Disaster in Japan

Written By: - Date published: 11:00 pm, March 11th, 2011 - 111 comments
Categories: disaster - Tags: ,

A 8.9 Richter-scale earthquake has struck just off the coast of northeastern Japan. At a depth of just 24km and only 60km offshore, it released 8,000 times more energy than the second Christchurch earthquake. The Kurihara seismic station recorded a 7 on the destructiveness scale, the maximum reading in Chch 2 was an 8 out of 12 on our scale.

Swathes of 70K city of Kesennuma ablaze. Severe damage in Tokyo, over 250km away, and the Tsunami has swept down the coast. Felt as far away as Beijing, 2500km distant.

Death toll unknown. $100 billion to $1 trillion damage. 20+ aftershocks over 5.5 are reported so far. Tsunami warnings across the Pacific, including NZ. We should be OK but stay away from beaches.

A summary map of major damage from the BBC.

Nuclear reactors automatically shut down via the insertion of control rods following the quake but in two reactors there is concern that the pumping systems have failed and the nuclear decay is still heating the coolant water. This is how a meltdown begins, with the inability to dissipate the energy safely. It does seem the situation is under control with an emergency release of vapor from the cooling system of the worst-affected reactor.

111 comments on “Disaster in Japan ”

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  1. kriswgtn 1
    11 March 2011 at 8:13 pm

    The Tsunami that has just hit Japan on tv -fuck ITS HORRIBLE

    Those poor people 🙁

  2. Pete 2
    11 March 2011 at 8:18 pm

    Horrendous earthquake and tsunamis in Japan.

    • Carol 2.1
      11 March 2011 at 8:28 pm

      Yes. TV3 has stopped showing Glee and is showing live images frrom a US TV channel. Ongoing major Tsunami on the Japan coast. One of biggest ever quakes in Japan: 8.9 tsunami 6- 10 meters.

  3. Deadly_NZ 3
    11 March 2011 at 8:43 pm

    A 8.9 earthquake has hit Japan 4.45 PM local time

    • Vicky32 3.1
      11 March 2011 at 9:16 pm

      Fires, and talk about nuclear reactors… scary stuff! What gives with our world?
      Deb

      • bbfloyd 3.1.1
        12 March 2011 at 1:05 pm

        what gives???? we have to keep in mind the fact that, on a planetary timescale,, we have had a very peaceful epoch with regard to seismic activity… indeed if we were to compare the period of known human existence,, then we’ve had the luck to emerge during one of,, if not the most peaceful period in the planets existence…

        she’s just doing what she always has done…. if earth was to revert to even a tenth of what she has been like,, then we would cease to exist relatively quickly…

  4. kriswgtn 4
    11 March 2011 at 8:44 pm

    Tsunami warning for NZ
    get prepared people

    • Carol 4.1
      11 March 2011 at 8:52 pm

      A quake expert in NZ was just talking on Al Jazeera – watching online. He said it would be 12 hours before a tsunami would reach NZ & it will be low tide, so not more than 1 meter. Not a proble. Worse for mid Pacific, and they have 6 hour wait in Hawaii.

    • Rosy 4.2
      11 March 2011 at 10:40 pm

      Hate it when tv people talk up a crisis for those who aren’t going to be involved – Al Jazeera reporters going on about tsunami in NZ (CD says will only be 1m). Concentrate on real risk or those devastated already. Not that hard.

      • bbfloyd 4.2.1
        12 March 2011 at 1:14 pm

        quite right… i stopped watching last night as nearly half the coverage was about the so called threat to nz… which is irrelevant to the actual disaster unfolding in japan,, and unnessesarily alarmist. the coverage i saw was also frustratinly short on information( e;g;where was the epicentre), and long on irrelevent and facile commentry,, to the point of talking over expert analysis with empty rhetoric… i havn’t watched any today, so i’m hoping we aren’t going to be subjected to the same kind of cringeworthy coverage we got from christchurch.

        note to tvnz news dept… FACTS!!! INFORMATION!!! not sensationalism this time please…

  5. todd 5
    11 March 2011 at 10:09 pm

    A major Earthquake in Japan

    Friday, March 11, 2011 at 06:46:23 PM NZT

    http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/03/massive-earthquake-in-japan.html

    NZ Civil Defense has issued a warning: A tsunami potential threat advisory is still in effect for New Zealand. Stay away form beaches.

