews.go.com/International/japan-nuclear-crisis-worker-speaks-r...
More than a week ago an intermittent neutron beam was eminatting from one of the reactors. The Japanese didn’t believe their readings or that it was even possible. A Swedish physicist claimed otherwise.
The Japanes press don't ask the "hard questions".
As our friend at http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/ noted:
We are left to speculate on our own.
If one "sees" that blue "light" they are dead, dead, dead.
It's believed that this is not light, and the blue is particles passing through the retina.
Massive radiation dose. Deathly.
The blue light in air is simple ionization (plasma). The retina b.s. is from the chemtrails crowd.
ionization from passing neutrons? interesting...
Who said anything about neutrons?
maybe it's cerenkov from fluid inside your eyeballs
Check out the first exposure incident, blue flashes kill dude got 12,000 rem 35hrs later game over
http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/atomic/accident/radexpos.html
You know who gets it. Alec Baldwin. He'd be good president. He's critical of Obama, and mad at nuclear bullshit
If we want to create change, we can start it. Or we have discussion on who we choose for president. Then we get them on ballot. I nominate Baldwin. If agree with me, everyone try to contact Baldwin, let's get his name on the ballot.
Putting message on more posts for feedback.
Haven't we had enough of paid actors leading our nation? Jesus Christ on a Nuclear Fuel Stick.
When will this insanity end?
At that rate might as well nominate Charlie Sheen. He is after all #winning#.
And Charlie wins now, not this winning the future bullshit.
Baldwin/Sheen 2012!
Just make sure we get the right Baldwin.
Naaah. I'm buying chicks this weekend at TSC. I'm gonna breed a president out of one of them. Do you think I should start with a Buff Orpington or an Arunacana?
Sure hope you are being as sarcastic as I am.
If you had heard that recorded phone call where he went ballistic, you would know that he's too erratic and irascible to put in charge of a McDonalds, much less the U.S.
And, yet, there's John McCain...
I've had enough practical jokes for one evening. Good night, Future Boy!
.
WTF is this 1910? Where's the fucking video? Out of all things that shoud be on tape.
Either he or BBC may be soon arrested for spreading "false, harmful rumors" by the Japanese police. LOL.
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/04/japan-earthquake-japanese-police-to.html
That blogger is doing a decent job of relaying what the Japanese authorities and press are presenting to the public.
He's become very critical of the press' refusal to ask any "hard" questions given the gravity of the situation.
I get the feeling that criticism is becoming more widespread.
When the wind changes directions it will certainly become more widespread.
It's called the golden hour in hospital trauma centers. The survival of the patient with severe trauma depends on how expeditiously the patient receives treatment. The survival rate drops off dramatically if the patient cannot get to a specialist within 60 minutes. Nuclear reactors apparently follow a similar timeline and demise if not attended to immediately. In the case of Fukushima the patient died after bleeding out in the lobby for eight hours.
The Mark I reactor has an emergency steam driven high pressure coolant injection transfer pump designed specifically for such an event. The only thing required to keep this cooling system operating is enough DC current to keep the solenoids in the valves energized and open. This critical backup system operated as designed. The cores on units 1, 2 and 3 were successfully scrammed and the emergency steam driven cooling system was engaged on all active cores.
Even after being hit with a 9.0 earthquake and a 47 foot tsunami the forty-year-old Mark I reactors performed remarkable well. The only thing required for a safe shutdown was to ensure adequate DC current to these critical valves. This should of been number one on the action item list. Number two would be to provide compressed air for the seal bladders on the spent fuel rod pools. Number three would be to refill the pools to a safe level.
There was an eight hour window of opportunity for NISA and TEPCO to avert this catastrophe. The only thing required was a meager amount of DC current, a few compressors and a water pump. Eight hours later the backup batteries finally gave out and the valves supplying emergency coolant closed. Sixteen hours later the first of four Mark 1 reactors was reduced to rubble.
You can't blame this tragedy on the earthquake, tsunami or the design of the Mark I reactor. The blame falls squarely on TEPCO's inability to provide basic reactor stewardship in a timely fashion. People wonder just how bad this situation is. Well, you really don't need to look much further than this recent report from China.
"The travelers, who were flying on Shenzhen Airlines, came from Nagano and Saitama prefectures in Japan. China's customs body said the pair had medical treatment for radiation levels "seriously" over the limit. The inspection service did not define radiation limits".
You have to appreciate were Nagano and Saitama are in relationship to the Fukushimo reactors to grasp the significance of this report. Additionally the World Health Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization have all concluded that:
"Screening for radiation of international passengers from Japan is not considered necessary at this time."
