Japanese emperor 'deeply worried'

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12755739

16 March 2011 Last updated at 05:54 ET

Japanese emperor 'deeply worried'

Japan's Emperor Akihito has said he is "deeply worried" about the crisis his country is facing following last Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

In an extremely rare appearance, the emperor went on live TV to make his first public comments on the disaster, and urged an all-out rescue effort.

He spoke after technicians temporarily abandoned a quake-crippled nuclear plant as radiation briefly surged.

Thousands of people were killed in the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami.

Video available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12756801

[Botany]

1. And with good reason too

Fukushima nuclear power plant #4

[Ghost Dog]

2. .

6, 5, ...



4,3,2,1.

[AtheistCrusader]

7. I don't see 5,6. They are about a football field 'to the right' of the edge of this photo.

If you have it, please link.

[Ghost Dog]

9. No, I haven't seen satellite closeups of 5&6 yet.

The above are 4,3,2, and 1.

[AtheistCrusader]

6. Holy shit, #4 is WAY worse than expected.

This probably reveals the desperate manpower situation at the plant. 4, 5, 6 should NOT have been in trouble at all. It's a simple 'swimming pool' storage scheme. Top it off, and you're good for weeks. It does not take stupid amounts of high tech equipment to accomplish that. A couple fire trucks can do it. But now, #4 is way screwed, and it was probably a human error of failing to keep SOMEONE'S eye on it.

Just like running out of fuel from 2am-4am on reactor #2's generator, which lead to an explosion that damaged containment.

Human error. They are tired. They are frightened. They have lost manpower, and they are making mistakes.


Son of a bitch.

[Ghost Dog]

8. I heard this morning (my time: GMT+0) they were working on building a new road

that would give access to those fire trucks...

(While, meanwhile, there was talk of helicopter water drops).

Then I thought, why not bring in MARINE fire-tenders, hosing down, if possible accurately, from right there in that artificial harbor sea-side of the installation?

Edit: Sure, I know, these things take time (even if you were already prepared)... which is running out.

[FBaggins]

11. Not a bad idea.

Don't know what the range on the water cannons is (not how close they can get)... but it's not a bad idea.

On edit - Doesn't look like it would reach (though maybe you could run hoses). The water canons can supposedly reach 400 ft into the air on a large fireboat (and thus a couple hundred feet further at something up on a hill. That would be tough even if you beached it.

[DonKrieger]

3. What's the best/worst that can happen?

Hi Everyone,

I would like to know the answer to these questions.

I presume that the best that can happen is that the problems with these nuclear reactors will be resolved quickly with no loss of life and a minimum of additional radiation release. Of course there will be a large financial cost to deal with the mess and an even large cost in political capital around the controversies of using nuclear power at all.

But what about the worst? Suppose all 6 reactors melt down and release "huge" amounts of radiation. And what if the wind is blowing towards Tokyo when that happens, or towards mainland Korea or China? What are the consequences of the potential largest estimate of radiation exposure to humans?

And what if the wind is blowing out to sea instead so the great majority of the radiation ends up dispersed into the ocean and the atmosphere? How does that compare with the radiation released by the atmospheric nuclear tests of the 1950's?

Don

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. This article may help

http://www.10news.com/news/27209079/detail.html

Experts Examine Worst-Case Scenario For Japan

Local Experts Say Spread Of Radioactive Particles Possible

POSTED: 7:39 pm PDT March 15, 2011
UPDATED: 10:01 pm PDT March 15, 2011

SAN DIEGO -- 10News spoke with local experts who gave insight into a possible worst-case scenario in Japan following the massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power plant.

Although there is no concern that the reactors may explode like an atomic bomb, there are fears of more explosions and greater leaks plus the spread of contaminated radioactive particles.

…

"They could get put into the atmosphere and pushed around a ways. It might, depending on weather conditions, go quite a ways. United States? No, those particles are too heavy and we're way too far," said Jennex.

…

San Diego State University professor Eric Frost told 10News, "It really won't be something like an atomic bomb but it could be something as devastating for those people and because our economies are so linked, it's devastating for the world as well."

[DonKrieger]

5. More info needed

Thanks for your response. I read the article.

Jennex states that the "particles" are too heavy to make their way to the United States. But if they get into the ocean, they will, over time, contribute to an increasing level of contamination world wide.

I would like to see a really systematic discussion of this topic. How much radiation could we see released? What is the maximum? How does that compare with the amount of radioactive material released by a nuclear blast? I'm sure there are people who know.

The problem with these materials, as pointed out in the San Diego article, is that if ingested or inhaled, it's a real problem to get rid of them. That's why ground water contamination by leakage of radioactive waste has always been a major concern to those near prospective dump sites. But here we have the potential for massive amounts of radioactive waste and fissile material being dumped into the air most of which will likely end up in the ocean.

Don

[Ghost Dog]

10. There is also plutonium, undoubtedly, in the mix.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium