OMG Earthquake?

[Denguin]

Looks like radiation is making its way here. In such small amounts, but just thought I'd post:

Increased radiation detected by B.C. monitors

Health Canada says its monitoring stations are detecting a "minuscule" increase in radiation levels along the B.C. coast in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan.

Gary Holub says increased radiation levels were expected, and are less than the increase in radiation levels Canadians would see naturally when it rains.

Holub stressed that the increase poses no health risk to Canadians.

The agency installed nine additional monitoring stations along the West Coast late last week, as public concerns persisted about possible radioactive drift from Japan making it thousands of kilometres across the Pacific Ocean to North America.

Canadian health officials are reassuring the public there's no need to fear fallout from Japan, but some residents of B.C. remain nervous.

The nuclear complex in northern Japan was crippled 10 days ago by a huge earthquake and massive tsunami that killed thousands, and workers are still struggling to stabilize the reactors.

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=28083336

[Common sense]

Quick, guys...buy salt!

[Señor Hoff]

holy hell...that last clip is amazing

[cj_coolcat]

This guy must have been freaked out. I can imagine him thinking "Wow, look at that. Glad I'm safe way up here... uh... oh crap." (Some shaky camera, but the content is worth it.)

You know, after viewing this footage and others like it, I realized that a tsunami is not at all what I thought it was. I always thought it was just one giant wall of water that hits all at once. But it seems more like several waves that keep building on each other. I can see why it's so deceptive and why many people don't get to high ground when they should. I could see many people thinking that the first big wave was the tsunami when it fact it's just the start of it.

[luineul]

http://www.sonyericssonopen.com/News/Tennis/2011/pretournament/Japan-Relief-Effort.aspx

Props to everyone who has tried to help out even a little bit.

[Donky]

Probably the best upclose footage I've seen so far.

[old_time_hockey]

So when all is cleaned up, rebuilding starts and the TEPCO plant is finally shut down...what does Japan do for electrical generation?

I can't see the Japanese let alone the international community liking the idea of building more nuclear plants.

[Common sense]

So when all is cleaned up, rebuilding starts and the TEPCO plant is finally shut down...what does Japan do for electrical generation?

I can't see the Japanese let alone the international community liking the idea of building more nuclear plants.

Windpower? Although that'd cost a fortune and it would only produce enough energy for one lightbulb...

[jovocop55]

just came back from asia.. salt sold out everywhere.. haha..

[lateralus]

Looks like radiation is making its way here. In such small amounts, but just thought I'd post:

http://news.ca.msn.c...mentid=28083336

Spreading fear, sweet!!

[Steve23]

Japanese Cartoon titled "Nuclear Boy" aimed at educating the younger demographic on the ongoing nuclear crisis.

[Bieksa(not really)]

This was the scene where I worked, but I was about a 20 minute bike ride away

when the earthquake happened. This is reclaimed land.

http://www.shinurayasu-navi.com/topics/2011/711.html

[theminister]

This was the scene where I worked, but I was about a 20 minute bike ride away

when the earthquake happened. This is reclaimed land.

http://www.shinurayasu-navi.com/topics/2011/711.html

Thanks for that.

I can see how quickly the panic can start to set in when it strikes you that none of the land you are standing on is safe and the whole ground around you starts to turn unstable.

[Wetcoaster]

The BBC reports electricity has now been restored to the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant and all six reactors but tests need to be carried out to make sure that there are no pockets of flammable gas that would ignite when the reactor pumps are fired up. Also high levels of radiation continue to be admitted and there remains concerns that containment has been lost on one or more of the reactor vessels.

The death and missing toll has now gone over 21,000 and is expected to continue to rise.

22 March 2011

Last updated at 17:58 ET

Lights restored at Japan nuclear reactor

Engineers at Fukushima reactor 4 Works at the Fukushima Daiichi plant are spraying water on the damaged reactors to cool them

Lighting has been restored in the control room of one of the most badly-damaged reactors at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, officials say.

It is hoped the development will speed up work to restore cooling systems vital for stabilising the reactor.