Additionally...Homeland Security spokesperson Jenny Burke also refused to answer specific questions about the O’Hare incident. She simply stressed that no aircraft entering the United States has “tested positive for radiation at harmful levels’’ and that “travelers who manifest signs of radiation sickness are referred to health authorities and provided appropriate treatment.’’
It's crystal clear just how bad the situation is when Japanese citizens south of Tokyo are covered with radioactive fallout as they exit the plane. It's equally as clear that all governing bodies are acting in collusion to hide the immensity of this disaster. It appears the only truly humanitarian gesture the world has to offer is to disregard radiation screening at airports. The land mass of Japan simply cannot absorb and dilute the amount of fallout from three reactors and close to a thousand tons of spent fuel rods melting down. This was all very preventable.
well put...thanks
You have conflated two airline stories, I think. Does not negate your point but makes it harder to hunt down what is true.
One plane landing, earlier March 18, has your home land security quote.
http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/news/4375425-418/ohare-detects-radiati...
This is a different plane landing story. More recent, March 25.
http://m.trust.org/alertnet/news/china-bans-imports-of-some-japanese-food/
Nagano
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sugexp=llsfp&xhr=t&q=nagano&cp=6&safe=...
Saitama can be found south and a little east of Nagano on that map.
Both are indeed quite far south of Fukushimo. Evidence Tokyo is indeed quite exposed.
Let me try to un-conflate or clarify my sources and concern. The March 17 report is by far the most revealing because of the time span between the first explosion and irradiated citizens coming from Tokyo. These Japanese citizens were the first out, yet still triggered airport detectors. The two business men flying to China 13 days later from points south of Tokyo confirm the extent of fallout in the region.
On March 16, 2011 ( 4 days after first explosion ) Passengers arriving from Tokyo triggered radiation detectors at Dallas-Fort Worth and O'Hare Airport.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/radioactive_fliers_land_in_us_8n9A...
On March March 25, 2011 ( 13 days after first explosion ) Two Japanese travellers from Nagano and Saitama prefectures found to have radiation levels "seriously" over the limit.
http://m.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0325/breaking1.html?via=...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/25/us-china-radiation-travellers-...
Just curious here, but why not make the default setting on the solenoids open, as on a modern car's thermostat? In the old days a failed thermostat often meant the thermostat was stuck closed and the car overheated. Im sure Im missing something obvious in the engineering, but can some of our nuclear experts shed some light here?
(BTW, I dont doubt there was poor/non-existent stewardship in the first few hours...)
Just curious here, but why not make the default setting on the solenoids open, as on a modern car's thermostat?
It was determined that the "failsafe" position was the best one for most accidents contemplated. Even poorly designed plants require a LOT of engineering.
"Just curious here, but why not make the default setting on the solenoids open"
The HPCI (high pressure coolant injection) steam driven system is a seperate emergency system isolated from the reator pressure vessel by electromagnetic valves and closed under normal operating conditions. It is a backup system and hence not activated (opened) unless there is an emergency.
http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/nuclear_power/bwr-intro.pdf
Thanks for the elucidation.
Radioactive typhoons to follow? I've seen all possible disaster movies, but nobody thought of this one..
I've got a good line in lead umbrellas...
Luckily China has been building ghost cities that are sitting idle just waiting for millions of people to move in. Those Chinese are brilliant.
I trust they haven't been building any of them near Nanking.
Probably on top of their nuclear mistakes!
We are working with Torctech. They have a FORD Explorer for the blind.
Pay Attention when driving!
http://www.torctech.com/
Hey Tyler, is it still unsafe to eat sushi? I walk by a sushi place in Toronto everyday on the way to work, it used to my favorite, but I've been avoiding it like the plague.
I walk on the other side of the street now, and make sure I pop one of those potassium pills before I do. They cost me over $500 for a two-week supply on ebay. I'm almost out. :(
Thanks for all your excellent and non-stop coverage on the nuclear situation. I don't know what I would have done without it. At first I was worried about my hair which kept falling out in big clumps (one had 2 strands in it) - so I gave up drinking milk - thanks again for your post about the contaminated milk on the west coast! Even though I'm about 2000 miles to the east, you can't take any chances can you when you're entire life has evolved into one BIG DOOMSDAY-CIRLCE-JERK-CULT. Thanks again.
Fun isn't it? I love it when TSHTF. It brings out the character in everyone!
.
