that there was an explosion that blew off half the building that houses the Reactor No.1. If you read the press release, you would think there was an earthquake at 3:36PM on March 12 and as the result there was some sound and smoke somewhere near the Reactor No.1 (they call it Unit 1).
From their 2:00AM March 13, 2011 Press Release in English (their word):
Unit 1(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down. However, the unit is under inspection due to
the explosive sound and white smoke that was confirmed after the big
quake occurred at 3:36PM.
- We have been injecting sea water and boric acid which absorbs neutron
into the reactor core.
The same Press Release in Japanese is more explicit (my translation into English):
Unit 1 (Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down. At 3:36PM yesterday there was a large quake directly under [the Unit 1]. Afterwards, an explosive sound and white smoke were observed near the Unit 1. We are currently investigating the incident.
Their 5:30AM Press Release repeats the same verbage.
Hmmm. Checking the USGS site, I do find an earthquake at 3:36 PM (6:36AM UTC) on March 12. But it is off the coast of Iwate Prefecture.
I think TEPCO is obfuscating by deliberately confusing the order of events - a fine Japanese tradition by the way, you just have to know how to spot it. The correct order of events is: there was an explosion at the Unit 1 -->the earth shook from the explosion --> the explosion was accompanied by a huge sound and white smoke.
This has been mentioned in the other thread (now reserved for general EQ stuff) But it deserves mention here too... the Fukushima plant was built and designed to withstand up to a 7.9 mag quake, not the 8.9 (or whatever number they finally settle on) that actually occurred.
Excerpted from the above WSJ link article..
Separately, company documents show that Tokyo Electric tested the Fukushima plant to withstand a maximum seismic jolt lower than Friday's 8.9 earthquake. Tepco's last safety test of nuclear power plant Number 1—one that is currently in danger of meltdown—was done at a seismic magnitude the company considered the highest possible, but in fact turned out to be lower than Friday's quake. The information comes from the company's "Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 Updated Safety Measures" documents written in Japanese in 2010 and 2009. The documents were reviewed by Dow Jones.
The company said in the documents that 7.9 was the highest magnitude for which they tested the safety for their No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants in Fukushima
Presumably that is for a 7.9 EQ directly under the plant.
Japan is a "hi-tech" well organised country, that has spent a lot of time, thought and money on dealing with earthquakes....
Imagine if this happened in another country with nuclear power plants!
Change "another country" to Thailand and yes you would have a catostrophic disaster. They would probably not report the event "it would be bad for tourism"
Officials said 22 people were known to have been exposed to radiation. A total of 190 had been within a 10-km (six-mile) radius of the reactor.
Workers in protective clothing were scanning people arriving at evacuation centers for radioactive exposure.
"They are working on relieving pressure and pumping in water into the No. 3 reactor," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news briefing.
"This will result in some radiation leakage, although at a level that won't affect peoples' health. It will help stabilize the situation." He also said radiation from the No. 1 reactor was "low enough not to affect people's health."
AND
Quote
GOVERNMENT CRITICISED
The government, in power less than two years and which had already been struggling to push policy through a deeply divided parliament, came under criticism for its handling of the crisis.
"Crisis management is incoherent," blared a headline in the Asahi newspaper, charging that information disclosure and instructions to expand the evacuation area around the troubled plant were too slow.
"Every time they repeated 'stay calm' without giving concrete data, anxiety increased," it quoted an unidentified veteran party lawmaker as saying.
AND
Quote
In Europe, environmentalists seized on the accident to press for an end to nuclear power. Up to 60,000 protesters formed a 45-km (27-mile) human chain in Germany to denounce the government's policy of extending the life of nuclear plants.
Before news of the problem with reactor No. 3, the [Japan] nuclear safety agency said the plant accident was less serious than both the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
An official at the agency said it rated the incident a 4 according to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). Three Mile Island was rated 5 while Chernobyl was rated 7 on the 1 to 7 scale.
