Major Earthquake & Tsunami in Japan

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I haven't been keeping up with the news, any word on how things are at the plant now? They get it all taken care of?

As far as can be told, TEPCO is afraid that #1's core melted down about 16 hours after the quake, but "it's stable now". However, they deeply regret the possibility of a dire situation still developing at #3, the site of the stored fuel pool explosion seen in the video above, which they think contributed to the later explosion of #4 through a shared venting system. The #3 reactor continues to heat up despite daily pouring 15 tons/hr of borated water. Radiation near the #3 reactor is very high in places. Their plans seem to include a tent covering for the blasted reactor buildings, and later a sarcophagus. The site continues to pollute the ground water and the sea. They may be able to mitigate this with a coffer dam down to bedrock all around the plant. It'll be a multi-year project.
 
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Fukushima - One Step Forward and Four Steps Back as Each Unit Challenged by New Problems


So everything is definitely not all taken care of.
 
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I haven't been keeping up with the news, any word on how things are at the plant now? They get it all taken care of?

Um. They finally got into the number 1 reactor and were able to check the water pressure and it turns out there is almost no water in there and the rods have partially melted down, and most likely breached the containment vessel. Some radioactive water has gone into the ocean.
 
TEPCO oughta be hung for their utter negligence regarding this situation (and for creating a nuclear plant in such an impractical area to begin with). I can't believe how the Japanese government and the US government are basically turning a blind eye to this huge disaster either.

Know one really knows the exact effects the nuclear fallout will as it travels across the Pacific Ocean, but all I know is that living here in California we're basically the first to get pelted with this cancerous poison :ill: This crap really makes me angry, especially being that our government is so utterly useless when it comes to such emergencies...instead of trying to protect our health (which is in imminent danger some say), they rather waste our money going to the Middle East to accomplish nothing (IMO) :yuck:
 
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Fukushima - One Step Forward and Four Steps Back as Each Unit Challenged by New Problems


So everything is definitely not all taken care of.


I'm not saying that anything he said in that particular video is wrong, but it should be noted that Arnie Gundersen has an agenda and is an anti-nuclear power activist. Also, that still doesn't mean anything he said was wrong, but I bet many pro-nuclear energy experts with more degrees and experience would argu with that guy all day long with valid points. Just saying.. and I guess he supposedly exaggerates his experience and other things at times. Interesting. http://atomicinsights.com/2011/02/a...ly-claims-that-entergy-cannot-be-trusted.html

Something to take into consideration, that is all.
 
BWX
I'm not saying that anything he said in that particular video is wrong, but it should be noted that Arnie Gundersen has an agenda and is an anti-nuclear power activist. Also, that still doesn't mean anything he said was wrong, but I bet many pro-nuclear energy experts with more degrees and experience would argu with that guy all day long with valid points. Just saying.. and I guess he supposedly exaggerates his experience and other things at times. Interesting. http://atomicinsights.com/2011/02/a...ly-claims-that-entergy-cannot-be-trusted.html

Something to take into consideration, that is all.

Agreed. Whatever the truth is, assuming we can actually wade our way down to it, should always be considered and appropriately weighed by the individual.
 
Touching development.

Japan's Unlikely Saviors: Elderly Willing to Toil in a Nuke No-Go Zone
By HANNAH BEECH 1 hr 9 mins ago

In ancient Japan, or so the folktale goes, there used to be a mountain where old people were taken and abandoned once they reached 60 years of age. Although the practice of obasute was probably more rural legend than actual reality, it is a chilling reminder of the perils of old age in a nation where roughly one-quarter of Japanese are now 60 years old or above.

But lest anyone think that Japan's growing coterie of elderly doesn't contribute to society, a newly formed group called the Skilled Veterans Corps shows just how vital pensioners are to rebuilding a nation still reeling from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Composed of nearly 250 retired engineers and other professionals as of June 1, the group is volunteering to tread where few dare to go: the forbidden zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which is still leaking radiation after the earthquake and tsunami devastated the facility. Skilled Veterans Corps was founded by Yasuteru Yamada, a 72-year-old retired engineer who believes that it is the older segment of society that should expose itself to potentially deadly radiation, thereby protecting younger Japanese from long-term health risks. "Even if I were exposed to radiation, cancer could take 20 or 30 years or longer to develop," Yamada told the BBC. "I am 72 and on average I probably have 13 to 15 years left to live."

The stoicism and selflessness with which Japanese have dealt with this year's natural disasters have been remarkable to behold. But nowhere is the collective, sacrificial spirit greater than among Japan's elderly. They, more than younger Japanese, remember what it was like when Japan was not yet a rich, comfortable nation. Many, like Yamada, are determined to contribute whatever they can to return their country to normal. "Our generation who has, consciously or unconsciously, approved the construction of the Fukushima nuclear power plants and enjoyed the benefits of the vast supply of electricity generated... should be the first to join the Skilled Veteran Corps to install or repair the [Fukushima plant's damaged] cooling system," says a mission statement on the group's new website. "This is the duty of our generation to the next generation and the one thereafter."

A disproportionate number of elderly were killed by the March 11 catastrophe, in part because they could not evacuate quickly enough and in part because the remote areas where they lived had already suffered an exodus of young people to the big cities. Of those that survived, some are living in temporary housing and are awaiting news of whether their villages or towns will be rebuilt at all. In the meantime, though, the Skilled Veterans Corps is hoping to step into the breach and do what they can to at least mitigate the nuclear - if not natural - disaster. So far the elderly volunteers have not gotten permission from the government to enter the nuclear no-go zone. But the dangers at the Fukushima plant, where three reactors have most likely suffered meltdowns, show little sign of abating. Plant operator Tepco announced earlier this week that yet two more workers, one in his 30s and another in his 40s, may have been exposed to radiation levels surpassing maximum government limits. (The current maximum of 250 millisieverts is already more than double the previous ceiling of 100 millisieverts.) For young and old, the fallout from Japan's March 11 calamity continues.
 