    Initial prediction place potential waves hitting Northland in New Zealand at 6:14 AM.

    • Colonial Viper 5.1
      11 March 2011 at 10:31 pm

      This is another major shock to an increasingly fragile world. NZ on tsunami watch tomorrow morning. There will be global and local repercussions to this disaster.

    • Draco T Bastard 5.2
      11 March 2011 at 10:51 pm

      2205, 11 March, 2011

      A tsunami marine warning is in effect for New Zealand:

      Confirmation been received that a tsunami was generated. No wave heights are available at this time.

      The first wave to arrive to New Zealand will be in the areas around North Cape at approximately 0623 12 March 2011.

      Civil Defence Website is down so they’re presently using Google Docs.

      • Colonial Viper 5.2.1
        11 March 2011 at 11:05 pm

        I think the max wave height is expected to be ~1m.

        • todd 5.2.1.1
          11 March 2011 at 11:37 pm

          No harm in preparing.

          There’s some major Worldwide activity lately:

          http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/

          • Lanthanide 5.2.1.1.1
            12 March 2011 at 10:03 am

            There’s always major worldwide activity. It’s only news when it occurs near populated areas.

            • todd 5.2.1.1.1.1
              12 March 2011 at 10:31 am

              Most of the biggest Earthquakes have happened in populated areas.

              http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/10_largest_world.php

              • lprent …
                12 March 2011 at 11:02 am

                Nope. Look at the map on the link. The most common area for them is in the Kuriles and Alaska – not places known for their population.

                • todd …
                  12 March 2011 at 4:05 pm

                  Looks like around four of those fifteen major earthquakes were in less populated areas. I think you might mean the most unpopulated areas are Prince William Sound – Alaska with around a population of 10,000 and Banda Sea, with 15,000. Kuriles has around 19,000.

                  Chile population 17,094,270
                  Alaska Total population 698,473
                  Kamchatka population 402,500
                  North Sumatra population 12,985,075
                  Chile Biobío Region population 1,861,562
                  Ecuador population 14,306,876
                  Assam Tibet 26,655,528

              • Lanthanide …
                12 March 2011 at 12:05 pm

                I’d also point out that measuring only the biggest quakes doesn’t really help your point.

                Earthquakes happen all the time, but it’s only since the 1900 that we’ve been able to record them with a scientific basis. It’s logical to assume that the areas that started off with seimographs were those that were populated, so we can also assume that there may have been many large quakes that occurred during the 20th century that were in unpopulated areas and so simply weren’t recorded at all (mainly talking 6-7 here, the damaging ones that aren’t felt over huge regions).

                In other words you have a sampling bias.

                • todd …
                  12 March 2011 at 4:07 pm

                  A sampling bias? You’ve completely lost me there Lanthanide.

                  • Marty G …
                    12 March 2011 at 7:53 pm

                    it means if you’re only measuring quakes where there are large populations, it’s going to look like most large quakes happen near large populations.

                    anyway, your map doesn’t show that large earthquakes occur near large populations. most of that top 15 occurred in sparsely populated areas.

                    • todd …
                      12 March 2011 at 8:51 pm

                      Most of the biggest Earthquakes have happened in populated areas…

                      Perhaps I should rephrase that; the majority of the largest Earthquakes the world has seen, have effected highly populated areas. I would put this down to people building in areas that are geographically suitable, much of this due to Earthquakes creating those features in the first place.

                      The effects of such large Earthquakes would have been reported even if they happened in unpopulated areas or out to sea where monitoring was not undertaken. I think Lanthanides hypothesis needs some evidence before it is given any relevance.

