Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake w/tsunami

Not if the containment is not breached.

BraveNewClimate

 

2011/03/14 15:47 - Hydrogen Blast At Fukushima Plant Did Not Cause Major Radiation Leak

 

I posted in the China Syndrome thread that the Japanese Government understates real facts so as not to cause panic. Everyone has the same news that come out of Japan, including Ken. Unless you are an insider, you really don't know what's going on. In fact Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano literally said, "it is our understanding that the core has not bean breached" He did not say they are 100% sure, because the engineers were blown away with the blast and injured and no one's going in there to take a close look. No one is saying that the rods have cooled down and and the emergency is over because they can't. We can only hope that it will stop and go away. My friend in Tokyo has evacuated his family to Osaka and is preparing to leave for their condo in Honolulu or to Los Angeles.

 

^^^ I thought Ken is in Japan? ^^^

 

Ken is in Japan. By Insider I meant someone that works for TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) at the Fukushima plant. I don't think he works for them or is at the scene. There are 600 residents that have not been evacuated from the 20km zone. The footage of the official who came to tell them to shut the doors and windows and stay calm was nothing short of panic. He rushed in totally out of control and rushed out after he told everyone to stay put. So unless there is a formal statement that the situation is over there is the possibility that a melt down is going in. The proof is that we have not seen any footage of the inside of the building after the explosions.

 

NHK WORLD English

 

So will it be worse than Chernoble or Three Mile Island or does this sort of thing happen all the time but we just don't hear about it?

 

If a release of pressure blows the roof and walls off of a containment building... that don't happen every day...

 

U.S. military orders ships back from Japan reactor - MarketWatch

Radiation levels are high enough to scare the RR away from the coast...

 

But this is the trouble, the tv news report what the Japanese Government say but then we hear the US Aircraft Carriers are being moved away.

Is this because the radiation is dangerously high or is the ships captain playing it super safe?

No info and we either trust everything we hear on the news OR we panic and believe the conspiracy theories and probably end up somewhere between the two.

 

The radiation exposure was to a crew on a helicopter mission and not to the ships directly but they still moved the ships back anyway.

 

The latest report I read from what I believe to be a reputable source suggests the ships were moved because of low-level radioactive contamination. While Chernobyl may be in people's fears, my understanding is that nothing similar will happen in Japan. The reactors are of a different type and have already been shut down.

Any estimates of death tolls and damage costs are premature at this point.

 

FYI, on March 23rd the History Channel is rebroadcasting their Modern Marvels show "Nature Tech: Tsunamis" that was originally broadcast Oct 6, 2004 if anyone is interested.

 

This is good article about the nuclear plants. http://www.nei.org/newsandevents/information-on-the-japanese-earthquake-and-reactors-in-that-region/
Got it from my brother in my e-mail.

 

2 new explosions in the past couple of hours. They can't keep placing workers there in any capacity to avert more problems without dire consequences to their safety. Core is exposed in at least one of them now last I heard. Not good news at all. Yikes.

 

The TEPCO status report hasn't been updated but the breach has been acknowledged by an employee...

quote:March 15 (Bloomberg) -- The containment chamber of the No 2 reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant may be damaged after today’s blast and radiation leakage is possible, company spokesman Kaoru Yoshida said.

Tepco Reactor Chamber May Be Damaged, Radiation Leak Possible - Businessweek

 

actually the radiation alarms on the RR went off too, at least that's what was reported today by Alex Stone of ABC. They are considering moving the ship to the west side of the island since the radiation blows east.

 

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com has some decent explanation and visuals. Hope it's accurate. The entire video appears to be done by NHK.