claphamboy
The wheels on the bus go round and round....
Uh-oh...
So what's happening to the water they're pumping in, then?
Let's just hope there's a fault with the gauges.
Uh-oh...
So what's happening to the water they're pumping in, then?
Yukio Edano, the government’s chief spokesman, said that it was possible the core reactor had been “deformed” by its exposure above water, but he denied that it was a meltdown. However, he said there were further complications.
It was not clear whether the water was rising to cool the reactor, despite an injection of sea water.
Pressure is also building up within the reactor, but the release valve is malfunctioning, he said. Given the potential build-up of hydrogen, he issued a warning that there could be another explosion of the type that destroyed the outer building of the plant’s first reactor on March 12th. But he said there was no danger to the thick, steel-and-reinforced-concrete container that surrounds the reactor, and he is downplaying the risk of a dangerous leak of radiation.
I woke up yesterday expecting the worst news had come on Friday, but it got worst with the explosion at the nuclear plant, and a very worrying few hours before it was confirmed as not being a major issue, and now the news that there's problems with this second reactor.
Im afraid good news regarding the nuclear reactors should be treated with extreme skepticism. Even without complete meltdown or breaches of the containment, there has been core damage and radioactive substances associated with core damage have been detected off-site.
Radioactivity levels at a 3rd nuclear plant now seem to have triggered a further emergency, will post details if I see them.
Japanese authorities have also informed the IAEA that the first (i.e., lowest) state of emergency at the Onagawa nuclear power plant has been reported by Tohoku Electric Power Company. The authorities have informed the IAEA that the three reactor units at the Onagawa nuclear power plant are under control.
Radiation levels at the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi prefecture are about 700 times higher than normal but are still low, the Tohoku Electric Power Company has said, according to the Maichi Shinbum website. Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency dismissed the possibility that the Onagawa plant was to blame, saying it was likely caused by the radioactive substances that scattered when a hydrogen explosion hit the troubled Fukushima plant on Saturday.
Im afraid good news regarding the nuclear reactors should be treated with extreme skepticism.
As must everything about this.
I've not known how to put my thoughts on what needs to be understood about Japanese officialdom's attitude to releasing news.
So I'll leap in and give an exaggerated version to make it clear: It's not that long since officials who were the bearer of bad news, and in any way responsible, were expected to top themselves.
There are, of course, also practical crisis-management reasons for officials not publicising rational expectations about what the scale of the disaster will turn out to be: even more would very likely die as a result of panic, or even of despondency.
I find it interesting is that, as far as I've noticed, the Western media have co-operated. Imagine there'd been a tsunami in Belgium. The Sky News estimate of deaths would have peaked at about 300,000 on Saturday and be falling back to many many tens of thousands by tomorrow.
Radiation levels at the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi prefecture are about 700 times higher than normal but are still low, the Tohoku Electric Power Company has said, according to the Maichi Shinbum website. Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency dismissed the possibility that the Onagawa plant was to blame, saying it was likely caused by the radioactive substances that scattered when a hydrogen explosion hit the troubled Fukushima plant on Saturday.
Hmm, good news that is actually bad news, if its even true.
Hmm, good news that is actually bad news, if its even true.
Depends how you define 'good news', compared to what could happen, like when Chernobyl released radioactive material 400 times that caused by the bombing of Hiroshima, this is indeed 'good news'.
I think it was meant that the good news that Onagawa is not the cause of the leak is bad news because the contamination from Fukushima is greater than we have been led to beleive
1606: A pump within the cooling system of one of the reactors at the Tokai nuclear power plant has stopped working, according to the Kyodo news agency. The plant is located in the Naka district of the central prefecture of Ibaraki, and is operated by the Japan Atomic Power Company.
Sky News has a bit of a dilemma. Their nuclear pundit was being quite cheery and saying there's nothing to worry about. Then the French advised all their citizens in Tokyo to evacuate as a precaution against nuclear fallout.
Then the French advised all their citizens in Tokyo to evacuate as a precaution against nuclear fallout.
Well if the Japanese have evacuated 170,000...
That's just within a 12 mile radius of the plant. Tokyo is 180 miles away. What if all the people in that area take the French advice? There are 35 million people in the Tokyo area...
Interesting post on why there won't be 'a Chenobyl' with the Japanese nuclear power stations.
http://morgsatlarge.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/why-i-am-not-worried-about-japans-nuclear-reactors/
Interesting post on why there won't be 'a Chenobyl' with the Japanese nuclear power stations.
http://morgsatlarge.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/why-i-am-not-worried-about-japans-nuclear-reactors/
Blimey, I'm not reading all that. Summary please? (In English)
To be fair it's quite an in-depth piece, possibly not lending itself to summation. I got half way through before my gnat-like attention gave way, but it is quite interesting.
Blimey, I'm not reading all that. Summary please? (In English)
Blimey, I'm not reading all that. Summary please? (In English)