Japan has 48 hours to avoid another Chernobyl

[Marik]

Japan has 48 hours to bring its rapidly escalating nuclear crisis under control before it faces a catastrophe “worse than Chernobyl”, it was claimed last night.

Nuclear safety officials in France said they were "pessimistic" about whether engineers could prevent a meltdown at the Fukushima power plant after a pool containing spent fuel rods overheated and boiled dry.

Last night radiation levels were "extremely high" in the stricken building, which was breached by an earlier explosion, meaning that radiation could now escape into the atmosphere.

Tokyo Electric, the owners of the plant, said five workers had been killed at the site, two were missing and 21 had been injured.

Last night, a US nuclear safety chief said the Japanese government had failed to acknowledge the full seriousness of the situation at the Fukushima plant and that warnings to citizens had been insufficient and understated.

Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, warned that if "extremely high" radiation levels increased it would become impossible for workers to continue to take corrective measures at the plant as "the doses they could experience would potentially be lethal doses in a very short period of time".

Source: The Telegraph

From another source:

Japan's nuclear crisis was called "a slow-moving nightmare" on Wednesday after a series of setbacks hindered efforts to bring the crippled Fukushima power plant under control.

All plant technicians were ordered out at one point after a spike in radiation, another fire broke out in the stricken No. 4 unit and a patchwork fix involving helicopters dropping water on the reactors was abandoned over safety fears.

The setbacks drew a chorus of pessimistic predictions from international experts, with France warning if Japan did not solve the nuclear crisis within 48 hours the catastrophe could be "worse than Chernobyl."

With temperatures plummeting and snow beginning to fall, the misery continued to mount for the more than 500,000 evacuees who have been forced from the ruin and devastation of their cities, towns and villages.

The official death toll from last Friday's earthquake and tsunami now stands at 4,314, with another 8,606 listed as missing.

Ken Joseph, an associate professor at Chiba University, in Ishinomaki with the Japan Emergency Team, told Britain's Evening Standard, "I think the death toll is going to be closer to 100,000 than 10,000."

"Why is there no food? I have been to every disaster zone in the last 20 years, and I have never seen anything remotely like this. I think we're on the brink of chaos."

Source: Nationalpost

Okay this is from a danish journalist, and it doesn't look good near Tokyo

Panic spreads in Japan's capital Tokyo.

Thousands of foreigners pouring out of the metropolis, and there was Thursday noon (Danish time) congestion at the airport.

Also ekstrabladet.dk journalist in Japan has escaped from Tokyo - without his stuff.

Michael Rastrup Smith was actually taken at the airport to interview people when he fell into conversation with a firecracker.

It turned out that the Chinese had a doctorate in Computer Engineering from the U.S., and today he works for the Japanese government in the town where all the Japanese technology is being developed:

READ: The Embassy has sent their families away

- He said: 'It is absolutely mad'. He said that the morning had measured levels of radioactivity from both outside the laboratory, but also in. Their drinking water was undrinkable because of radioactivity. He said there was an exodus out of the area, located just 50 km. from the airport, says Michael Rastrup Smith, adding:

- It is a very serious situation.

Away without Storage

It was Michael Rastrup Smith to take a quick decision:

- I decided to leave immediately - without my baggage. If I go into town again, and this comes out, I risk the outbreak of panic and that I can not even get out of town, says Michael Rastrup Smith, who now arrived in Osaka - 500. away.

READ: People flee in panic from Tokyo

At the airport there was general panic. Everyone wanted out of town and out of the country:

- Foreigners are coming out. They dare not longer be here. It was the longest queue I've ever seen in an airport. It was a huge, huge queues.

Chinese evacuate

Many countries are evacuating their citizens from Tokyo:

- The Chinese have evacuated today. They are strangely enough a lot more scared than the Japanese. There are plenty of Chinese who have been evacuated. There were people from the Chinese Embassy with signs and directing.

- I meet a Croatian girl who was the correspondent, and she said she had been called home - her boss thought it was too dangerous for her to stay.

[henz]

people leave tokyo because scared by the radiation..