Meanwhile, the UN's nuclear watchdog says radiation is still leaking from the quake-hit plant, but scientists are unsure exactly where it is coming from.

Japan estimates more than 21,000 people died in the 11 March quake and tsunami.

The lights came back on in the control centre of reactor 3, hours after power cables were connected to all six reactors for the first time.

The BBC's Mark Worthington in Tokyo says the hope is that as visibility within the plant improves, so will the chances of restarting cooling systems and monitoring equipment.

The Fukushima Daiichi plant's operators, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said engineers will try to power up water pumps to reactor 3 some time on Wednesday.

However, they warned that safety checks had to be made to damaged equipment and any volatile gases vented, to avoid an explosion when the electricity is switched back on.

They said restoring power to all the reactor units could take weeks or even months.

Workers have been battling to cool the reactors and spent fuel ponds to avoid a major release of radiation.

FUKUSHIMA UPDATE

* Reactor 1: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas explosion. Power lines attached.

* Reactor 2: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage suspected. Power lines attached.

* Reactor 3: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage possible. Spent fuel pond partly refilled with water after running low. Power lines attached.

* Reactor 4: Reactor shut down prior to earthquake. Fires and explosion in spent fuel pond; water level partly restored. Power lines attached.

* Reactors 5 & 6: Reactors shut down. Temperature of spent fuel pools now lowered after rising high. Power lines attached.

Emergency teams at Fukushima have also poured seawater into a boiling storage pond housing spent nuclear fuel rods, cooling it and stopping clouds of steam - possibly radioactive - rising from it.

On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that radiation was continuing to be emitted from the plant but it was difficult to pinpoint its exact source.

Senior official James Lyons said the IAEA and Japanese officials could not confirm that the damaged reactors were "totally intact" or if they were cracked and leaking radiation.

"We continue to see radiation coming from the site... and the question is where exactly is that coming from," Mr Lyons told a news conference.

The government has evacuated tens of thousands of people within a 20km (12-mile) radius of the plant and told residents 10km beyond that to stay indoors. The US has recommended an 80km exclusion zone.

Tepco vice president Norio Tsuzumi has visited evacuation centres to meet those forced from their homes.

Bowing deeply, he said: "Since I have tried to manage this problem hand-in-hand with the government, my visit here to directly meet you was belated. For this I also apologise from the bottom of my heart."

Higher than normal levels of radiation have been detected in seawater about 16km (10 miles) off the coast near the plant, but the government said they did not pose an immediate danger to human health.

Officials did however stop food shipments in nearby prefectures after detecting higher-than-normal levels of radiation in milk and certain vegetables, although authorities again insisted there was no health hazard.

Meanwhile, strong aftershocks are continuing to rattle the north-east of Japan, adding to the misery of more than 300,000 people still huddled in evacuation centres across 16 prefectures.

Tens of thousands of homes are still without power and more than two million people have no running water, officials say.

Police say the confirmed death toll from the earthquake and tsunami is now 9,079, with 12,645 missing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12825342

[Wetcoaster]

The latest update on the nuclear disaster in Japan. One pump is currently in operation cooling a storage pool as electricity has been restored to all six reactors that continue to be tested before full start-up is attempted.

There have been warnings about infants consuming water from the area and some countries are blocking Japanese food exports that could be affected in the wake of tests on milk and some vegetables led by the US stopping imports of milk, vegetable and fruit from four prefectures in the vicinity of the plant.

The disaster in Japan is having world-wide ripple effects in the global economy - particularly in the technology and auto sectors.

The latest estimates of dead and missing continues to rise and is currently officially pegged at over 23,000 with the total expected to continue to rise as search and recovery proceeds.

Japan nuclear crisis still a serious concern

3:12pm EDT

By Shinichi Saoshiro and Yoko Kubota

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo residents were warned not to give babies tap water because of radiation leaking from a nuclear plant crippled in the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan in the world's costliest natural disaster.

