Owen Nolan Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 They were warned about the safety of the nuclear plant and what could result if a big earth quake took place in 2008 and did minimal upgrades. From a country as prone to tremors and quakes as japan is, its a disgrace nothing more was done for the safety of its people.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Femme.Canuck Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Here are a couple of heartwarming stories, to lift your spirits up a little. Japan Earthquake: Survivor Walks 20 Hours to Find Girlfriend. In times of distress, its only natural for your thoughts to go to your loved ones. Zack Branham, a 24 year-old American who was teaching English in Japan, couldn't contact his girlfriend after the Japan tsunami struck their small coastal towns. Enduring by foot, he braved impassable roads to her town - a mere four miles away - for 20 hours to make sure she was okay. He tried nearly four times to enter her town, and was constantly turned away by the local police. He finally managed to sneak by passing himself off as an emergency worker. Speaking very little Japanese, he eventually found her rather ingeniously. http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2011/03/15/exp.am.intv.branham.cnn -CNN The link above includes a video in which Zack talks about his search and includes some more footage of the tsumani. Japanese Dog Keeps Vigil Over Injured Friend No one knows the story behind these two dogs. No one knows if they were rescued. But what is clear is the loyalty and love between these dogs. Take a look, World, at what it means to be true to a friend or loved one in need. Once again, it takes a dog to show us the way. Not sure about you, but it truly humbles me. UPDATE: We have gotten word that both dogs have been rescued! The healthier one is safe at a shelter and the injured one is being taken care of at a Vet Hospital. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH113NEpY0k -The Dog Files 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
key2thecup Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Ukrainians recall Chernobyl sacrifice, applaud Japan The official short-term death toll from the accident was 31 but many more people died of radiation-related sicknesses such as cancer. The total death toll and long-term health effects remain a subject of intense debate even 25 years after the disaster though a U.N. 2008 report concluded that only a few thousand people had died as a result. On pension now and suffering from a blood condition which he attributes to radiation effects, Chudinov says: "I lost many, very many, friends. I haven't counted but an awful lot of them are no longer here. I don't know why I survived. Radiation reacts differently on different people," he said. Nadezhda Mironenko's husband, Valentin, was then a 38-year-old carpenter whose firm worked at the Chernobyl plant. He went to the plant to help in the clear-up operation a month after the explosion and remained working in what is now a 30 km (18 miles) exclusion zone around the site until 1992. He died 5 years later of brain cancer at the age of 49. "I knew when I accompanied him to work that there was no alternative. One had to go and do one's job. We had that expression -- duty to the Motherland," Mironenko, 62, who now lives on pension in Kiev, told Reuters. Chernobyl 'liquidators' and their families have benefited from tax breaks, cheap re-housing, enhanced pensions and other privileges over the years. But the Japanese drama, evoking memories of 1986, brought 200 or so Chernobyl protesters out in Kiev on Wednesday to complain about government neglect. Mikola, 64, was a Soviet army officer drafted in with his unit to help the Chernobyl clean-up and was one of a group of protesters outside the Ukrainian government building. "The general came and said: 'I would rather have 2,000 poisoned (with radiation) if it allows 200 million people to live. We have been sent to work at the reactor'," he said recalling the day he learned he was being sent to the Chernobyl plant. Half of his military unit died from the consequences, Mikola said. Another protester, Vladimir Danilenko, 65, who worked as a fireman at the stricken plant, complained bitterly about the government. "They canceled our free treatment. They canceled our free medicine. They have thrown us aside and don't care. That's the big difference between us and Japan." http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-nuclear-chernobyl-witness-idUSTRE72F57620110316?pageNumber=2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wetcoaster Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Updated BBC photographic gallery - one shows a detailed picture of the extensive damage sustained at the Fukushima nuclear plant so far. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12763625 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
key2thecup Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 (edited) Hopes new power line may ease nuke crisis A NEARLY completed new power line could restore electric cooling systems in Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant, its operator said today, raising hopes of easing the crisis that has threatened a meltdown. Tokyo Electric Power Co spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said the new power line to Fukushima Dai-ichi is almost complete. Officials plan to try it "as soon as possible", but he could not say when. Meanwhile, conditions at the plant appeared to worsen on Wednesday, with white smoke pouring from the reactor complex and a dangerous surge in radiation levels forcing workers to retreat for hours from their struggle to cool the overheating reactors. The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency said he would go to Japan as soon as possible to assess the danger. He called the situation serious and urged the Japanese government to provide better information to the agency. The new line would revive electric-powered pumps, allowing the company to maintain a steady water supply to troubled reactors and spent fuel storage ponds, keeping them cool. The company is also trying to repair its existing disabled power line. The word came as international concern mounted over the deteriorating situation at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, where the danger from the reactors has nearly overshadowed the human tragedy of last week's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that pulverised Japan's northeastern coast and is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people. The 180 emergency workers have been working in shifts to manually pump seawater into the reactors because last week's earthquake and tsunami disabled main and backup power for electric-powered cooling pumps. