8.8 Earthquake hits Japan

[zerocool84]

Yeah... first wave hit around 3:30am. The big surges came about three hours later. Now it's been about 11 hours or so since the start and the water is still moving. They've opened up the coastal roads but they haven't given an all-clear yet.

There was a little damage in Kahului near the harbor where a wave washed in about a half mile up to the post office. Here where I live the water came over the beach, then over the road but stopped short of my condo building. Damage seems fairly minimal but you never know if one of these cycles is going to get big.

We're not affected like you guys over there are but all beaches in Cali are shut down so what happens to that retard in Northern California doesn't happen to more people.

 

[Number1]

Interesting read


Nuclear Crisis at Fukushima

| by Ed Lyman | nuclear power | nuclear power safety |


As of 2:30 pm EST Friday 3/11/11:
The massive earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan has caused a potentially catastrophic situation at one of Japan’s nuclear power plants. The situation is still evolving, but here is a preliminary assessment based on the facts as we currently understand them.
The plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), reported that at 2:46 p.m. local time (12:46 a.m. EST) “turbines and reactors of Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 1 … and Units 2 and 3 … automatically shut down due to the Miyagiken-oki Earthquake.”
These reactors are 3 of the 6 operating reactors at the Fukushima I nuclear facility. All are boiling water reactors. Unit 1 has a rated output of 460 megawatts, and Units 2 and 3 each have a rated output of 784 megawatts.
TEPCO went on to state the shutdowns were caused by the loss of off-site power “due to malfunction of one out of two off-site power systems.” This loss of power triggered emergency diesel generators, which automatically started to provide backup power to the reactors.
However, at 3:41 p.m. local time (1:46 a.m. EST), the emergency diesel generators shut down “due to malfunction, resulting in the complete loss of alternating current for all three units,” according to TEPCO. The failure of the diesel generators was most likely due to the arrival of the tsunami, which caused flooding in the area. The earthquake was centered 240 kilometers from Japan, and it would have taken the tsunami approximately an hour to reach the Japanese islands.
This power failure resulted in one of the most serious conditions that can affect a nuclear plant—a “station blackout”—during which off-site power and on-site emergency alternating current (AC) power is lost. Nuclear plants generally need AC power to operate the motors, valves and instruments that control the systems that provide cooling water to the radioactive core. If all AC power is lost, the options to cool the core are limited.
The boiling water reactors at Fukushima are protected by a Reactor Core Isolation Cooling (RCIC) system, which can operate without AC power because it is steam-driven and therefore does not require electric pumps. However, it does require DC power from batteries for its valves and controls to function.
If battery power is depleted before AC power is restored, however, the RCIC will stop supplying water to the core and the water level in the reactor core could drop. If it drops far enough, the core would overheat and the fuel would become damaged. Ultimately, a “meltdown” could occur: The core could become so hot that it forms a molten mass that melts through the steel reactor vessel. This would release a large amount of radioactivity from the vessel into the containment building that surrounds the vessel.
The containment building’s purpose is to keep radioactivity from being released into the environment. A meltdown would build up pressure in the containment building. At this point we do not know if the earthquake damaged the containment building enough to undermine its ability to contain the pressure and allow radioactivity to leak out.
According to technical documents translated by Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action in Japan, if the coolant level dropped to the top of the active fuel rods in the core, damage to the core would begin about 40 minutes later, and damage to the reactor vessel would occur 90 minutes after that.
Concern about a serious accident is high enough that while TEPCO is trying to restore cooling the government has evacuated a 3-km (2-mile) radius area around the reactor.
Bloomberg News reported that the battery life for the RCIC system is eight hours. This means that the batteries would have been depleted before 10 a.m. EST today. It is unclear if this report is accurate, since it suggests that several hours have elapsed without any core cooling. Bloomberg also reported that Japan had secured six backup batteries and planned to transport them to the site, possibly by military helicopter. It is unclear how long this operation would take.
There also have been news reports that Fukushima Unit 2 has lost its core cooling, suggesting its RCIC stopped working, but that the situation “has been stabilized,” although it is not publicly known what the situation is. TEPCO reportedly plans to release steam from the reactor to reduce the pressure, which had risen 50% higher than normal. This venting will release some radioactivity.
More information about the cooling issue is available in this New York Times story.
We will post updates as more information becomes available.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

We're not affected like you guys over there are but all beaches in Cali are shut down so what happens to that retard in Northern California doesn't happen to more people.

Yeah... I guess it really depends on the shape of your beach more than anything. My beach has a large shallow shelf that extends out about a 1/4 mile so you can see everything that going on. When the water comes up it comes at a fast walk.

If the beach he was on drops straight down the wave might have been on him before he knew it.