The U.N. atomic agency said there had been some positive developments at the Fukushima nuclear plant 250 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo but the overall situation remained serious. Some countries have started blocking imports of produce from Japan, fearful of radiation contamination.

The first official estimate put the cost from the March 11 disaster at more than $300 billion, dwarfing losses from both the 1995 Kobe quake and Hurricane Katrina that swept through New Orleans in 2005, making it the world's costliest natural disaster.

The plant, battered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that has left 23,000 people dead or missing, has still not been brought under control, and workers were forced away from the complex when black smoke began rising from one of its six reactors.

"There are some positive developments related to the availability of electrical power...although the overall situation remains of serious concern," Graham Andrew, a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a news conference.

Tokyo authorities said Wednesday that water at a purification plant for the capital of 13 million people had 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine -- more than twice the safety level for infants.

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said that level posed no immediate risk. "But, for infants under age one, I would like them to refrain from using tap water to dilute baby formula."

As concern grew over the risk to food safety of radiation from the nuclear plant, the United States became the first nation to block some food imports from the disaster zone.

It is stopping imports of milk, vegetable and fruit from four prefectures in the vicinity of the plant.

Hong Kong, a major importers of Japanese food, also banned produce and milk imports from the disaster zone. Japan's Jiji news agency said Hong Kong authorities had found radioactivity levels in spinach and turnip samples up to 10 times above the safety limit.

France this week asked the European Commission to look into harmonizing controls on radioactivity in imports from Japan, after the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

Authorities have said above-safety radiation levels had been discovered in 11 types of vegetables from the area, in addition to milk and water, and have halted shipments of some food and told people there to stop eating leafy vegetables.

Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano, the government's public face during the disaster, urged the world not to overreact.

Edano also said an exclusion zone around the plant did not need to be expanded and he urged Tokyo residents not to hoard bottled water, a plea that fell on deaf ears with many shops quickly selling out of supplies.

"If this were temporary, I wouldn't be so worried. If this is a long term, I think we have a lot to worry about," said Riku Kato, father of a one-year-old baby.

Physicians for Social Responsibility, a U.S. anti-nuclear group, disputed the food safety assurances and called for a more strict ban on sales of exposed food.

"There is no safe level of radionuclide exposure, whether from food, water or other sources. Period," said physician Jeff Patterson, a former president of the group.

The Asian nation's worst crisis since World War Two has sent shock waves through global financial markets.

The damage estimate of $300 billion could go higher as it does not include losses in economic activity from planned power outages or the broader impact of the nuclear crisis. The 1995 Kobe quake cost $100 billion while Hurricane Katrina caused $81 billion in damage.

More than a quarter of a million people are living in shelters, while rescuers and sniffer dogs comb debris and mud looking for corpses and personal mementos.

POWER CABLES ATTACHED

Technicians have successfully attached power cables to all six reactors at the Fukushima plant and started a pump at one to cool overheating fuel rods.

As well as having its workers on the front line in highly dangerous circumstances, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) is also facing accusations of a slow disaster response and questions over why it originally stored more uranium at the plant than it was designed to hold.

The IAEA has expressed concern about a lack of information from Japanese authorities, citing missing data on temperatures of spent fuel pools at the facility's reactors 1, 3 and 4.

Japan Nuclear Safety Commission Chairman Haruki Madarame said the government was "swiftly releasing information that is certain and not speculative" within Japan, but acknowledged it is behind in releasing information to foreign countries."

Experts have said tiny radioactive particles, measured by a network of monitoring stations as they spread eastwards from Japan across the Pacific, North America, the Atlantic and to Europe, were far too low to cause any harm to humans.

"It's only a matter of days before it disperses in the entire northern hemisphere," said Andrea Stahl, a senior scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research.

GLOBAL IMPACT

The Japan disaster has dealt a blow to the nuclear power industry around the world. Italy became the latest nation to re-assess its program, announcing a one-year moratorium on site selection and building of plants.

Crisis in the world's third-biggest economy -- and its key position in global supply chains, especially for the auto and technology sectors -- has added to global market jitters, also affected by conflict in Libya and unrest in the Middle East.