Agreed
@Lapri
Keep up the nice informative blogwork -- I've been there twice today for different stories and hope you have read Organic Matter's comment below as well espescially the bit about the airline:
""@OM
If this is legit:
"The travelers, who were flying on Shenzhen Airlines, came from Nagano and Saitama prefectures in Japan. China's customs body said the pair had medical treatment for radiation levels "seriously" over the limit. The inspection service did not define radiation limits".
You have to appreciate were Nagano and Saitama are in relationship to the Fukushimo reactors to grasp the significance of this report.""
Hope it's not true or just Sino disinformation, but if it IS true -- you have real problems now, not tomorrow.
Sources:
http://m.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0325/breaking1.html?via=...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/25/us-china-radiation-travellers-...
THAnks for the links, much apreciated. Would wish the Chinese had been more upfront on levels and isotopic data.
Sounds like the emergency pumps were given the New Orleans treatment.
'Strategically' placed in the basements (eg, hospitals), even though NO is 10 feet below sea level. Of course they won't work when the places are flooded or hit by a tsunami.
Shizuoka, April 1 (Jiji Press)--The central Japan city of Shizuoka said Friday that it will provide Tokyo Electric Power Co. <9501> with a huge floating structure for use to store radiation-contaminated water at the company's crippled nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.
The "mega float" structure, which is 136 meters long, 46 meters wide and 3 meters tall, has a cavity inside. It will not sink even if up to some 10,000 tons of water are poured into the space, according to the Shizuoka municipal government.
The steel structure, which is moored some 30 meters off a port in the city, is currently used as a place for fishing and had a total of 18,500 visitors in the year through March.
Tokyo Electric Power plans to transport the structure to an area off its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, after altering some parts at a shipyard in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, to make it better suited for the storage of the contaminated water.
The company has yet to decide a schedule for this.
(2011/04/01-23:18)
Jim, I laughed pretty hard at that, in sort of a sick kind of way. Is that okay?
'Just pump it into this fishing pier'
April Fool's is apparently a year round occurance these days.
I'm worrying somebody's going to get tons and tonnes mixed up...the more there's an international involvement (French, American who use commas and periods differently for numbers (I remember this caused endless mistakes amongst my English students), the more the possibility of translation errors, errors in calculations...
Well, it's not like such errors have caused problems, such as, say for instance, expensive space probes to crash into Mars...
http://articles.cnn.com/1999-09-30/tech/9909_30_mars.metric.02_1_climate-orbiter-spacecraft-team-metric-system?_s=PM:TECH
"This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper." - T.S. Eliot
first line of the The Waste Land: "April is the cruelest month"
<chills>
And it finally dawns us that our poets and novelists were actually telling the truth - showing the way to understanding. They were called the coddled elite who lived in ivory towers, luddites, pessimists. They dared look into the dark ahead, observed our wars, our social customs, our behavior and generally concluded that this will not end well.
The Second Coming, Yeats (1919)
TURNING and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
I'll try to put up some numbers later this evening. I am starting to think this is going to make Chernobyl look like a fire drill...as far as general population impact is concerned. Not to take anything away from the first responders at Chernobyl. But regular folks were exposed to a few millisieverts at most, according to the UN stuff I have been going over. The land use limitations are there for a reason, but the immediate population impacts were from sporadic rain through the radionuclide cloud and were quite patchy.
At Chernobyl, about 22 kg of cesium was dispersed over an entire hemisphere of the Earth. If the release rates at Fukushima keep up, that's going to be eclipsed any day now if it hasn't been already.
Not liking where this is heading. Wish the data didn't suck so bad.
If you were setting a bet line at 22kg, I would take over for $1000.
Last week slewie the pi rat was setting the line for overall impact at 5x Chernobyl. I'm starting to wish I had taken over for $1000.
and they say they still don't know where the highly radioactive water came from (still coming, I suppose). Extend and pretend, or too radioactive to investigate.
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/04/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-where-is.html
I read an article stating that GE and Toshiba workers were in the #4 reactor building for maintenance and inspection when the earthquake hit, and one of the workers stated the overhead pipes broke and water was pouring out of the cieling as the workers fled outside. I can't remember where I found it, but interviewing those wokers would be much more informative as it migh shed light on the damage to the piping. Also, if the shaking was so strong, I wonder if susbstantail amounts of water from the spent fuel pools sloshed out leaving much less to cool the fueld and making it easier for the remaining water to evaporate away quickly.
The govn of Japan will already be making plans to steadily shift the Capital of the nation to Kyoto. Private sector business may linger in Tokyo for many years but there will be a long process now of business migrating away from Tokyo.