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Japan Nuclear Crisis Part II


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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/world/asia/17tokyo.html?_r=1&hp

Evasive news conferences followed uninformative briefings as the crisis intensified over the past five days. Never has postwar Japan needed strong, assertive leadership more — and never has its weak, rudderless system of governing been so clearly exposed. With earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis striking in rapid, bewildering succession, Japan’s leaders need skills they are not trained to have: rallying the public, improvising solutions and cooperating with powerful bureaucracies.

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I don't know the actual situation. Differing press releases confuse me as well.

Perspective wise, worst case they'll be an exclusion zone of maybe a hundred kilometers around the plant people can't settle in for decades, besides the plant workers, some people could be sickened by radiation. Some could even die.

Tens of thousands are probably dead in the tsunami, it is still Winter there, tens or hundreds of thousands are in tents in the cold and basics like water, food and medicine may run out due to infrastructure damage.

The reactors are troubling, and may be bad, but worst case I don't think they can match the tsunami.

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Disturbing article by the AP this morning.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=134614435

Bungling, Cover-Ups Define Japanese Nuclear Power

Behind Japan's escalating nuclear crisis sits a scandal-ridden energy industry in a comfy relationship with government regulators often willing to overlook safety lapses.

Leaks of radioactive steam and workers contaminated with radiation are just part of the disturbing catalog of accidents that have occurred over the years and been belatedly reported to the public, if at all.

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S Gupta from CNN has said that his radiation levels have "quadrupled" in 36 hours. To put this in context and frame it in reality however, he went on to say that at current levels it should not be harmful. At this rate, the normal radiation that one would receive in one year would take only 1 and 1/2 months. However, the trend is alarming i.e. if you follow the curve of the radiation level.

Not good.

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I don't know the actual situation. Differing press releases confuse me as well.

Perspective wise, worst case they'll be an exclusion zone of maybe a hundred kilometers around the plant people can't settle in for decades, besides the plant workers, some people could be sickened by radiation. Some could even die.

Tens of thousands are probably dead in the tsunami, it is still Winter there, tens or hundreds of thousands are in tents in the cold and basics like water, food and medicine may run out due to infrastructure damage.

The reactors are troubling, and may be bad, but worst case I don't think they can match the tsunami.

I'd consider that on par with the tsunami. I don't know the exact population density around there, but I believe there's at least 500,000 and probably higher in a 100 km radius. That's a lot of people to move in a country that already has a very high population density. Makes relocating the victims of Katrina seem like a minor inconvenience.

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more conflicting info out of the government

PM press guy said they said helicopters confirm that the pool at 4 is not dry as the US stated , but then another hour later Rueters reported that some other government official said they coundn't confirm is there was water in 4 or not

re: water cannon. The reports are they are NOT going to use water cannon due to high radiation for the time being

then a report said 1/2 hour later radiation levels spiked when they used the water cannon.....

so was the radiation level too high to begin with then fell far enough to begin operation, then the radiation spiked(but are still safe) and operations are still on going? Or was the radiation level OK to begin with...they sprayed water on it, but it radiation spiked and they had to quit?

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more conflicting info out of the government

PM press guy said they said helicopters confirm that the pool at 4 is not dry as the US stated , but then another hour later Rueters reported that some other government official said they coundn't confirm is there was water in 4 or not

re: water cannon. The reports are they are NOT going to use water cannon due to high radiation for the time being

then a report said 1/2 hour later radiation levels spiked when they used the water cannon.....

so was the radiation level too high to begin with then fell far enough to begin operation, then the radiation spiked(but are still safe) and operations are still on going? Or was the radiation level OK to begin with...they sprayed water on it, but it radiation spiked and they had to quit?

It would make sense radiation increased after water was added if steam was being created.

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TEPCO says white smoke or steam can be seen at no.2 reactor - no comment on what this might indicate.

The Japanese nuclear agency says the pool for cooling spent nuclear fuel reactor 4 remains a "serious concern".