The death toll from the disaster has risen to 9,523, but with 16,094 people still missing, it is certain to rise.

There are reports that dozens of survivors, mostly elderly, have died in hospitals and evacuation centers from a lack of proper treatment, or simply because of the cold.

[Femme.Canuck]

Amazing read:

Altruism in Action: Japanese Surfer Hero Rescues His Wife, Mother and Others

In case you still had doubts about the way natural disasters can bring out the best in people, consider the heroic actions of Hideaki Akaiwa.

On March 11, Akaiwa was several miles away at work when the tsunami flooded his town where his wife was with up to 10 feet of water. The 43-year-old Japanese man, who met his wife of 20 years while surfing in a local bay, wasn't about to lose her to any type of wave. Unwilling to wait for authorities to act, Akaiwa put on a wetsuit and scuba gear, dove into the freezing, cloudy water, and headed for the site of his former home.

He swam amidst dangerous debris like shattered cars, downed electrical lines and collapsed buildings. "The water felt very cold, dark and scary," he told the Los Angeles Times. "I had to swim about 200 yards to her, which was quite difficult with all the floating wreckage."

Akaiwa located his wife in their destroyed house, saving her life. But that's not all. Several days later, having been unable to find his mother at local shelters, he went wading back into the water and made a similar rescue, locating his mother trapped on the second floor of her flooded house.

And he didn't stop there: Akaiwa continues to search for survivors who may need help, according to the Toronto Star.

Calamities and catastrophes bring many human tragedies, but research shows that they are also the occasion for widespread acts of altruism and heroism much more so than for panicked, selfish behavior or chaos. A love like Akaiwa's is worth celebrating.

- Times

Edited March 25, 2011 by P.OneOh

[Canada Hockey Place]

A road in Naka, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan: left, how it was on the day of the earthquake;

right, six days later (17 March) after rapid repairs. Photograph: AP

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/24/japan-disaster-reconstruction-road-recovery

6 Days? Wow!

+

[Señor Hoff]

Radiation Level At Fukushima Reactor No. 2 At Its Highest Level Recorded So Far, Neutron Beam Observed 13 Times

http://theintelhub.com/2011/03/23/radiation-level-at-fukushima-reactor-no-2-at-its-highest-level-recorded-so-far-neutron-beam-observed-13-times/

[ahzdeen]

A road in Naka, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan: left, how it was on the day of the earthquake;

right, six days later (17 March) after rapid repairs. Photograph: AP

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/24/japan-disaster-reconstruction-road-recovery

6 Days? Wow!

+

and it took months to get 41st ave repaved.

[Canada Hockey Place]

Radiation Level At Fukushima Reactor No. 2 At Its Highest Level Recorded So Far, Neutron Beam Observed 13 Times

http://theintelhub.com/2011/03/23/radiation-level-at-fukushima-reactor-no-2-at-its-highest-level-recorded-so-far-neutron-beam-observed-13-times/

Here's the original article which your link claims to get it's info. In case you want a source not named after a movie character. Instead of just posting headlines to try to scare people.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday it has observed a neutron beam, a kind of radioactive ray, 13 times on the premises of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after it was crippled by the massive March 11 quake-tsunami disaster.

TEPCO, the operator of the nuclear plant, said the neutron beam measured about 1.5 kilometers southwest of the plant's No. 1 and 2 reactors over three days from March 13 and is equivalent to 0.01 to 0.02 microsieverts per hour and that this is not a dangerous level.

The utility firm said it will measure uranium and plutonium, which could emit a neutron beam, as well.

In the 1999 criticality accident at a nuclear fuel processing plant run by JCO Co. in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, uranium broke apart continually in nuclear fission, causing a massive amount of neutron beams.

In the latest case at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, such a criticality accident has yet to happen.

But the measured neutron beam may be evidence that uranium and plutonium leaked from the plant's nuclear reactors and spent nuclear fuels have discharged a small amount of neutron beams through nuclear fission.

==Kyodo