Now it's Japan's turn

[Bum Crack]

i was just reading before that they can't get anyone close enough to cover the rods with sea water as there is that much radiation at the site, that a person will be exposed to a lethal dose after just one minute.

[Bully]

im not a nuclear tech at all..but to my understanding how nuclear power stations work is that the uranium rods are heated which produces steam which turns the turbines which produces the electricity yes?

Surely there is a safer way to produce steam to turn the turbines yes?

[dedja]

Well this is way off topic but the safest, cleanest way to produce electricity is a Hydro-Electric power station where water, assisted by gravity, turn the turbines to generate electricity.

Back on track, the situation with the damaged nuclear reactors is looking grim. If it's too dangerous for workers to be onsite to try to cool the reactors then they could conceivably meltdown, or spew dangerous amounts of radiation into the atmosphere.

The likelihood is unknown but Jeez, it's a real worry.

[redden whites]

But heads up for the japanese people not panicing at the shortage of food etc in the shops. What i mean is there is no mass fights for a bag of rice or a bottle of water like in third world countries.

only 3rd world countries???
or like the 2 guys I saw beaten to a pulp in Maryborough during the flood period because they filled their car and a 10 litre jerry can for a tinny when a RUMOUR went around town that the servo was running short. The two guys actually ASKED the servo staff before filling it and the staff said the tanks were filled up an hour beforehand and they had no idea where the rumour started.

[Bully]

But heads up for the japanese people not panicing at the shortage of food etc in the shops. What i mean is there is no mass fights for a bag of rice or a bottle of water like in third world countries.

only 3rd world countries???
or like the 2 guys I saw beaten to a pulp in Maryborough during the flood period because they filled their car and a 10 litre jerry can for a tinny when a RUMOUR went around town that the servo was running short. The two guys actually ASKED the servo staff before filling it and the staff said the tanks were filled up an hour beforehand and they had no idea where the rumour started.

i mean people arent killed....or armed guards with auto machine guns dont line the streets...etc etc. calm and content. Anyway....who goes to Maryborough Best thing about it is the road back to brisbane

[fish]

Choppers dump water on stricken nuclear plant

Japanese military helicopters are dumping water onto the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, 250 kilometres north-east of Tokyo, in a bid to douse fuel rods and prevent a disastrous radiation release.

Four twin-rotor CH-47 Chinooks of the Japan Self-Defence Forces ran the first mission to empty tonnes of water onto the facility damaged by last Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami, which have already claimed the lives of more than 5,000 people.

The operation aims to keep the fuel rods inside reactors and containment pools submerged under water to prevent any more radiation from leaking.

[cripple]

saw Professor Barry Brook on the 7pm project last night saying that the risk of anyone developing anything from nuclear overflow in japan is highly unlikely. He seemed to believe that most of the reaction to the possibility of a nuclear disaster was coming from a massive media beatup. He is the most credible source i have heard on the subject so far and seemed to have a lot of stats and figures to back him up.
Whatever the case, we wont know the end result of all of this until many years into the future.

[fish]

saw Professor Barry Brook on the 7pm project last night saying that the risk of anyone developing anything from nuclear overflow in japan is highly unlikely. He seemed to believe that most of the reaction to the possibility of a nuclear disaster was coming from a massive media beatup. He is the most credible source i have heard on the subject so far and seemed to have a lot of stats and figures to back him up.
Whatever the case, we wont know the end result of all of this until many years into the future.

Yes Barry Brook is very knowledgable on nuclear energy and climate change and is a strong advocate of the use of nuclear energy to combat climate change. His website bravenewclimate makes for very interesting reading.

I've been following the articles and blogs on there since day one of the Japanese nuclear crisis - they are very informative but a bit technical. I tend to think the contributors have been a bit optimistic about the situation in Fukushima, probably reflecting the pro-nuclear stance of the majority of the posters.

[JAS]

Well this is way off topic but the safest, cleanest way to produce electricity is a Hydro-Electric power station where water, assisted by gravity, turn the turbines to generate electricity.

Back on track, the situation with the damaged nuclear reactors is looking grim. If it's too dangerous for workers to be onsite to try to cool the reactors then they could conceivably meltdown, or spew dangerous amounts of radiation into the atmosphere.