Military helicopters are to be used on Friday for more water drops.(for 3)

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Radiation level rises after water shot at troubled reactor

TOKYO, March 17, Kyodo

The radiation level rose at the troubled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant Thursday evening after the Self-Defense Forces' fire trucks began shooting high-pressure streams of water at its crisis-hit No. 3 reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The level around the plant's administration building rose to 4,000 microsievert per hour from 3,700 after the trucks joined an unprecedented attempt to cool down the reactor's apparently overheating fuel pool, after SDF helicopters dropped tons of water earlier in the day.

It was unchanged after the choppers dumped seawater onto the reactor shortly before 10 a.m., the utility said earlier in the day.

The level around the plant's quake-proof building at which workers are standing by had risen to about 3,000 microsievert per hour, it said in the morning. The level compares to 1,000 microsievert, or 1 millisievert, to which people can be safely exposed in one year.

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Singapore evacuating citizens within 100 km of Fukushima plant

SINGAPORE, March 17, Kyodo

The Singapore government on Thursday advised its citizens to evacuate areas which are within 100 kilometers of the stricken nuclear power plant in Japan's northeast.

''The Singapore Embassy in Tokyo has made arrangements for Singaporeans living within the radius of 80 to 100 km from the nuclear power plant to leave for safer locations today,'' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It advised Singaporeans to evacuate Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures with immediate effect.

It also urged Singaporeans in the Kanto region that includes Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures to leave the area if they have no pressing reasons to remain, the statement said.

The Singapore Embassy in Tokyo has been assisting Singaporeans who are leaving Japan with travel arrangements.

The government is also considering the possibility of Singapore Airlines mounting extra flights for this purpose.

http://english.kyodo...1/03/79013.html

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Maybe I'm being a little insensitive here..but when will the risk of larger scale catastrophe be enough to start doing everything they can to get water to those pools? It seems that for the most part in the last 2 days, the risk mitigation has been more on the side of preserving the health of the workers as opposed to preventing large scale release. There have been aborted helicopter missions, the helicopters are flying too high to be effective, and they keep pulling the water cannons back, etc.

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Maybe I'm being a little insensitive here..but when will the risk of larger scale catastrophe be enough to start doing everything they can to get water to those pools? It seems that for the most part in the last 2 days, the risk mitigation has been more on the side of preserving the health of the workers as opposed to preventing large scale release. There have been aborted helicopter missions, the helicopters are flying too high to be effective, and they keep pulling the water cannons back, etc.

You're asking if we are at the Spock in Wrath of Khan point?

Got me. Impossible to know given the flow of information from Tepco.

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Maybe I'm being a little insensitive here..but when will the risk of larger scale catastrophe be enough to start doing everything they can to get water to those pools? It seems that for the most part in the last 2 days, the risk mitigation has been more on the side of preserving the health of the workers as opposed to preventing large scale release. There have been aborted helicopter missions, the helicopters are flying too high to be effective, and they keep pulling the water cannons back, etc.

They are extremely sensitive to radiation considering they had two bombs dropped on them.

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It is my understanding that you have be careful not to upset the spent rods, i.e knock them out of their racks. If they come in contact with each other, it will really hit the fan. The racks holding the spent rods may be in a weakened stated due to the explosions/heat. The force of water drops/cannon may cause more harm, believe it or not.

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Radiation level rises after water shot at troubled reactor

TOKYO, March 17, Kyodo

The radiation level rose at the troubled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant Thursday evening after the Self-Defense Forces' fire trucks began shooting high-pressure streams of water at its crisis-hit No. 3 reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The level around the plant's administration building rose to 4,000 microsievert per hour from 3,700 after the trucks joined an unprecedented attempt to cool down the reactor's apparently overheating fuel pool, after SDF helicopters dropped tons of water earlier in the day.

It was unchanged after the choppers dumped seawater onto the reactor shortly before 10 a.m., the utility said earlier in the day.

The level around the plant's quake-proof building at which workers are standing by had risen to about 3,000 microsievert per hour, it said in the morning. The level compares to 1,000 microsievert, or 1 millisievert, to which people can be safely exposed in one year.

Then of course:

NEWS ADVISORY: Water shots had no immediate effect on radiation levels: agency (22:01)

This is the kind of conflicting information that has been going on that leads people to believe there is a cover-up or confuses people.

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