This has been mentioned in the other thread (now reserved for general EQ stuff) But it deserves mention here too... the Fukushima plant was built and designed to withstand up to a 7.9 mag quake, not the 8.9 (or whatever number they finally settle on) that actually occurred.
Excerpted from the above WSJ link article..
Separately, company documents show that Tokyo Electric tested the Fukushima plant to withstand a maximum seismic jolt lower than Friday's 8.9 earthquake. Tepco's last safety test of nuclear power plant Number 1—one that is currently in danger of meltdown—was done at a seismic magnitude the company considered the highest possible, but in fact turned out to be lower than Friday's quake. The information comes from the company's "Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 Updated Safety Measures" documents written in Japanese in 2010 and 2009. The documents were reviewed by Dow Jones.
The company said in the documents that 7.9 was the highest magnitude for which they tested the safety for their No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants in Fukushima
Presumably that is for a 7.9 EQ directly under the plant.
Another Japanese nightmare... They always pretended that their nuclear power plants were earthquake-resistant and safe for any tremor that could shake the construction.
Now we have another Chernobyl coming up, despite all what they are pretending that there is no immediate threat for the people. Why then evacuate them 20 km away from the plant? Melting is underway and nobody can stop it. It will continue to burn as in Chernobyl, until all nuclear fuel has been burnt and blown in the sky, poisening thousands of sq.km. land and/or ocean. A nuclear powerplant is not like a Toyota car which has been recalled for failing breakes... Will they ever learn???
"pretended that their nuclear power plants were earthquake-resistant "
This plant was tested to an earthquake level of 7.9 which means it was actually designed to withstand a greater shock, and when hit with a quake ~11 times test strength has released a small amount of radiation. I would describe that as earthquake RESISTANT, without any pretence.
The only parallel to Chernobyl is that they are both nuclear plants. The Chernobyl reactor was a much older and inferior design, and the system failure was compounded by operators who attributed it to instrument fault until it was too late, and even then were reluctant to report a problem or seek assistance. Even in the middle of the disaster which has struck their country, this is not the case here. Unlike Japan, Chernobyl's reactors were also Plutonium producers, which accounts for much of the long term pollution caused.
Prevailing westerly winds will blow most of the pollution over the sea and should cause minimal harm. If some should reach the US west coast, the people there can reflect on Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the various Pacific atolls used for nuclear weapons atmospheric tests.
Of course, there is always someone who will put on a chicken suit and run in circles screaming "the sky is falling!"
Imagine if the powers that be had developed a way to cause 8.9 earth quakes to detonate from beneath the earths crust, which will in turn create tsunamis that target nuclear power plants...
Im sure there are a few already a few theorists running to write a few books on the subject...
The sad thing is that between global warming, and the above theory... both seem just as likely as the other...
my heartfelt sympathy goes out to those who had to suffer such an event in a time where it seems odd we cant predict things like this, yet speculate so easily on a future which is so much more fragile and volatile than our past...
where is the radiation going? Is it blowing towards North America?
My question then is, will it be safe to fly? If one looks at the air routes, they seem to fly over Japan and through the radiation cloud.
Please, someone tell me I am wrong.
WIND
CNN just had a professor on who explained that there is no melt dow... reactors are build failure-proof... the radiation from a scan are 100-1,000 times more than standing next to the reactor for an hour...
In other words: Carry on, don't worry be happy. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
Hi-Tech is limited, human insanity is not. - Who is his paymaster?
where is the radiation going? Is it blowing towards North America?
My question then is, will it be safe to fly? If one looks at the air routes, they seem to fly over Japan and through the radiation cloud.
Please, someone tell me I am wrong.
Excellent question and of some concern as local winds have little to do with global effects of upper winds.
I have to think that as people we have an overwhelming concern for the people of Japan and global impacts to people/food and environment.
I believe our fates are in the hands of God and those that do their best and as a group, Japan, the situation couldn't be in better hands.
I fear that many will place themselves in harms way to protect their country and the world as a whole. God bless them and the people now immediately effected.
I wish there were words I could type that would make a difference, but I have no such words.