The likelihood is unknown but Jeez, it's a real worry.

Sadly everything has it's risks and hydro-power requires dams to be built so this could easily have been part of a hydro plant. I doubt there's really any large scale means of producing power that would have been safe in such an exceptional earthquake.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 422862.stm

1544A dam in Japan's north-eastern prefecture of Fukushima broke, creating a torrent of water that washed away homes, the Kyodo news agency reports.

Regards
JAS

[JAS]

But heads up for the japanese people not panicing at the shortage of food etc in the shops. What i mean is there is no mass fights for a bag of rice or a bottle of water like in third world countries.

only 3rd world countries???
or like the 2 guys I saw beaten to a pulp in Maryborough during the flood period because they filled their car and a 10 litre jerry can for a tinny when a RUMOUR went around town that the servo was running short. The two guys actually ASKED the servo staff before filling it and the staff said the tanks were filled up an hour beforehand and they had no idea where the rumour started.

i mean people arent killed....or armed guards with auto machine guns dont line the streets...etc etc. calm and content. Anyway....who goes to Maryborough Best thing about it is the road back to brisbane

Know what you mean Bulldog but that behaviour certainly isn't restricted to 3rd world countries. After almost any disaster anywhere there are usually reports of panic buying/looting/fighting etc. I suspect something else that won't be as prevalent in Japan is the common post-disaster problem of bogus and rip-off tradies trying to take advantage of the victims.

All power to them for being able to maintian their dignity in the face of so much tragedy. Maybe something there we can all learn from.

Regards
JAS

[dedja]

Well this is way off topic but the safest, cleanest way to produce electricity is a Hydro-Electric power station where water, assisted by gravity, turn the turbines to generate electricity.

Back on track, the situation with the damaged nuclear reactors is looking grim. If it's too dangerous for workers to be onsite to try to cool the reactors then they could conceivably meltdown, or spew dangerous amounts of radiation into the atmosphere.

The likelihood is unknown but Jeez, it's a real worry.

Sadly everything has it's risks and hydro-power requires dams to be built so this could easily have been part of a hydro plant. I doubt there's really any large scale means of producing power that would have been safe in such an exceptional earthquake.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 422862.stm

1544A dam in Japan's north-eastern prefecture of Fukushima broke, creating a torrent of water that washed away homes, the Kyodo news agency reports.

Regards
JAS

Yes, very true ...

[fish]

Have just read the latest posts on the pro-nuclear bravenewclimate website and it looks like things are pretty grim.

I hope I wake up to better news tomorrow.

[fish]

Have just read the latest posts on the pro-nuclear bravenewclimate website and it looks like things are pretty grim.

I hope I wake up to better news tomorrow.

...it looks like getting AC power to the plant from outside may be one solution but that is not certain due to issues with safety for workers trying to connect it up.

[fish]

Have just read the latest posts on the pro-nuclear bravenewclimate website and it looks like things are pretty grim.

I hope I wake up to better news tomorrow.

...it looks like getting AC power to the plant from outside may be one solution but that is not certain due to issues with safety for workers trying to connect it up.

they may also try some military water cannons to cool things down.

[Brucetiki]

But heads up for the japanese people not panicing at the shortage of food etc in the shops. What i mean is there is no mass fights for a bag of rice or a bottle of water like in third world countries.

only 3rd world countries???
or like the 2 guys I saw beaten to a pulp in Maryborough during the flood period because they filled their car and a 10 litre jerry can for a tinny when a RUMOUR went around town that the servo was running short. The two guys actually ASKED the servo staff before filling it and the staff said the tanks were filled up an hour beforehand and they had no idea where the rumour started.

I think Hurricane Katrina would have been a better example of how a developed country completely disintegrated in a time of crisis.

The incident at Maryborough was an isolated incident, whereas during Katrina incidents like that (and far worse) were common.

[fish]

At last, some good news on the nuclear situation:

Radiation levels 'dropping'

AN operation to cool one of the reactors at Japan's troubled Fukushima nuclear power plant using military helicopters and water cannons appears to be working as radiation levels have reportedly fallen slightly.

The Self-Defense Forces (SDF) used helicopters to drop water on the No. 3 reactor yesterday and fire trucks were used to spray water on the overheating spent fuel pool into the early hours of today.

