Earthquake Japan

[galaxy xr8]

Does anyone know if the Okinawa Aquarium in Japan was affected at all ?.

I was watching a documentry about it on T/V the other night, it was rather good and they were explaining about it's construction.

They explained how they built it to withstand a natural disaster like an Earthquake etc, the main viewing tank was amazing how it was constructed, 134 Ton 7 piece acrylic structure.

Just hoping that it wasn't affected ?.

[dave351cid]

Originally Posted by shedcoupe

I think this is a true story - back in the days of nuke testing in Australia, RAAF Lincoln bombers flew through the clouds to collect dust samples so that the engineers could work out how efficient the design was - ie. the percentage of uranium or plutonium that had gone bang.

After the planes landed, techs in moon suits came out to empty the wingtip sample canisters, and the aircrew were told to shower before lunch.
After the tests some planes were cut up and buried as they were too 'hot'.

sadly true.
i knew a guy who`s father was one of the pilots. he and pretty much all the others involved had or were in the process of dieing from all kinds of strange cancers. they had been told that it was harmless.

i would hope that the general public is a lot better informed these days and will not blindly follow the orders of a goverment.
our history has a lot to answer for.


.

[Jim Goose]

The father of the wife of one my old bosses was in the RAAF and was at maralinga.
He got several doses of radiation, which then passed onto his daughter at birth.

She had at the end of 2007 (when i lasted worked there) had over 40 operations to remove cancers (a record im told). She alaso has heart defect which she then passed onto her unborn daughter.

[XBROO]

Stories like these are why I don't want to be around any nuclear reactors.

[shedcoupe]

Bit like when I was an apprentice - "oh no, that white asbestos is harmless -you gotta watch out for the blue asbestos. Keep drilling."

[shedcoupe]

Some (more) astonishing tsunami video - http://storyful.com/stories/gjdihk

No. 2 reactor not looking good - possible rupture of the core pressure vessel -
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/27_12.html

[blueoval]

I think blind Freddy knows how dangerous this right now.

[shedcoupe]

Originally Posted by blueoval

I think blind Freddy knows how dangerous this right now.

Well it is, and it isn't, depending on where you are.
If the poor techies can keep things 'under control' for a while longer, the reactor cores and spent fuel ponds won't melt completely and there won't be any danger to Tokyo and the rest of Japan outside the exclusion zone.
But if there's a loss of cooling there will be hell to pay because of the huge mass of radionucleides that could be released into the atmosphere, and what happens then largely depends on the wind direction.
There will not be an early resolution to this drama regardless of what happens next.
The last thing they need is another big quake or an early typhoon in the months ahead.
At least the southern hemisphere is unlikely to be affected no matter how bad it may get.

[Jim Goose]

From the Japantimes website...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-b...0110327a1.html

Level of iodine-131 in seawater off chart
Contamination 1,250 times above maximum limit

By KANAKO TAKAHARA and KAZUAKI NAGATA
Staff writers

The level of radioactive iodine detected in seawater near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant was 1,250 times above the maximum level allowable, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Saturday, suggesting contamination from the reactors is spreading.

Meanwhile, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. turned on the lights in the control room of the No. 2 reactor the same day, and was analyzing and trying to remove pools of water containing radioactive materials in the turbine buildings of reactors 1 to 3.

The iodine-131 in the seawater was detected at 8:30 a.m. Friday, about 330 meters south of the plant's drain outlets. Previously, the highest amount recorded was about 100 times above the permitted level.

If a person drank 500 ml of water containing the newly detected level of contamination, it would be the equivalent of 1 millisievert of radiation, or the average dosage one is exposed to annually, the NISA said.

"It is a substantial amount," NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama told a news conference.

But he also stressed there is "no immediate risk to public health," as the changing tides will dilute the iodine-131, and its half-life, or the amount of time it takes for it to lose half its radioactivity, is only eight days.

Nishiyama said the high concentration was perhaps caused by airborne radiation that contaminated the seawater, or contaminated water from the plant that flowed out to sea.

Tepco said early Saturday that it had detected a radiation reading of 200 millisieverts per hour in a pool of water in the No. 1 reactor's turbine building on March 18 and failed to notify workers, but later denied that a radiation level that high was found.

"If we had warned them, we may have been able to avoid having workers (at the No. 3 reactor) exposed to radiation," a Tepco official said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the government had not been informed about the high radiation reading at the No. 1 plant and he will order Tepco to thoroughly report information. "If (Tepco) doesn't report various information with speed and accuracy, the government can't give proper instructions," Edano said. "It will only trigger distrust from the public and from the workers at the site."

On Thursday, three workers in the turbine building's basement of reactor 3 were exposed to a high dosage of radiation when they stepped into about 15 cm of contaminated water.

Two of the workers were not wearing high boots and received beta ray burns when the water soaked their legs. All three were sent to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba Prefecture.

Tests revealed that while the two received 170 to 180 millisieverts of radiation, within the maximum allowable dose of 250 millisieverts, their feet were exposed to between 2 and 6 sieverts. One sievert is equivalent to 1,000 millisieverts. But their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening and will be treated the same way as regular burns, the institute said, adding that the workers are able to walk unassisted.

On Saturday, Tepco also started pumping fresh water rather than seawater into the No. 2 reactor.

Information from Kyodo added

[shedcoupe]

For the sparkies here -
http://www.scientificamerican.com/bl...ids-2011-03-25

There's two seperate grids in Japan - one at 50 Hz and one at 60 Hz.
D'oh.

[blueoval]

While the reports say the radiation levels are not life threateing what's to say they won't suffer cancerous symptoms later?

[shedcoupe]

The airborne and water-borne releases will cause some cancers in non-TEPCO people.
The everyday releases of industrial pus will also cause some cancers.
Each time we buy something Chinese-made some poor sod has likely endured some grief to produce it too, whether it be sweat-shop or lousy industrial-health practices or whatever.

[buggerlugs]

Mate of mine was talking to his In Laws from Tokyo last night on the computer. While talking they had another small earthquake.........

[NickyN]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110408/...stranded_alone

I just read this article and my heart just breaks for this survivor, Mr. Shiga. Imagine the thoughts he's had going through his mind for a month now? He knows what's happening with the reactors (his battery-operated radio, his only link to the outside) yet that's where he is and he can't escape to a shelter even if he wanted to. Yet he was composed and offered to pay the AP reporters for any food they may have had on them. Luckily they had water and energy bars to give to Mr. Shiga. I feel really sorry for him, he may have survived but at what cost? His wife, his home, his farm, his own health? I realize Mr. Shiga is within the 20km evacuation zone so that's why rescuers couldn't enter the area to search for survivors.

Even if authorities can make it to him, Shiga said he might rather stay.

"I'm old and I don't know if I could leave here. Who would take care of me?" he said, staring blankly through his sliding glass doors at the mess in his yard. "I don't want to go anywhere. But I don't have water and I'm running out of food."

Seems like he's lost hope and has accepted his fate. Hopefully, when rescuers reach him they can convince him to go to a shelter, medical staff can monitor his health and give him basic necessities like food and water. I also hope he'll find his wife waiting for him at the shelter he goes to. But I can't help but wonder how many more survivors are within the 20km evacuation zone.

Ganbare Japan!
日本がんばれ！

[shedcoupe]

When Godzilla drops in for a cuppa - http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/ja...foreafter3.htm

move the cursor from left to right on the image for 'before' and 'after 'views

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

I'm just waiting for some Greenie to blame it on climate change!

Not a greenie but maybe they need more funding.

http://www.theage.com.au/environment...413-1ddaw.html

Climate change link to earthquakes
April 13, 2011 - 2:01PM

Long-term climate change could be responsible for moving the Earth's tectonic plates.

A team of scientists based in Australia, France and Germany has established a link between monsoons in India over the past 10 million years and the motion of the Indian plate.

The scientists have found that, as monsoons in the area increased, the plate moved by almost one centimetre a year.
Advertisement: Story continues below

The researchers say it's the first time climate change has been recognised as having the potential to influence the motion of tectonic plates.

"It is known that certain geologic events caused by plate motions have the ability to influence climate patterns over a period of a million years," Dr Giampiero Iaffaldano from the Australian National University said in a statement.

"Now we know that the opposite holds as well.

"Long-term climate change, or the natural changes in climate patterns over millions of years, can modify the motion of plates in a feedback mechanism."

Dr Iaffaldano said the findings could help to reveal more information about the cause of earthquakes.

"Ultimately, we aim at understanding what caused plate motions to change and which regions are currently more prone to large earthquakes," he said.

"To that end, we may also have to consider the history of climate over the past million years."

Link to the actual paper

AAP

[CJR09]

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth...921711896.html

[DJR-351]

Japanese Tsunami viewed from a car's dash cam....

http://www.flixxy.com/japanese-tsuna...from-a-car.htm

[Lukeyson]

wow thats a crazy view !
was nice of the chap to leave the windscreen wiper on intermittant incase anything got on the screen

[DJR-351]

Six months on and they are doing an amazing job....

http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2011/...since-ear.html

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by DJR-351

Japanese Tsunami viewed from a car's dash cam....

http://www.flixxy.com/japanese-tsuna...from-a-car.htm

just saw that . simply crazy , the water is about 5 metres deep inside 2 minutes

[DJM83]

Gotta hand it to them, still battling on. Remarkable effort.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by DJR-351

Six months on and they are doing an amazing job....

http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2011/...since-ear.html

Thanks for the link, I would love to know how they moved some of those ships.

[Jim Goose]

I love how the van is still there waiting for its owner????

But somehow probably wont ever come to collect it.



Lots of radiation has been found in the area and a few months ago they finally admitted that there was more then just a little release of the nastier stuff.....