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/hopes-new-power-line-may-ease-nuke-crisis/story-e6frf7jx-1226022948673 New power line almost ready at Japan nuke plant 39 Minutes Ago TOKYO – A nearly completed new power line could restore electric cooling systems in Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant, its operator said Thursday, raising hopes of easing the crisis that has threatened a meltdown. Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said the new power line to Fukushima Dai-ichi is almost complete. Officials plan to try it "as soon as possible" but he could not say when. Meanwhile, conditions at the plant appeared to worsen Wednesday, with white smoke pouring from the reactor complex and a dangerous surge in radiation levels forcing workers to retreat for hours from their struggle to cool the overheating reactors. The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency said he would go to Japan as soon as possible to assess the danger. He called the situation serious and urged the Japanese government to provide better information to the agency. The new line would revive electric-powered pumps, allowing the company to maintain a steady water supply to troubled reactors and spent fuel storage ponds, keeping them cool. The company is also trying to repair its existing disabled power line. The word came as international concern mounted over the deteriorating situation at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, where the danger from the reactors has nearly overshadowed the human tragedy of last week's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that pulverized Japan's northeastern coast and is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people. The 180 emergency workers have been working in shifts to manually pump seawater into the reactors because last week's earthquake and tsunami disabled main and backup power for electric-powered cooling pumps. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110316/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_earthquake_217 'The Fukushima-50' Fukushima heroes: Not afraid to die Edited March 16, 2011 by key2thecup 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wetcoaster Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 (edited) Per BBC Live: 1933: Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said he plans to fly to Japan on Thursday to get further information about the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The BBC's Kerry Skyring says Mr Amano is under pressure to demonstrate his agency is informed and able to communicate a clear picture of what is happening. "At daily press briefings he has been unable to explain why the information provided is so sketchy. As well as flying to Japan to what he says are high level meetings he is creating two teams who will also go there, one with expertise in nuclear safety, the other in radiation protection," our correspondent adds. Asked if the situation at Fukushima was now out of control, Mr Amano said: "It is very serious. The government and operators are doing everything they can. I hope their efforts will be successful." 2027: Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has said it is also concerned about the spent fuel storage pool inside the building housing reactor 3 at Fukushima Daiichi. The pools at both reactors 3 and 4 are reportedly boiling - there may not even be any water left in reactor 4's pool - and unless the spent fuel rods are cooled down, they could emit large quantities radiation. Radioactive steam was earlier said to be coming from reactor 3's pool. If cooling operations did not proceed well, the situation would "reach a critical stage in a couple of days", an agency official told the Kyodo news agency. 2035: US officials have concluded that the Japanese warnings have been insufficient, and that, deliberately or not, they have understated the potential threat of what is taking place inside the nuclear facility, according to the New York Times. Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, earlier said he believed that all the water in the spent fuel pool at reactor 4 had boiled dry, leaving fuel rods stored there exposed. "We believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures," he told a Congressional committee. 2038: Experts warn that if radiation levels become too high, workers at the plant would not only be prevented from approaching reactor 4's spent fuel pond, but also the adjacent reactors, which also have malfunctioning cooling systems. Edited March 16, 2011 by Wetcoaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 A resident in Minamisanriku, a town in Japan's Miyagi prefecture, walks on debris. In all, an estimated 450,000 people are staying in temporary shelters, often sleeping on the floor of school gymnasiums. (Jo Yong-Hak/Reuters) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oh captain my captain Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Cnn twitter: : NRC chief: "We believe secondary containment destroyed" at #Japan nuclear plant http://on.cnn.com/hi8GVs" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquiace Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Apparently CDC decided to crash before posting my comment so I'll paraphrase: Word from Japan is that the fuel shortage has caused many food and supply delivery companies to virtually come to a crawl. This poses immense problems and I fear a more imminent danger of starvation and panic. Not even the local trains and buses are running. The government says the food stockpile is more than enough, but it's not getting to them. The city hall laughed at us for asking. Even they don't know. This is a major problem for stores that have to re-stock on a nightly basis under normal circumstances. Even if you have money, there is nothing to buy. We'd better start seeing action soon or I fear people may be stretched to their breaking point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin. Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 ^I'm curious why food isn't dropped in for them from planes? Is it because of the fear of radiation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wetcoaster Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Tsunami: Before and after images The coastal town of Rikuzentakata, with a population of 23,000, was almost completely destroyed by the tsunami. Waves reached as high as the third floor of the city hall. It is not clear how many people survived. Use the slider to see satellite images of the town before and after the tsunami hit. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12743904 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truculence Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 ^I'm curious why food isn't dropped in for them from planes? Is it because of the fear of radiation? The SDF are bringing in supplies by helicopter and boat. It's rough though because the weather is bad and there are so many people that have been displaced. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Señor Hoff Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 its looking like this whole thing is gonna go Chernobyl. They will need to get lots of people to sacrifice themselves to contain all the reactors and eventually entomb them in concrete shells/sarcophagi. If things continue to get worse (very likely) it will eventually make large areas of land uninhabitable almost indefinitely...what a nightmare... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_314 Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 (edited) Hope the Land of the Rising Sun can rise, stronger, from the ashes like the phoenix May God bless them Edited March 17, 2011 by h0cky4r33k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeparrosesmustache Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 This is terrible. I have some friends there right now. I didn't know what to do so I donated 500 bucks to the red cross. I wish i could fly there and help clean up the mess 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wetcoaster Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Mark MacKinnon from The Globe and Mail newspaper tweets: "Just got a call from the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo. They agree with US call for 80-km exclusion zone around Fukushima reactors." Just got a call from the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo. They agree with US call for 80-km exclusion zone around Fukushima reactors.— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) March 17, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wetcoaster Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 The BBC notes TEPCO's accuracy and disclosure on nuclear matters is not good. It should be noted that the Tokyo Electric Power Company has a poor record on revealing the extent of problems at its nuclear facilities. In 2002, senior executives were forced to resign after the government disclosed that they had covered up a large series of cracks and other damage to reactors. In 2006, the firm admitted it had been falsifying data about coolant materials in its plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wetcoaster Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Here is the latest on radiation drift towards North America: Low concentrations of radioactive particles are heading eastwards from Fukushima towards North America, a Swedish official is quoted as saying by Reuters. Lars-Erik De Geer, research director at the Swedish Defence Research Institute, a government agency, was citing data from a network of international monitoring stations, but stressed the levels were not dangerous for people. The New York Times has an interactive graphic forecasting the plant's plume path, which shows how weather patterns might disperse radiation from Fukushima over the week. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/16/science/plume-graphic.html?ref=science Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wetcoaster Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 The UK is advising its citizens to leave Japan. 0844: More from the Foreign Office on their advice to Britons in Japan; FCO Minister Alistair Burt says flights out of the country have been chartered in case commercial airliners are full: "Because the situation was unsafe on the streets yesterday [Wednesday] and it was difficult to get to the airport, we understand the situation is clearer today, we are encouraging UK citizens to leave on commercial flights. If that isn't enough, we've already chartered two planes to help people get to Dubai. But at present, we think the situation is appropriate for people to leave commercially, and we're advising them to do so." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin. Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 The plume tracking thing is pretty nifty. Thanks for the link.. Looks like Van is safe from even the slightest of radiation (if it's accurate). People are claiming that Japan has 48 hours from Wednesday to avoid a Chernobyl disaster: Japan has 48 hours to bring its rapidly escalating nuclear crisis under control before it faces a catastrophe "worse than Chernobyl", it was claimed on Wednesday night. Nuclear safety officials in France said they were "pessimistic" about whether engineers could prevent a meltdown at the Fukushima power plant after a pool containing spent fuel rods overheated and boiled dry. Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Japan+Just+hours+avoid+another+Chernobyl/4451667/story.html#ixzz1GqSyqaf1 I hope they're just overreacting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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