                      By my count, only four of the 15 major Earthquakes since 1900 were in sparsely populated areas. Prince William Sound (Alaska), Alaska, Banda Sea and Kuriles. The Alaskan Earthquakes are questionable. Now we have the Japanese Earthquake as well. Here’s a small excerpt of some of the Major earthquakes and their effects:

                      Magnitude 8.8 – OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
                      At least 521 people killed, 56 missing, about 12,000 injured, 800,000 displaced and at least 370,000 houses, 4,013 schools, 79 hospitals and 4,200 boats damaged or destroyed by the earthquake and tsunami in the Valparaiso-Concepcion-Temuco area. At least 1.8 million people affected in Araucania, Bio-Bio, Maule, O’Higgins, Region Metropolitana and Valparaiso. The total economic loss in Chile was estimated at 30 billion US dollars.

                      THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA – In total, 227,898 people were killed or were missing and presumed dead and about 1.7 million people were displaced by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 14 countries in South Asia and East Africa.

                      Chile 1960 Magnitude 9.5 – Approximately 1,655 killed, 3,000 injured, 2,000,000 homeless, and $550 million damage in southern Chile; tsunami caused 61 deaths, $75 million damage in Hawaii; 138 deaths and $50 million damage in Japan; 32 dead and missing in the Philippines; and $500,000 damage to the west coast of the United States.

                      etc

                      PS Lanthanide, did you see the other link to reports that people had heard a sonic boom prior to the Christchurch earthquake? Feel like making an apology yet for being an antagonistic twerp?

                    • Marty G …
                      12 March 2011 at 9:12 pm

                      I guess it depends what you meant by “populated areas”.

                      none of the ones you listed happened close to large population centres but many of the very biggest earthquakes in recorded history are going to have affected people because they affect such a large area and there are people everywhere.

                      And, remember, sampling bias. we’ve only being collecting worldwide seismic data for a matter of decades before that, the sensors were mostly confined to population centres.

  6. Pete 6
    11 March 2011 at 10:35 pm

    With a global financial centre like Japan hit like this, I don’t think the global economy will see much in the way of recovery in 2011.

    • Colonial Viper 6.1
      11 March 2011 at 10:40 pm

      Japan has a massive public debt problem, with public debt ~200% of GDP. (Makes ours at ~35% look miniscule) They were very recently downgraded to AA-/AA2. Its going to make their recovery from this very difficult.

      I agree this is a massive hit. Understanding that with the likelihood of many lives lost this is not the most appropriate time to talk about economic matters – however reinsurers all throughout the world will be reeling. The insurance situation in Christchurch will get worse because of this.

      I hope as a nation we can assist the Japanese people.

  7. prism 7
    11 March 2011 at 11:05 pm

    Radnz Home has good list of times forecast for waves.

  8. RedLogix 8
    11 March 2011 at 11:07 pm

    The only upside is that no nation on earth is prepared for this event like the Japanese. Their meticulous preparations will be paying off massively right now.

    As with ChCh in all the loss and tragedy it will be important not to overlook all the things that didn’t fall down and did work. It could have been so much worse in Japan.

    But what to say? This still looks awful. Consequences yet to be even imagined. My heart goes out to Japan and all those caught up in it directly or otherwise.

    But what of the Pacific, and the island scattered across it?

  9. Zorr 9
    11 March 2011 at 11:09 pm

    For anyone like me who doesn’t own a TV the BBC is currently streaming their coverage at the following link:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

  10. todd 10
    11 March 2011 at 11:12 pm

    Alert! A major Earthquake in Japan

    Friday, March 11, 2011 at 06:46:23 PM NZT

    http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/03/massive-earthquake-in-japan.html

    NZ Civil Defense has issued a warning: A tsunami potential threat advisory is still in effect for New Zealand. Stay away from beaches and waterways.

    The tsunami warning will remain in effect until a cancellation message is issued by MCDEM.

    A Civil Defence advisory panel has been convened to assess the threat of the Japan tsunami to NZ

    NZ Tsunami Marine Warning Northland in New Zealand at 6:24 AM.

    Why do these posts keep disappearing?

  11. Lanthanide 11
    11 March 2011 at 11:19 pm

    Japan accounts for 20% of the worls 6.0M+ quakes, so they’re the most prepared country in the world for earthquakes, and obviously they named ‘tsunami’.

    At 8.9 it is Japan’s biggest ever quake, and the 7th biggest recorded in history ever.