 

[zerocool84]

Japan is saying an estimated death toll now of at least 1,000.

 

[Regs]

The helicopter cams cut out right before the wave hits the cars on the road. It seems surreal like a movie. I just cant imagine the horror of those people in the cars.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

The media frenzy over this is sickening. It's pure hyperbole and scare tactics. 1000 times normal level is still harmless unless you're bathing in it for days.

media frenzy? i've seen it mentioned once. stop making shit up.

 

[Dominato3r]

Does anyone have a link that shows what exactly America is sending there? in terms of ships and such.

 

[dennilfloss]

Tsunami video from Hawaii. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Wh0_yNJhc

 

[Wyndru]

Tsunami video from Hawaii. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Wh0_yNJhc

Did he just say "I'm completely stranded now"? "Just lost my shoes"

 

[Locut0s]

Tsunami video from Hawaii. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Wh0_yNJhc

Damn I was just there this past summer. I remember that stretch well. Wow.

 

[Dominato3r]

I don't know what to say..

Is this just some crazy woman or is this shit real?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7QAZPb-IEQ&feature=channel_video_title

She nailed the prediction.

 

[Ns1]

jesus, crazy pictures.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1365380/Japan-earthquake-latest-travel-advice.html

 

[shiner]

Originally Posted by dmcowen674
Wish my big quake prediction could have made it over there, maybe could have saved some lives.

Apparently so because they didn't say jack shit did they.

Fuck off and die Dave.

Seriously...fuck you and your sick twisted need to lie constantly and try to insert yourself into any major news story.

Fuck you and all the bullshit woe is me posts that you pull out of your ass that are nothing but pure fiction that you have been busted on more times than I can count.

Fuck you and your crazy ass "predictions" that are comical at best, pathetic at worst. Where's the $7 milk Dave? Where's the $7 milk.

Fuck you for saying you want the United States to become the next Somalia.

Fuck you Dave.

 

[shiner]

media frenzy? i've seen it mentioned once. stop making shit up.

It is being reported constantly on CNN

 

[Ns1]

Fuck off and die Dave.

Seriously...fuck you and your sick twisted need to lie constantly and try to insert yourself into any major news story.

Fuck you and all the bullshit woe is me posts that you pull out of your ass that are nothing but pure fiction that you have been busted on more times than I can count.

Fuck you and your crazy ass "predictions" that are comical at best, pathetic at worse. Where's the $7 milk Dave? Where's the $7 milk.

Fuck you for saying you want the United States to become the next Somalia.

Fuck you Dave.

green for you

 

[Nik]

Fuck off and die Dave.

Seriously...fuck you and your sick twisted need to lie constantly and try to insert yourself into any major news story.

Fuck you and all the bullshit woe is me posts that you pull out of your ass that are nothing but pure fiction that you have been busted on more times than I can count.

Fuck you and your crazy ass "predictions" that are comical at best, pathetic at worst. Where's the $7 milk Dave? Where's the $7 milk.

Fuck you for saying you want the United States to become the next Somalia.

Fuck you Dave.

Here here.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Here here.

Where where?

 

[Ns1]

Man listening to aenima feels so inappropriate

 

[Nik]

Where where?

Over there! Over there!

 

[The Boston Dangler]

It is being reported constantly on CNN

yes, and 2 hours later, they've just said japan is "unable to cool 2 reactors". i don't think this is fear-mongering, it's reporting.

 

[Nik]

yes, and 2 hours later, they've just said japan is "unable to cool 2 reactors". i don't think this is fear-mongering, it's reporting.

It IS fear mongoring because Japan CAN cool those reactors. Just not fast enough for the time being, but that's not saying that anything will come of it. However, that doesn't make for good news stories and news agencies need DRAMA for their readers. They intentionally write headlines and word stories specifically to drum up drama in the morons who are dumb enough to believe it. It won't matter for long because a long term solution is already well under way.

 

[cpul]

indeed a terrible earthquake.I've heard a lot of casualties from this incident
but in my estimation,number of victims will not be for the tsunami in Aceh Indonesia

 

[Nik]

indeed a terrible earthquake.I've heard a lot of casualties from this incident
but in my estimation,number of victims will not be for the tsunami in Aceh Indonesia

Hopefully, yes. The Japanese have done a wonderful job of anticipating this kind of scenario to the best of their ability!

 

[The Boston Dangler]

It won't matter for long because a long term solution is already well under way.

what do you know, or are you talking out of your ass?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

ok, cnn was fishing for apocalyptic reasons for catastrophes coming "thick and fast". their scientists (actual scientists) say there is no pattern and all is normal.

edit:
neil degrasse tyson kicks ass