[majithia23]

just saw the update on BBC news ....

its a grim , grim situation .

no food , no home , no electricity , ........ :(

the security experts report the reactors to be stable but still very vulnerable for a meltdown .....

God be with the people .....

prayers .....

[DKT27]

:mellow:

May they utilize all their intelligence, power and lot of luck to solve this situation.

[tipo]

sad news...hope they solve this problem ASAP.

[portage]

i feel really bad for japan but i fear for canada; i hope the radiation doesn't blow towards north america

[DKT27]

Power line connected to help cool Japanese reactor

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. has successfully restored power to part of a dangerously overheating nuclear power plant damaged by last week's earthquake and tsunami, a key move in efforts to cool the site.

The power company, also called Tepco, connected a power line to reactor 2, one of six at the Fukushima Daiichi power station about 140 miles northeast of Tokyo. The site has six reactors; keeping them and their associated spent-fuel ponds cool has been a problem ever since the massive magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunamis knocked out power and damaged auxiliary cooling pumps.

The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that the new power cable was connected to reactor 2, which suffered a serious explosion Monday that breached its primary containment vessel. Due next for a connection is reactor 3, which suffered an explosion of its own and which is fueled by a more hazardous combination of uranium and plutonium oxide.

Tepco had been trying to connect the power line yesterday, but radiation risks postponed the work.

The situation at the reactors is dire. A fire earlier this week forced most of the plant's staff to evacuate, complicating efforts to stabilize temperatures. Today, highly unusual efforts to keep the fuel from overheating included spraying 30 tons of water from trucks and dropping several loads of water from a helicopter.

The power line means cooling reactors with electrical pumps will be much easier. Japanese state broadcaster NHK reported today that the tsunami damaged the main pumps, so makeshift ones will be used instead.

Tepco already had resorted to cooling reactors 1, 2, and 3 with seawater, another last-ditch move because seawater is highly corrosive. Reactors 4, 5, and 6 had been shut down before the quake because of an inspection, but they, too, are a problem because of hot fuel in their spent-fuel ponds. Reactor 4's pond was the site of a serious fire already.

This illustration, based on GeoEye satellite photo viewed through Google Earth, shows the locations of the six Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors.

View: Original Article

[oZ.]

Off topic a bit

in conclusion:

Jap's technologies are not as "good" as they think, say, believe they are.

Facts: (also my understanding)

- reactors in a way represents one of the highest technology of a country yet they failed to do so.

- using electricity to cool down reactors while the Jap know the location where the reactors have a high chance of earthquake YET they did not use alternative ways for cooling

- shouldn't have planted those reactors so closely OR near earthquake hotspot.

- requested several times to USA's president for assistant to cool down their reactors

(clean up their own mess which they do not have the ability to do so [maybe soon but if they have the ability then why taking so long?])

~ soooo they aren't so "godly" in technologies so much anymore ? does any 1 agree?

[DKT27]

Well they were also warned that the plant wont be able to stand more than 7.0 of hector-scale of earthquake. On the other side, I've also heard that Japan do get Tsunami more often than other countries(?) And it seems that many of the architectures were able to stand the disaster.

The points you've mentioned are considerable but that doesn't mean they are not good in tech or science, no one's god, but good. ;)

[myidisbb]

Off topic a bit

in conclusion:

Jap's technologies are not as "good" as they think, say, believe they are.

Facts: (also my understanding)

- reactors in a way represents one of the highest technology of a country yet they failed to do so.

- using electricity to cool down reactors while the Jap know the location where the reactors have a high chance of earthquake YET they did not use alternative ways for cooling

- shouldn't have planted those reactors so closely OR near earthquake hotspot.

- requested several times to USA's president for assistant to cool down their reactors

(clean up their own mess which they do not have the ability to do so [maybe soon but if they have the ability then why taking so long?])

~ soooo they aren't so "godly" in technologies so much anymore ? does any 1 agree?

their reactors surived a 9.0 earthquake. that is damn good. the problem was the tsuma water. it took out the back up power system. just bad luck

on a side note i believe the media is over happening this because of their anti nuke plant views.