Amazing. The selflessness of all the people concerned continues to amaze me. Simply couldn't see the same happening in the USA or UK.

With regards to the earlier comments about radioactive contaminated water hitting U.S. shores, I wouldn't worry too much. On the very small chance that traces appear near America, I'd expect them to be negligible, probably no higher than normal seawater radiation levels. The Pacific ocean is a rather large area in which to diffuse virtually anything. I'd even say it's a bit selfish having thoughts about it hitting the US when it's much, much more of a concern for the Japanese themselves.

As for the location of the plant, I'm sure I mentioned something on it earlier on in the thread. Japan is not a particularly flat or large country, so you can't really build a plant inland, especially if you're trying to build it away from population centres. Plants also need access to large supplies of water, so the only logical place they could build a powerplant is on the coast. It's not negligent, it's common sense.
 
So I get updates from Sea Shepard on my Facebook, and apparently the Japanese have taken $29 million from the earthquake relief funds and allocated them to their whaling fleet, which has just left Japan this past week.

👎
 
So I get updates from Sea Shepard on my Facebook, and apparently the Japanese have taken $29 million from the earthquake relief funds and allocated them to their whaling fleet, which has just left Japan this past week.

👎

I highly doubt that the Japanese would do that...
 
It seems appropriate & inappropriate at the same time. According to the article, the village that is in need of help also happens to be a base for whaling. So it's not like the government is taking money from 'a' and spending it on 'b'. I buy their argument that it is appropriate use of funds. It basically restores the villagers livelihood.

Legality of whaling is a whole another matter. Again, I kind of take a fuzzy position. Whaling is historical tradition in certain culture. Certain species that are near-extinct, I think should be protected. Total ban on whaling is ridiculous. If whaling is done in sustainable fashion, I don't think these Greenpeace type organization has any right to resort to harassment or violence.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to look the other way that Japan is using a legal loophole to continue whaling. Bottom line, I think there should be a compromise.
 
I can see why many people are angry at this, since Japan has clearly been pulling a fast one with their 'scientific expedition' excuse for their whaling operations for some time, and no-one who donated money to Japan after the tsunami probably likes the idea that their money might end up in the hands of the whalers. That said, I agree with you, Shintaro - the problem here is that Japan has found a way to continue whaling legally, and not that they are being given cash to help rebuild their businesses, which ultimately will have a positive effect on these towns in many other ways besides lining the pockets of the whalers. Of course, many of those involved in whaling probably lost a great deal in the tsunami as well.
 
I can see why many people are angry at this, since Japan has clearly been pulling a fast one with their 'scientific expedition' excuse for their whaling operations for some time, and no-one who donated money to Japan after the tsunami probably likes the idea that their money might end up in the hands of the whalers.

Unfortunately I couldn't afford to donate anything, but if I was going to and had known that they would be using some of the money for their whaling efforts, I would have kept my money.

Here's another article:

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/20...go-to-japans-whaling-industry/?xid=gonewsedit
 
Unfortunately I couldn't afford to donate anything, but if I was going to and had known that they would be using some of the money for their whaling efforts, I would have kept my money.

Only a tiny fraction of the money donated to the relief effort is being used for this. The Japanese Red Cross alone received over $1 billion in donations and the total cost of the relief effort is estimated to run into tens of billions of dollars.
 
After the tsunami, wasn't there a story about how the dolphin/whale(I forget which) activists were assisted or ushered to safety by the very people they were demonstrating against? I'm not sure about the details, but that's when I realized that one of the villages hit by the tsunami was involved with either whaling or dolphin slaughtering.

I do wonder what percentage of the fund is going to the whalers, or how this fund is structured, but I can certain understand R1600's sentiments. Even if you felt strongly against those industries, at the time of giving donation, you are just thinking about how you can help out. You never dream that, even if indirectly, that some of the funds go out to support the very political nemesis you despise.

I do wonder about this Recovery Fund, and exactly how much of it might have come from possibly anti-whaling/dolphin slaughtering donators. If say most of them came from foreign donors, I would concur that this was a ill-advised decision by the Japanese Government.


Unfortunately I couldn't afford to donate anything, but if I was going to and had known that they would be using some of the money for their whaling efforts, I would have kept my money.
Well, if it makes you feel better, as Chris(Touring Mars) noted, allotted share of the donation to the whalers should realistically be microscopic portion of the total donation sent to Japan. Most of funds would have gone on to support the non-whaling, non whale consuming Japanese. :dopey: I think most of us has had whale meat before, or maybe have tried it once. It's a big deal politically, but whale meat really is nothing to write home about. I ate it once ages ago. Even when I used to be into sushi or sashimi, no, I never got craving for whale meat.

And while you say you weren't able to donate any money, I get the impression that you were into some JDM stuff, so you probably made some indirect pre-tsunami donation to Japan anyway. We thank you very much. :sly:
"Operation Divine Wind". Those guys are hilarious.
 
Yeah, I heard that news and my friend told me that there might be more.

Just a speculation, during the 11/3/11 disaster, a week before there was a 7.0 Magnitude earthquake. Since last Sunday there was another 7.0 Magnitude earthquake, could there be a worse coming?
 
This one was much further south though, as far as the article states. I wonder if it's just the same fault, but the actual "movement" is making it's way down the line. If that makes any sense.
 
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