  12. Marty G 12
    11 March 2011 at 11:41 pm

    jesus. live images on bbc of houses being swept by the tsunami across fields, ablaze. this is nearly 5 hours after the quake

  13. Colonial Viper 13
    11 March 2011 at 11:53 pm

    Al Jazeera has noted that the biggest aftershocks so far include magnitude 6.8 and 7.1 hits. Those are crazy size earthquakes in of themselves.

    FFS they have shut down some of the nuclear reactors in the area but power losses mean that some coolant water pumps have failed.

    These older design reactors need active cooling even after they have been shut down.

  14. nadis 14
    12 March 2011 at 1:12 am

    Where do you get $100 billion to $1 trillion damage from? TV pictures? Gut feel?

    • Marty G 14.1
      12 March 2011 at 3:20 am

      as if I would be making that estimate myself, don’t be stupid. media reports gave those numbers as a simple google search could have shown you if you were skeptical.

      official estimates are now over $1 trillion. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/11/3161959.htm

      For scale, Chch’s $20 billion is 10% of our GDP. $1 trillion is nearly 20% of Japan’s GDP.

      • Luva 14.1.1
        12 March 2011 at 7:35 am

        Sounds like john key maths

        • Marty G 14.1.1.1
          12 March 2011 at 7:40 am

          don’t be a dickhead. it gives a sense of scale and how difficult this will be to recover from.

          • Luva 14.1.1.1.1
            12 March 2011 at 8:06 am

            Sorry didn’t mean to be a ‘dickhead’. Just find it irriating how we speculate or just really guess on death tolls and reconstruction costs 5 minutes after something happens.

            The tv gives more than a sense of scale. Let’s leave the guessing alone

            • Marty G 14.1.1.1.1.1
              12 March 2011 at 12:12 pm

              apology accepted.

              you’ll note I didn’t list the running death toll and the damage estimates are over an order of magnitude.

            • nadis 14.1.1.1.1.2
              12 March 2011 at 12:14 pm

              It’s kind of irrelevent to think of this stuff now, but as incredible as the footage we are seeing on TV this quake has occurred in low (relatively speaking) density part of Japan. There is apparently little damage in Tokyo/Yokohama, which is an incredible testimony to the preparedness and building standards of Japan. Nowhere else in the world engineers like they do for earthquake risk, and even more importantly they don’t seem to cut corners on implementation..

              Your trillion dollar figure from that link is an estimate based on widespread damage to greater Tokyo – this will fortunately cost far fewer lives and money than those worst case assumptions or the Kobe experience. A quake like this in any other country with similar population density would result in thousands of pancaked buildings and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

              Japan will do what they are eminently capable of – fund a massive infrastructure spend out of domestic savings. Japan does have relatively high official debt (net debt around 120% of GDP) but unlike every other OECD country they fund most of this out of domestic savings.

              Its a horror event. Be strong Japan.

  15. Inventory2 15
    12 March 2011 at 5:28 am

    The television coverage of the tsunami was mindblowing. We were flicking between CNN, BBC and Sky News, and the live pictures of the tsunami approaching then making landfall were freaky; compelling, frightening and shocking, all in one. The worst aspect was watching vehicles driving TOWARDS the approaching tsunami, and possibly unaware of the fury that nature was unleashing. Thoughts, prayers and aroha are with those affected.

    PS – here’s the latest tsunami warning for NZ from Civil Defence (4.44am)

    http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/

  16. rd 16
    12 March 2011 at 7:16 am

    From a friend in Tokyo
    Thank you very much for your quickest mail. I am ok, although I was almost in panic at the first shake which lasted a few minutes. That was the hardest quake I’ve ever experienced in my life. The northern part of Japan seems to have been hardest hit by the quake and tsunami, and there must have been remarkable numbers of damages and victims. Quakes in Tokyo Area were a little softer, but frequent aftershocks are still continuing as of 21:30hrs. I am really hoping all this terminates soon. Many thanks again for your kind attention.

  17. RedLogix 17
    12 March 2011 at 7:59 am

    If the death toll in Japan remains in the range of about a 1000 as being currently predicted, this will be an astounding outcome. An absolute tribute to meticulous planning, preparation and execution.

