Earthquake/Tsunami in Japan

[zed]

1000 times worse is a gross exaggeration. I believe in Tokyo it was roughly the equivalent of a 7.0ish earthquake I believe and that was ~240km from the quake's center. The reactor in question was a lot closer ~100-110km from center I believe.

tokyo was ~400km from the quake center
looking at the map here the distance is much closer to 200km than 100km http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12726628
and alpahwolfs data looks right thus in conclusion
1000x is NOT a gross exageration.
i.e. If the earthquake happened under tokyo the effects in the city would of been much more than 1000 times.

 

[fellix]

Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami

 

[Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.]

Now they've got a volcanic eruption.

The blast could be heard for miles, and shattered windows four miles away, the BBC reported. Hundreds of people fled the area as the volcano spewed debris, including hot ash and rocks, more than 6,000 feet in the air, according to BBC reports.

 

[hoho]

Actually I believe that's a second volcano that (re)started erupting right after the quake there. Though the first one didn't seem to be too bad. The live cam I saw earlier today only showed a big column of dust rising up.

 

[Kaotik]

Now they've got a volcanic eruption.

Actually that thing has been erupting for a months I think, though now it was silent for couple weeks before, it's not sure the earthquakes had anything to do with it continuing to erupt

 

[fellix]

Zhirinovsky suggests resettling Japanese to Russia

 

[Sxotty]

It seems we learned that building nuclear reactors on the ocean, even a bay in an earthquake zone it is freaking terrible idea. At least I hope someone learned it. I think they have held up remarkably well considering. Just wish someone did some considering before.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Zhirinovsky suggests resettling Japanese to Russia

haha

It seems we learned that building nuclear reactors on the ocean, even a bay in an earthquake zone it is freaking terrible idea. At least I hope someone learned it. I think they have held up remarkably well considering. Just wish someone did some considering before.

Well they've been there for 40 years. The Japanese have limited options for power generation. The problems these facilities are facing should make future ones safer.

 

[argor]

here is little weird coincidences in iceland there is a Japanese film festival at one cinema paid by the Japanese embassy that started the same day the earthquake struck
and the Japanese film that i saw today briefly featured the last big earthquake that hit japan

 

[Kaotik]

Zhirinovsky suggests resettling Japanese to Russia

That guy is probably the single craziest man in duma, if it was up to him, for example Finland would be part of Russia.

It seems we learned that building nuclear reactors on the ocean, even a bay in an earthquake zone it is freaking terrible idea. At least I hope someone learned it. I think they have held up remarkably well considering. Just wish someone did some considering before.

Actually they're built close to ocean for a reason - the very thing they're doing right now aka using seawater as emergency coolant.
According to news, the plants were built to withstand practicly any earthquake or tsunami - but both at once was too much for them.

 

[argor]

That guy is probably the single craziest man in duma, if it was up to him, for example Finland was a part of Russia

fixed

 

[Kaotik]

fixed

nah, that's not up to anyone but historical fact, but that guy thinks finland (among many others) should be part of russia now too

 

[one]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/13/us-japan-quake-tepco-idUSTRE72C2SB20110313
The planned blackout starts today. Major stores close at 18:00 pm.

 

[hoho]

That guy is probably the single craziest man in duma, if it was up to him, for example Finland would be part of Russia.

Just Finland? I would have thought he would want to restore the USSR in it's previous glory thus occupying most of Eastern Europe.

According to news, the plants were built to withstand practicly any earthquake or tsunami - but both at once was too much for them.

"Practically any earthquake" was supposed to be around 7.2 magnitudes, they got hit by around 4-7x bigger quake and a tsunami. That's quite a bit more than they were supposed to withstand.

 

[Grall]

Reports in Swedish media of a second explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant: this time in reactor 3.

Not seen anything about this on CNN, but newspaper Expressen's still and video images shows a giant plume of black or dark grey smoke rising out of the reactor building. That suggests something more than just hydrogen gas exploded, as steam is white in color.

Fucking hell... This is scary.

*Edit:
Wondering why they don't just start pulling the fuel rods out of the core. If separated, the rate of radioactive decay - and hence heat output - should surely decrease by a lot.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Also a 290km long a 80km wide gap opend up because of the quake. Don't know if its on the surface but if it is that's gotta be one of the most scary looking things ever. You could fit half my country in that!

I've heard the gap is there and even a lot bigger than that, but It's in the ocean floor.

 

[hoho]

Wondering why they don't just start pulling the fuel rods out of the core. If separated, the rate of radioactive decay - and hence heat output - should surely decrease by a lot.

Assuming there was partial meltdown then those rods are pretty much stuck there. Also, where would you put those rods so that they wouldn't cause any more pollution?

 

[Kaotik]

Reports in Swedish media of a second explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant: this time in reactor 3.

Not seen anything about this on CNN, but newspaper Expressen's still and video images shows a giant plume of black or dark grey smoke rising out of the reactor building. That suggests something more than just hydrogen gas exploded, as steam is white in color.

Fucking hell... This is scary.

*Edit:
Wondering why they don't just start pulling the fuel rods out of the core. If separated, the rate of radioactive decay - and hence heat output - should surely decrease by a lot.

Unlike more modern plants, these don't have "core catchers" under the core, so there's no real way to just "pull them out" I believe.

According to reports, despite the bigger explosion and all, the containment vessel did withstand the explosion and is intact.

 

[Arwin]

Unlike more modern plants, these don't have "core catchers" under the core, so there's no real way to just "pull them out" I believe.

According to reports, despite the bigger explosion and all, the containment vessel did withstand the explosion and is intact.

That smoke probably came from the fact that the blast took out another concrete wall. I saw in the previous blast a very clear ripple in the air that to me at least did suggest nitrogen feeding on oxygen in the air, but I'm no expert by a long shot. Maybe we can see something similar here.

However, the fact that so much nitrogen comes out could still indicate a core meltdown happening, I don't know.

 

[Kaotik]

core meltdown, at least partly, did happen no doubt, just like in 1st reactor core, but it's not that big problem when the containment vessel doesn't break, and according ot current info, it didn't in neither case.

The core 1 & 3 are now gone, reportedly core 2 is going next, apparently cooling failed completely after the explosion at 3.