Magnitude 8.8 Earthquake, Tsunami Rocks Northeastern Japan

[Green Heart]

http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/438/fallout.jpg

This image is all over the net, hope its not true.

[commadore]

http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/438/fallout.jpg

This image is all over the net, hope its not true.

I think that shows what would happen if the worse case scenario were to happen: a massive, explosive meltdown similar to Chernobyl. Right now there's been very, very little radiation released from the explosion and the TEPCO and government authorities are working hard to prevent such a scenario from happening.

[Billie Bonce]

Tsunami is a Japanese word. I don't know how they made such a mistake in design. They expected the major earthquake in that area. They expected tsunami after an earthquake. It seems, after the quake all the 3 working reactors at the powerplant stopped without damage, but the cooling system also needs power. They had emergency diesel generators that started properly... but soon they were destroyed by the tsunami.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_ ... ower_Plant

They evacuated people from 20-km zone around the powerplant. In Chernobyl it was (and still is) 30-km zone...

[Duncan Edwards]

http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/438/fallout.jpg

This image is all over the net, hope its not true.

I don't see how it could be. The figures they are quoting exceed anything ever delivered in Pacific nuclear bomb tests. That would also be from an uncontained total meltdown which this is very unlikely to become. Chernobyl was not a light water reactor nor was it housed in a containment building. I suspect strongly this is a piece of scary artwork.

EDIT - The logo in that map is from a private Australian company that I suspect has nothing to do with it. They not only make no mention of it on their website I can't imagine how a private company that appears to specialize in mostly industrial situations would have access to such detailed data.

[Nessie]

Ayamasahiro is from Japan, hope she's ok... she hasn't been active here since the split, but still...

I'm glad my friend who lived in Japan for awhile...has now moved back to America!

Got one family member who said he was in the tsunami zone. I'm watching his Facebook account. So far, so good, he's still posting frequently and apparently not in any trouble.

This is just terrible. I was watching it on CNN.com last night. The video they have is hard for me to even comprehend.

Much sadness,
Nessie

[nachtjaeger]

From everything I have seen online, Fukushima #1 unit 1 is a definite Three Mile Island, but nowhere near a Chernobyl. Yeah, a Hydrogen explosion blowing the roof off the containment building during a coolant loss is bad, but if (as stated) the containment vessel is intact, it's a minor annoyance compared to the earthquake and tsunami.
They're flooding the core with seawater and boric acid, then they will fill the entire containment building to keep it cool. Not good for the reactor, but apparently the core is already ruined, so it ain't gonna make things much worse.

http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/438/fallout.jpg

This image is all over the net, hope its not true.

I don't see how it could be. The figures they are quoting exceed anything ever delivered in Pacific nuclear bomb tests. That would also be from an uncontained total meltdown which this is very unlikely to become. Chernobyl was not a light water reactor nor was it housed in a containment building. I suspect strongly this is a piece of scary artwork.

EDIT - The logo in that map is from a private Australian company that I suspect has nothing to do with it. They not only make no mention of it on their website I can't imagine how a private company that appears to specialize in mostly industrial situations would have access to such detailed data.

[Green Heart]

I remember reading somewhere that pumping seawater into a reactor to cool it was a last ditch desperation move, I presume the Governments are hiding the seriousness of this siutation, or the hopelessness, we will find out tomorrow anyhow, hoping for the best.

[schlamm]

*

[tempman]

Whoa, goodbye west coast America

[merloch]

now a volcano has erupted in southern japan