    In the past this event would have killed many 100,000’s. In many less well prepared countries in the world it would have, as did the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

    While the images and stories coming out of Japan are shocking and compelling all at once, I find it equally impressive to look around the edges of the destruction … to look at what has not fallen down, and what has worked.

    • Inventory2 17.1
      12 March 2011 at 10:54 am

      Sadly RL, it won’t. One of the networks was carrying an unconfirmed suggestion that 80,000 people are missing, and seeing the violence that the tsunami has rendered on some towns in northern Japan, it’s not difficult to accept that kind of number in such a populous country.

      You’re right; the images are both shocking and compelling; none moreso than the video footage of a man trying to out-run the tsunami as it marched across a field. Thank God that the video didn’t show whether or not he made it.

  18. Rosy 18
    12 March 2011 at 8:06 am

    Has our government responded with anything other than sympathy? I’m sure there is something we can do even though we have Christchurch to deal with. Japan responded to our disaster really quickly.

    • Marty G 18.1
      12 March 2011 at 8:12 am

      they’ll have to cancel the international money appeal for Chch, certainly. There’s no way we can be going cap in hand to the rest of the world when we’re actually well set to cope with our disaster and the Japanese one is so much bigger.

      • Rosy 18.1.1
        12 March 2011 at 8:34 am

        yes, it was embarrassing enough before this… I’ve just heard on BBC that Japan has asked for urban search and rescue teams from U.S., Korea, Australia and NZ. So I hope that is being organised quickly.

    • chris73 18.2
      12 March 2011 at 9:39 am

      I’ve no doubt that our government will respond to this as our governements in the past have responded to other disasters

  19. r0b 19
    12 March 2011 at 9:33 am

    What a mess. Thoughts with all in Japan.

    Last night had the surreal experience of watching cam footage of the Japan earthquake on TV while experiencing our very own Chch aftershock at the same time.

    I’ve pretty much had enough of earthquakes.

  20. word 20
    12 March 2011 at 10:00 am

    Some how this is Nationals fault. I’m sure you will connect the dots soon enough.

  21. the sprout 21
    12 March 2011 at 10:31 am

    For realtime NZ tsunami data see here:

    http://www.geonet.org.nz/tsunami/

    Dead calm on the northern east coast but obvious tidal surges, low tide has for the last couple of hours looked more like close to high tide where I am – will be interesting to see where it gets at high tide in about 5 hours.

    During the surges the tide has been coming in at about 1ft/sec.

  22. Rosy 22
    12 March 2011 at 10:45 am

    “More unsettling news from the Fukushima No 1 nuclear power reactor in Onahama: the plant’s operator Tepco says that radiation “could have already been released” from the damaged reactor, while Japan’s prime minister Naoto Kan is saying that residents within 10km of the plant must leave the area.”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/japan-tsunami-earthquake-live-coverage

    Captcha: killing

    • chris73 22.1
      12 March 2011 at 11:00 am

      To be fair I’ve always thought that, eventually, nuclear power will become more prevalent.

      Maybe not if you’re situated on the pacific rim of fire…

      • Lanthanide 22.1.1
        12 March 2011 at 12:07 pm

        More modern reactor designs continue to be more and more contained and self-sufficient, as well as shrinking in size and output (as it’s safer). The nukes in Japan are typically older, much larger designs that are inherently more prone to damage.

        • chris73 22.1.1.1
          12 March 2011 at 12:23 pm

          Coolness! Bring on the nukes!! (based in Auckland of course)

          • bbfloyd 22.1.1.1.1
            12 March 2011 at 1:54 pm

            fuck you’re a wanker chris…. a genuine goldcard carrying member of the self flagulation club…spray you poisonous crap somewhere else…

        • Rosy 22.1.1.2
          12 March 2011 at 12:32 pm

          I’ve heard the new ones are way too expensive for all but the richest countries and a way more expensive than any other practicable form of energy, especially when decommissioning is taken into account. Anyway, I for one would rather not have them on these shakey isles.

          Another reactor has been added to the Japanese government’s emergency list.