About 58 tonnes of water was discharged by helicopters and fire trucks of the SDF, as well as by a water cannon truck of the Metropolitan Police Department.

The radiation reading was 279.4 microsievert per hour at the plant at 5:00am local time today, compared with 292.2 microsievert per hour at 8:40pm yesterday, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said, according to Kyodo News.

[Bully]

But heads up for the japanese people not panicing at the shortage of food etc in the shops. What i mean is there is no mass fights for a bag of rice or a bottle of water like in third world countries.

only 3rd world countries???
or like the 2 guys I saw beaten to a pulp in Maryborough during the flood period because they filled their car and a 10 litre jerry can for a tinny when a RUMOUR went around town that the servo was running short. The two guys actually ASKED the servo staff before filling it and the staff said the tanks were filled up an hour beforehand and they had no idea where the rumour started.

I think Hurricane Katrina would have been a better example of how a developed country completely disintegrated in a time of crisis.

The incident at Maryborough was an isolated incident, whereas during Katrina incidents like that (and far worse) were common.

when you had a president at the time of katrina that looked down on New orleans as a third world country and he did nothing not even fly over the affected area for a few days then this tends to happen and residents would get upset. Any city or country that this happened in would go like this if their leader sat on their backside for days and did nothing. But yes katrina is a good example of a developed country with a major issue like the indoor football stadium (example).
But the main cause of this happening is because of the police force in new orleans collapsing during the hurricane and policemen/women walking off the job because it was to hard.
The army was called in to fix the problems as the police force was no exisitant for a certain time.

[Brucetiki]

only 3rd world countries???
or like the 2 guys I saw beaten to a pulp in Maryborough during the flood period because they filled their car and a 10 litre jerry can for a tinny when a RUMOUR went around town that the servo was running short. The two guys actually ASKED the servo staff before filling it and the staff said the tanks were filled up an hour beforehand and they had no idea where the rumour started.

I think Hurricane Katrina would have been a better example of how a developed country completely disintegrated in a time of crisis.

The incident at Maryborough was an isolated incident, whereas during Katrina incidents like that (and far worse) were common.

when you had a president at the time of katrina that looked down on New orleans as a third world country and he did nothing not even fly over the affected area for a few days then this tends to happen and residents would get upset. Any city or country that this happened in would go like this if their leader sat on their backside for days and did nothing. But yes katrina is a good example of a developed country with a major issue like the indoor football stadium (example).
But the main cause of this happening is because of the police force in new orleans collapsing during the hurricane and policemen/women walking off the job because it was to hard.
The army was called in to fix the problems as the police force was no exisitant for a certain time.

Agreed - the Queensland floods/Cyclone Yasi pretty much saved Anna Bligh's political career because of how well she handled it whereas George W's handling of Katrina was nothing short of disgraceful and probably contributed to him becoming a sitting duck for the last couple of years he served as US President.

Strong leadership at times like this (which we've seen in Queensland, Christchurch, and Japan), where the authorities became proactive in keeping people as informed as possible about the situation, meant the authories on the ground (such as the Police) were able to cope with managing the sitatuation, resulting in these areas not deteriorating into the near anarchy which we saw with Katrina.

[dedja]

saw Professor Barry Brook on the 7pm project last night saying that the risk of anyone developing anything from nuclear overflow in japan is highly unlikely. He seemed to believe that most of the reaction to the possibility of a nuclear disaster was coming from a massive media beatup. He is the most credible source i have heard on the subject so far and seemed to have a lot of stats and figures to back him up.
Whatever the case, we wont know the end result of all of this until many years into the future.

Yes Barry Brook is very knowledgable on nuclear energy and climate change and is a strong advocate of the use of nuclear energy to combat climate change. His website bravenewclimate makes for very interesting reading.

I've been following the articles and blogs on there since day one of the Japanese nuclear crisis - they are very informative but a bit technical. I tend to think the contributors have been a bit optimistic about the situation in Fukushima, probably reflecting the pro-nuclear stance of the majority of the posters.

Indeed he is ... http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/barry.brook

[dedja]

The site is now rated as level 5 on the 7-step International Nuclear and Radiological Events scale ... apparently the same rating as the Three Mile Island incident in 1979.

Chenobyl was a 7 rating.