Meanwhile, this account from Reuters yesterday describing the Three Mile Island episode in the U.S. begins to sound a lot like what we are being told is happening at Fukushima Daichi 1.
Quote
The Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania was a partial core meltdown in which the metal cladding surrounding the fuel rods started to melt. That metal surrounds the ceramic uranium fuel pellets, which hold most of the radiation and power the reactor.
Nuclear reactors operate at between 550 and 600 degrees F (between 288 and 316 degrees C). The metal on the fuel rods will not melt until temperatures are well above 1000 degrees F. The ceramic uranium pellets themselves won't melt until about 2000 degrees.
About half the reactor core at Three Mile Island melted before operators restored enough cooling water to stop the meltdown. The core holds the uranium fuel rods, which must be cooled by water to prevent overheating.
Japan is a "hi-tech" well organised country, that has spent a lot of time, thought and money on dealing with earthquakes....
Imagine if this happened in another country with nuclear power plants!
Change "another country" to Thailand and yes you would have a catostrophic disaster. They would probably not report the event "it would be bad for tourism"
In Thailand they would send an army with pat-loms (fans) to defend against nuclear radiation leakage, not to forget to consult the ghosts and fortune tellers.
I think TEPCO is obfuscating by deliberately confusing the order of events - a fine Japanese tradition by the way, you just have to know how to spot it. ...
Haters will never miss an event to use it for their propaganda.
Japan is a "hi-tech" well organised country, that has spent a lot of time, thought and money on dealing with earthquakes....
Imagine if this happened in another country with nuclear power plants!
Warning, the bearded anoraks are out! BBC just interviewed a chap with a beard and an anorak saying that this should mean no more nuclear power plants and the existing ones should be de-commissioned! No doubt we shall get some balance with an interview with a nuclear power advocate? Personally, I suspect that Mitsubishi Heavy's reactors are rather more robust than their Russian counterparts......
The bearded anoraks are the second sign of the apocalypse, I'm grabbing a tin-opener and heading for cover.
I think TEPCO is obfuscating by deliberately confusing the order of events - a fine Japanese tradition by the way, you just have to know how to spot it. ...
Haters will never miss an event to use it for their propaganda.
You will get the wrong picture if some Japanese hating scaremonger brings you his selection of "news".
This is the best video report on the meltdown situation that I have found. It explains the differences to Chernobyl and what is occuring and could occur.
I think TEPCO is obfuscating by deliberately confusing the order of events - a fine Japanese tradition by the way, you just have to know how to spot it. ...
Haters will never miss an event to use it for their propaganda.
I haven't created past incidents and accidents of TEPCO nor have I written the text in the quote.
Imagine if the powers that be had developed a way to cause 8.9 earth quakes to detonate from beneath the earths crust, which will in turn create tsunamis that target nuclear power plants...
Im sure there are a few already a few theorists running to write a few books on the subject...
The latest information is that the quake was 9.0 on momentum scale (Richter is not used anymore, but it's quite close). On Richter scale 9.0 quake equals to 474 megatons of TNT. http://en.wikipedia....itudes_examples
The biggest ever Nuclear bomb is The Tzar bomb. it was originally designed to be 100MT, but the biggest actual blast was reduced to 50MT. http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Tsar_Bomba
Nobody has yet drilled beneath of the earth crust. Not even an small hole. Best efforts has been Kola borehole, which has been 12km deep. http://en.wikipedia....erdeep_Borehole or maybe there is some newer information?
So if a "bearded anorak" told you your house was on fire, you wouldn't do anything until a man in a suit told you he was right?
i think your methods of how to sift information are a bit weak.
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View CANDU reactors are designed with two shutdown systems to provide a ... canteach.candu.org/library/20053307.pdf -
However this Reactor is very expensive, and thus everyone opts for the cheaper version , thinking the day will never arrive for a accident !
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In Thailand they would send an army with pat-loms (fans) to defend against nuclear radiation leakage, not to forget to consult the ghosts and fortune tellers. 