          • Colonial Viper 22.1.1.2.1
            12 March 2011 at 12:49 pm

            Latest Gen III+ designs being approved and certified now are generally made to be simpler and cheaper AFAIK. They are designed to have failure rates 1/100 or 1/1000 that of reactors built in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

            What they do is take systems away and allow more natural gravity and convection processes to do the work – less complex, less moving parts, fewer pumps and valves. You don’t need power to working pumps to keep a reactor cool for instance. The natural convection of cold water past hot water does it. In an emergency these reactors are designed to be safe for 48-72 hours with absolutely no human intervention needed.

            In many ways the newest reactor designs are simpler, faster and cheaper to build than the old designs.

            For me, the main problem remains – what do you do with the low level nuclear waste produced which is going to be dangerously radioactive for tens of thousands of years.

            • Rosy 22.1.1.2.1.1
              12 March 2011 at 1:04 pm

              Yep waste is certainly the biggest problem. Geologic storage doesn’t seem the ticket here either. Maybe Australia, for example, should take full responsibility for disposal of it’s product. That still wouldn’t convince me that nuclear plants are a good idea in NZ though.

              • g says …
                12 March 2011 at 1:29 pm

                it is interesting that we are keen on collecting the waste from nuclear reactors.
                as far as i know we dont collect the waste from the gas or coal turbines which is deadly to humans immediately. this point was in a recent book by the man who put forward the gaia theory (sorry, his name eludes me.)

                • Marty G …
                  12 March 2011 at 1:38 pm

                  because if you didn’t you would quickly leave the plant’s surroundings too radioactive for permanent habitation and those radiation levels would persist for hundreds of years or more.

                • chris73 …
                  12 March 2011 at 3:43 pm

                  Professor James Lovelock

  23. vto 23
    12 March 2011 at 12:17 pm

    Absolute horror.

    What is the world coming to?

    • word 23.1
      12 March 2011 at 1:53 pm

      Nothing. This happened before, and is happening again. Just more population than before and we have the interwebs. Easier to get access to media.

  24. Colonial Viper 24
    12 March 2011 at 1:10 pm

    Question – what have we offered Japan in terms of assistance? I don’t seem to have seen anything on this yet, but have seen news reports that they have requested assistance from several countries, including ourselves.

  25. Treetop 25
    12 March 2011 at 1:21 pm

    The rarity of a massive earthquake, followed by a tsunami and then cooling systems in a nuclear reactor being compromised, it is the first on this scale that I have heard of. International disasters of this kind require an international solution. In time there may need to be an international organisation set up to fund the rescue, give and distribute immediate aid and rebuilding of the area/s affected.

  26. Marty G 26
    12 March 2011 at 2:17 pm

    some chilling parallels with the past in japan

    Kesennuma looks like it’s been incidnary bombed. they think the fires are spreading inland, out of control.

    and that refinery fire, watch the video, see the dust of the air being pulled into the fire at incredible speed and up that massive column of flame, which drops debris over a wide area – that’s how firestorms work

    • Treetop 26.1
      12 March 2011 at 2:48 pm

      Population of Japan approx 127,000,000. The parallels with August 1945 is much worse as a larger population. As well to think that 4,000,000 people in Tokyo are without power. How long until food and water is rationed? The international aid required cannot get there quick enough.

  27. joe90 27
    12 March 2011 at 3:21 pm

    Hmm..’ wonder if there’ll be a re-think about the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre budget cuts?.

  29. joe90 29
    12 March 2011 at 3:31 pm

    It appears idiocy is universal.

    A 25-year-old man was swept into the Pacific Ocean near the Klamath River in Del Norte County in Northern California. The man and two friends reportedly traveled to the shoreline to take photos of the incoming tsunami waves, Lt. Todd Vorenkamp said. His friends made it back to shore safely.

  30. Colonial Viper 30
    12 March 2011 at 3:39 pm

    Total of 5 nuclear reactors in emergency condition now 😯

    The worst one, which was the first declared a problem, now has internal pressures at 2x normal operating levels. They have been venting radioactive steam to manage that, and using a secondary cooling system. And it’s not good enough.