[henz]

the damage and people mostly cause by by tsunami, not earthquake..

japan done a very good earthquake systems..

i believe japan's tech is good, at least on the top level.

you know Kenichi Ohmae, The Era Of Low IQ.

[jalaffa]

The Fukushima Daiichi plant should not have been placed so close to the sea. But - ok - this was decided done 40 years ago...

[oZ.]

Off topic a bit

in conclusion:

Jap's technologies are not as "good" as they think, say, believe they are.

Facts: (also my understanding)

- reactors in a way represents one of the highest technology of a country yet they failed to do so.

- using electricity to cool down reactors while the Jap know the location where the reactors have a high chance of earthquake YET they did not use alternative ways for cooling

- shouldn't have planted those reactors so closely OR near earthquake hotspot.

- requested several times to USA's president for assistant to cool down their reactors

(clean up their own mess which they do not have the ability to do so [maybe soon but if they have the ability then why taking so long?])

~ soooo they aren't so "godly" in technologies so much anymore ? does any 1 agree?

their reactors surived a 9.0 earthquake. that is damn good. the problem was the tsuma water. it took out the back up power system. just bad luck

on a side note i believe the media is over happening this because of their anti nuke plant views.

i do not think that was a 9.0 Earth quake (9.0 = x20 of 7.0)

- their wall to block tsunami was 6 meters tall, and the tsunami was 10 meters tall. this proves they don't think any tsunami would go higher than 6 meters.

- media isn't over reacting, if Jap fails (as always when it comes to highest technologies) Jap will be destroy, china/Korea WILL be affected, even Canada would.

the damage and people mostly cause by by tsunami, not earthquake..

japan done a very good earthquake systems..

i believe japan's tech is good, at least on the top level.

you know Kenichi Ohmae, The Era Of Low IQ.

ya but read again "- using electricity to cool down reactors while the Jap know the location where the reactors have a high chance of earthquake YET they did not use alternative ways for cooling" as i mentioned,

- if their tech is SO HIGH then why would they use power to cool down (knowing after an earth quake there WILL not be any power for a while) ?

- ya the tsunami did most damage to the cities and civilians but they reactor is melting down because their cooling method simply "sucks"

- you mentioned: "i believe japan's tech is good, at least on the top level." you believe? then how come there isn't any company of Jap could even compete with Intel/AMD for CPU industries? or Graphics industry now such as Nvidia/ATI? um even something "low tech" like this they can't even compete with the Americans.

- think about it to all nsaners who are "brain" washed by Jap's marketing skills. (no offense but im thinking logically here)

- not so "godly" anymore?

[myidisbb]

Off topic a bit

in conclusion:

Jap's technologies are not as "good" as they think, say, believe they are.

Facts: (also my understanding)

- reactors in a way represents one of the highest technology of a country yet they failed to do so.

- using electricity to cool down reactors while the Jap know the location where the reactors have a high chance of earthquake YET they did not use alternative ways for cooling

- shouldn't have planted those reactors so closely OR near earthquake hotspot.

- requested several times to USA's president for assistant to cool down their reactors

(clean up their own mess which they do not have the ability to do so [maybe soon but if they have the ability then why taking so long?])

~ soooo they aren't so "godly" in technologies so much anymore ? does any 1 agree?

their reactors surived a 9.0 earthquake. that is damn good. the problem was the tsuma water. it took out the back up power system. just bad luck

on a side note i believe the media is over happening this because of their anti nuke plant views.

i do not think that was a 9.0 Earth quake (9.0 = x20 of 7.0)

- their wall to block tsunami was 6 meters tall, and the tsunami was 10 meters tall. this proves they don't think any tsunami would go higher than 6 meters.

- media isn't over reacting, if Jap fails (as always when it comes to highest technologies) Jap will be destroy, china/Korea WILL be affected, even Canada would.

the damage and people mostly cause by by tsunami, not earthquake..

japan done a very good earthquake systems..

i believe japan's tech is good, at least on the top level.

you know Kenichi Ohmae, The Era Of Low IQ.

ya but read again "- using electricity to cool down reactors while the Jap know the location where the reactors have a high chance of earthquake YET they did not use alternative ways for cooling" as i mentioned,

- if their tech is SO HIGH then why would they use power to cool down (knowing after an earth quake there WILL not be any power for a while) ?

