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Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

From Guardian

(AP) Japan warned of an alarming radiation leak from a stricken nuclear power plant and told people nearby to stay indoors to avoid becoming sick in a rapidly escalating national crisis following last week's earthquake and tsunami.

In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation has spread from the three reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in one of the hardest-hit provinces in Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.

"The level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out," Kan said.

He warned there are dangers of more leaks and told people living within 19 miles (30 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex to stay indoors to avoid radiation sickness.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said a fourth reactor at the complex was on fire and more radiation had been released.

"Now we are talking about levels that can damage human health. These are readings taken near the area where we believe the releases are happening. Far away, the levels should be lower," he said.
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0355: The BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says that Japan's nuclear safety agency says it suspects the explosion may have damaged the vessel that holds the number two reactor. That would make it a more serious incident than the two previous explosions at Fukushima that were thought just to have damaged the buildings that housed the reactors.
 
Latest on reactor status from New Scientist
According to The New York Times, a third explosion at the plant is now confirmed to have damaged the containment vessel around the plant's reactor no. 3.
...
Some 800 staff have now been withdrawn from the plant, leaving just 50 workers struggling to cool the reactors with sea water - presumably at significant personal risk.
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:(
 
Oh god that nuke stuff isn't good news. China have declared a no fly zone into Narita.
I'll be gutted if we don't get to fly out now.
 
Never mind the meltdown...

W7VOA Steve Herman
While chance of meltdown leading to criticality seems very remote, we're told that the spent fuel pools are exposed to the atmosphere.
9 minutes ago

W7VOA Steve Herman
Kyodo reports spent nuke fuel pool at Fukushima may be boiling. (I'm more concerned about these exposed pools than meltdown danger).
10 minutes ago
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From Reuters Im guessing this is a very small rise, but a rise none the less.

Radiation in Vladivostok, some 800 km (500 miles) northwest of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, were 1 microroentgen per hour higher at 0400 GMT than six hours previously, the regional interior ministry said.

Russia's military said it was on alert to evacuate people if required from Russia's Sakhalin island and the Southern Kuril island chain which is at the heart of a territorial dispute with Japan, Interfax news agency reported.

Called the Northern Territories by Japan, they are inhabited by Russians and one of the islands, Tanfilyeva, is a mere 6 km (4 miles) from Japan's coast.
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Google Map
 
According to The New York Times, a third explosion at the plant is now confirmed to have damaged the containment vessel around the plant's reactor no. 3.
...
Some 800 staff have now been withdrawn from the plant, leaving just 50 workers struggling to cool the reactors with sea water - presumably at significant personal risk.
Click to expand...

Yes, regardless of what you think of nuclear power these men and women are incredibly brave people.
 
These are levels at the reactor, these will obviously differ the further away you go.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the radiation levels at the nuclear plant have surged to levels that will "clearly have impact on the human body." The levels monitored at the plant as of early Tuesday morning ranged between 30 to 400 millisieverts per hour. Localities including Tokyo and nearby Saitama and Ibaraki prefectures were reporting elevated levels of radiation Tuesday morning, though too low to cause injury.

Exposure at the upper end of the range, at 400 millisievert is equivalent to 40 rem. A single dose of 25 rem can cause temporary sterility in men. One hundred rems can cause radiation sickness and 500 rems likely will cause death. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission limits the exposure of U.S. nuclear workers to no more than 5 rem per year.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576199884191526312.html?mod=
 
this may help when looking at levels. The confusion is the use of the units to denote danger - im crap at maths :(

258036357.png
 
Have heard sky are reporting radiation levels are now much lower since the fire was put out, expected but may also indicate at least for now number 2 reacter is still sealed?..wild specuation on my behalf
 
ON th scale of 1-7 1 being minor, 7 being cheynobel.....Japan have consistantly said its a 4......according to reports France who are insisting its worse than being let on have updgraded it from a 5 to 6.....one short of cheynobel...

I can't help thinking the next 48 hours are going to see another massive disaster :(
 
holteman said:
ON th scale of 1-7 1 being minor, 7 being cheynobel.....Japan have consistantly said its a 4......according to reports France who are insisting its worse than being let on have updgraded it from a 5 to 6.....one short of cheynobel...
Click to expand...

What's with the septenary rating system?
 
I think it's been and gone it's leaking number two, into where I have no idea... Is number four working I been told it's been closed for maintance... I hear there was a fire there as a result of number three blowing... The fire since been put out.
 
lopsidedbunny said:
I think it's been and gone it's leaking number two, into where I have no idea... Is number four working I been told it's been closed for maintance... I hear there was a fire there as a result of number three blowing... The fire since been put out.
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Number 4 was on a scheduled shutdown long before the earthquake, the problem is the spent fuel rod pool. There has been conflicting info about what exactly is on fire/the extent of earlier explosion at 4, but they seemed to think this was a major source of the increased radiation, not the situation at number 2.

Kyodo news agency reports that radiation levels in the control room are too high for TEPCO employees to remain there.

They also say:

In Ibaraki Prefecture, just south of Fukushima, an amount of radiation up to about 100 times the usual level was measured Tuesday morning. In Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, radiation of up to nine times the normal level was also briefly detected.

The Tokyo metropolitan government also said it has detected a small amount of radioactive materials such as iodine and cesium in the air of the metropolis.

The wind was blowing from north to south when the incidents occurred at the Fukushima plant.
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By the way the TEPCO press conference this morning in Japan (last night UK time) was a deeply unimpressive thing, full of confusing half-information, the reporters were getting quite annoyed with the company.

Apparently the government is also unimpressed by TEPCO:

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has strongly criticised the Tokyo Electric Power Company for its handling of the Fukushima No 1 nuclear plant, according to Japan's Kyodo news. "The TV reported an explosion. But nothing was said to the premier's office for about an hour," a Kyodo News reporter overheard Mr Kan saying during a meeting with company executives. "What the hell is going on?"
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Not sure if this is related to nuclear issues or not, but not a good sign:

1226: German flag-carrier Lufthansa says it is diverting all Tokyo-bound flights to other Japanese cities until at least Sunday, Agence France Press reports.
 
I reckon, using my magical powers of paranoia, that things are already worse than they're putting out there - trying to avoid the millions living in Tokyo hightailing it to already underpressure areas following the tsunami. That when the full scale of this comes out, the power companies and the government are going to get smashed to pieces by the way they've dealt with the human cost of the nuclear crisis but that at the same time they really have no other option. Stretched doesn't begin to describe it, Japan's managed to have THREE once in a century disasters at the same time. Nuclear, Tsunami, Earthquake. Any one could bring a nation to its knees. I feel sorry for those picking over the rubble and those who have full access to exactly how bad this is/is going to get.
 
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