    Japanese engineers will be extremely peeved that something has gone wrong with their multiple back up systems. But when something this big hits, no one can plan for all the eventualities.

    http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/51416204-68/plant-power-emergency-nuclear.html.csp

    • todd 30.1
      12 March 2011 at 6:08 pm

      Luckily Japans weather is OK today and sunny tomorrow. They will get light rain at times on Monday through to Wednesday and then snow on Thursday. It’s currently 10˚C

      Wind direction is northerly but changes to south easterly tonight and then back to north easterly on Sunday morning. It remains the same on Monday.

      Fukushima is one of the largest nuclear plants in the world with 8 separate units located on site

    • Rich 30.2
      12 March 2011 at 7:19 pm

      Which is why it isn’t a good idea to build nuclear rectors in the in the first place.

      Still, I’m sure we’ll be told that this is an obsolete technology and the problem could not recur in a western reactor. [Oh wait, that was for Chernobyl] Try: new generations of reactors are intrinsically safe and cannot fail in the way the obsolete Japanese one did.

      • Rich 30.2.1
        12 March 2011 at 7:21 pm

        On the positive side, having a quake devastated city turned into a radioactive wasteland avoids all that petty argument about reconstruction plans.

        • Marty G 30.2.1.1
          12 March 2011 at 7:44 pm

          they think one of the reactors may have melted down. But that doesn’t mean a radiation release, just that the fuel rods and the assembly have melted. There are layers of containment (metres thick concrete) to contain the debris from a meltdown without it getting into the external environment.

          Chernobyl also had fires that made things worse and the soviet reactors didn’t have containment buildings

          • todd 30.2.1.1.1
            12 March 2011 at 9:36 pm

            There’s a report of an explosion being heard and white smoke coming from Fukushima.

            http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/japan-declares-nuclear-emergency-following-huge-earthquake/story-fn7zkbgs-1226020058265

            An explosion was heard and white smoke was spotted at Japan’s quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant Saturday afternoon, Jiji press agency said.

            Several workers were reported to be injured in the explosion, and smoke was seen billowing out of the plant.

            Radioactivity at the plant was 20 times over the normal level, and Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission has said it may be experiencing meltdown.

            Pressure has reportedly been growing at the plant, with Japanese officials racing against time to cool the reactors that were disabled by yesterday’s massive earthquake and tsunami or face a nuclear meltdown.

      • hobbit 30.2.2
        12 March 2011 at 7:43 pm

        Chernobyl-style plants built in the USSR had no containment structure built around them, where as the *rest* of the western world uses full containment structures on their reactor units (What stopped Three Mile Island becoming a serious disaster). Besides, Japanese power reactors are of the PWR or BWR type, ie standard, they are not using backward technology like the Russians were – and still are to this day!

        Still, the fact that radiation is said to be 1000 times normal inside the plant, and 8 times normal outside it, is a cause for concern. We can only hope that they secure the cooling of the reactors, and that the fuel has not melted.

        captcha: degrees

  32. todd 32
    12 March 2011 at 11:03 pm

    Has Fukushima Killed Us?

    http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/03/has-fukushima-killed-us.html

    The ceiling of Unit 1 has collapsed and an explosion has blown the entire outer structure off of the containment building of Unit 1 at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

    An increase of radiation levels has been confirmed following the explosion. The hourly radiation leaking from the plant is reported to be equal to the amount permitted in one year.

    A Japanese environmental group, has documented previous safety problems at the Fukushima reactor complex…

  33. prism 33
    12 March 2011 at 11:36 pm

    Good discussion on Radnz Kim Hill this morning with a nuclear watchdog – good facts and figures. It reminded me of why I don’t like nuclear plants. One of the problems that never gets talked about is that when they are old say 40 years as I think Japanese ones are, nobody wants to spend the money to decommission them. Business find it isn’t their ‘core’ business and governments usually leave it to business. Chernobyl is an example of what can happen with government in charge.
    Saturday 12 March 2011 08:18
    Kevin Kamps: nuclear emergency
    Radioactive Waste Watchdog and specialist in nuclear waste at Beyond Nuclear, talking about the problems at the Fukushima atomic power plant.

  34. Jenny 34
    12 March 2011 at 11:39 pm

    Fukushima is destined to become a name as well known and infamous as Chenoble.

    Thank the protesters who prevented this technology being built here.

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