- ya the tsunami did most damage to the cities and civilians but they reactor is melting down because their cooling method simply "sucks"

- you mentioned: "i believe japan's tech is good, at least on the top level." you believe? then how come there isn't any company of Jap could even compete with Intel/AMD for CPU industries? or Graphics industry now such as Nvidia/ATI? um even something "low tech" like this they can't even compete with the Americans.

- think about it to all nsaners who are "brain" washed by Jap's marketing skills. (no offense but im thinking logically here)

- not so "godly" anymore?

no there was much more radition from the two atom bombs that the usa drop on them. there was around 53 nukes that was set off on the top surface in the usa. who knows how many with the soviets. the french and chinese still doing about ground testing. so the danger for areas from the sites is over blown. period. over hype crap.

a 36 foot wave of water was unthought of. they made the place base on the best tehc knowledge when it was made and afterwards.

shit happens period. but humans will continue to live afterwards into the far far future.

[oZ.]

Off topic a bit

in conclusion:

Jap's technologies are not as "good" as they think, say, believe they are.

Facts: (also my understanding)

- reactors in a way represents one of the highest technology of a country yet they failed to do so.

- using electricity to cool down reactors while the Jap know the location where the reactors have a high chance of earthquake YET they did not use alternative ways for cooling

- shouldn't have planted those reactors so closely OR near earthquake hotspot.

- requested several times to USA's president for assistant to cool down their reactors

(clean up their own mess which they do not have the ability to do so [maybe soon but if they have the ability then why taking so long?])

~ soooo they aren't so "godly" in technologies so much anymore ? does any 1 agree?

their reactors surived a 9.0 earthquake. that is damn good. the problem was the tsuma water. it took out the back up power system. just bad luck

on a side note i believe the media is over happening this because of their anti nuke plant views.

i do not think that was a 9.0 Earth quake (9.0 = x20 of 7.0)

- their wall to block tsunami was 6 meters tall, and the tsunami was 10 meters tall. this proves they don't think any tsunami would go higher than 6 meters.

- media isn't over reacting, if Jap fails (as always when it comes to highest technologies) Jap will be destroy, china/Korea WILL be affected, even Canada would.

the damage and people mostly cause by by tsunami, not earthquake..

japan done a very good earthquake systems..

i believe japan's tech is good, at least on the top level.

you know Kenichi Ohmae, The Era Of Low IQ.

ya but read again "- using electricity to cool down reactors while the Jap know the location where the reactors have a high chance of earthquake YET they did not use alternative ways for cooling" as i mentioned,

- if their tech is SO HIGH then why would they use power to cool down (knowing after an earth quake there WILL not be any power for a while) ?

- ya the tsunami did most damage to the cities and civilians but they reactor is melting down because their cooling method simply "sucks"

- you mentioned: "i believe japan's tech is good, at least on the top level." you believe? then how come there isn't any company of Jap could even compete with Intel/AMD for CPU industries? or Graphics industry now such as Nvidia/ATI? um even something "low tech" like this they can't even compete with the Americans.

- think about it to all nsaners who are "brain" washed by Jap's marketing skills. (no offense but im thinking logically here)

- not so "godly" anymore?

no there was much more radition from the two atom bombs that the usa drop on them. there was around 53 nukes that was set off on the top surface in the usa. who knows how many with the soviets. the french and chinese still doing about ground testing. so the danger for areas from the sites is over blown. period. over hype crap.

a 36 foot wave of water was unthought of. they made the place base on the best tehc knowledge when it was made and afterwards.

shit happens period. but humans will continue to live afterwards into the far far future.

not really a good come back to all my facts. in fact it doesn't make any sense at all.

im talking about how not as "godly" as what people think jap tech is.

if all 6 melt down it will be as powerful or more powerful than those 2 (1 missed) atom bomb back in WW2. ;)