Any reports on Doug in Japan?  Is he OK?

 Jim Brewer

 He is way inland and south of Tokyo. He may have been affected by the
 earth quake but surely not the  tsunami.

 Paul Lamar


Paul,


Actually, west of  Tokyo and about 500 km distant from the epicenter.
Still our house shook for three minutes.  Yutaro was smart enough to
leave the house minutes before.  My biggest concern  is the nuke plant
north of Tokyo.  The core cooling system pumps have been knocked out and
the plant is hours away from a China (Brazil?) Syndrome.  A ten
kilometer radius around the plant is being evacuated as I write and the
government is talking about venting radioactive steam in an effort to
prevent an explosion. They say not to worry. The winds are blowing
towards the east.  Hmmm.  Meanwhile technicians trapped inside are
trying to jury rig the cooling system back together before ?.. Well you
know.   I'm afraid the worst is yet to come.

This morning a quake hit closer to home.  I'm paying closer attention to
the cat now.

Doug in Japan


Paul,


It just blew. No one is allowed within three kilometers..  I expect that
distance limit to be increased.  Radiactive cloud is heading your way.

Shake and bake weather in Japan

Doug

Apparently it was not the same kind of explosion that happened in  Chernoble
yet.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
"IWAKI, Japan -An explosion at a nuclear power station Saturday destroyed a
building housing the reactor, but a radiation leak was decreasing despite
fears of a meltdown from damage caused by a powerful earthquake and tsunami,
officials said.

Government spokesman Yukio Edano said the explosion destroyed the exterior
walls of the building where the reactor is placed, but not the actual metal
housing enveloping the reactor.

That was welcome news for a country suffering from Friday's double disaster
that pulverized the northeastern coast, leaving at least 574 people dead by
official count.

The scale of destruction was not yet known, but there were grim signs that
the death toll could soar. One report said four whole trains had disappeared
Friday and still not been located. Local media reports said at least 1,300
people may have been killed.

Edano said the radiation around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant had not risen
after the blast, but had in fact decreased. He did not say why that was so.
The pressure in the reactor was also decreasing after the blast, he said.

The explosion was preceded by puff of white smoke that gathered intensity
until it became a huge cloud enveloping the entire facility, located in
Fukushima, 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Iwaki. After the explosion, the
walls of the building crumbled, leaving only a skeletal metal frame.

Tokyo Power Electric Co., the utility that runs the Fukushima Dai-ichi
plant, said four workers suffered fractures and bruises and were being
treated at a hospital.

"We have confirmed that the walls of this building were what exploded, and
it was not the reactor's container that exploded," said Edano.

See the full article from DailyFinance: http://www.dailyfinance.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Probably a good thing as now they can water bomb the metal container
to cool it off. We need to fly a 747 or 1011 water bomber over there :)

BTW I keep seeing on the news that it is impossible to get north.
Heck Japan is only 80 miles wide at that point. It is possible to
drive up the west coast and cut across. I have driven in that area
already. Doug takes the silly electric train everywhere :)
What happens when the lights go out? :) Duh! :)

Here are a couple of maps with the atomic plant in the lower right
corner. Red arrows.

Paul Lamar



Japan is remarkable.  They tackle huge problems with a remarkable
amount of dignity and minimum of fuss.  In this case, I think they
should fuss some.  This is a huge disaster.

There's a cool video here:

http://www.businessinsider.com/tsunami-japan-earthquake-video-2011-3

I interpret this is having been shot some distance from the epicenter.
I assume the "GPS" based system just uses the GPS signal to provide
an accurate clock so that seismic data can be correlated from many
sites in order to precisely locate the epicenter, and the progress of
shock waves radiating outward.  The system can then predict how soon
you'll feel the shaking depending on where you are.  GPS doesn't
measure shaking.

They got quite the bumpy ride there..


Matt-

There is an upside to this. New natural disaster scenarios will be added to
the design limits  for new reactors. For example: An earth quake AND
followed by tsunami that takes out the diesel back up generator.

Another possibility is a cooling water stand pipe with a hatch cover that can
be opened and be replenished by a helicopter. Sooner or later,
in the next 100 years, nuclear energy may become absolutely necessary.

Paul Lamar

In my opinion, nuclear energy is already "absolutely necessary".  With world population expected to peak at 9 billion in 2050, we have no time to waste implementing an energy solution.  Nuclear will also desalinate the water to grow the food needed and hydrate cities.  (Cities tend to get priority over farmers when it comes to water)

Chris Cosman