Japan just hit by magnitude 8.9 earthquake

[EQnoble]

I am happy to hear our members from the area are ok this is good news...

It is nonsense like that which makes us EU people think less of (some of) America sometimes. Sorry if that is offensive. I find it less offensive than journalists pretending to be journalists - earning money on the deaths of tens of thousands of others while they have their leg over the other, a mug in their hand, and going 'lulz' on the screen. People reporting on the news and not being able to understand the scope or the reality of the images they're viewing are not journalists in my eyes. Just a poor representation of the nation they're addressing via (inter)national television. "Look everybody, we just laugh at this. Looks funny from above when everybody is so small and running (and not making it). It's ok everybody, because we're the ******** f* news of the us f* a. Let's go to a commercial."

Too true Mr. F;-) But what do you expect when people choose people for a job based on how perfect their smile is or how stunning one appears. I want the news not a beauty pageant. It pisses me off to no end that the people representing the masses of this country are douche-like in their "tactical approach" of being impartial. How are you going to laugh at all on tv no less and influence people to think it is not serious. We aren't talking someones pool collapsing and little johnny's backyard bike ride turning into a waterslide. We are talking a titanic force of nature that at different scales with conditions that CAN sterilize the surface of earth of ALL land based life. <facepalm> All this from the nation responsible for making Jerry Springer a popular show.


Blessings to everyone in Japan , 暗闇を照らすためには意志を持たなければならない。

 

[Adam Howard]

Japan's Nuclear Plant is venting radioactive steam. Pressure is still building. If a full stage 9 meltdown took place, it would leave the whole country of Japan uninhabitable. The reactor there is the largest nuclear reactor on earth. Evacuation plans are being discussed, but officials are still confident on their on going efforts to keep things under control.

They claim they have an emergency "dome system" which would prevent anything going into the atmosphere. It's never been test in a real emergency of course, but even if such a system worked... The radiation in the ground, water, and coastal area would not be suitable for any life.

Japan really is a small country (smaller then the state of Montana), with a lot of it being below or equal to sea level.

They have a "limited" natural resource when it comes to fresh water (one of the reasons why they have such a good water filtration system). Their food and a large sum of their agricultural depends on their coast lines.

 

[Elizabeth]

They claim they have an emergency "dome system" which would prevent anything going into the atmosphere. It's never been test in a real emergency of course, but even if such a system worked... The radiation in the ground, water, and coastal area would not be suitable for any life.
Japan really is a small country (smaller then the state of Montana), with a lot of it being below or equal to sea level.
They have a "limited" natural resource when it comes to fresh water (one of the reasons why they have such a good water filtration system). Their food and a large sum of their agricultural depends on their coast lines.

But that is one reason BWR power plants ARE always built on bodies of water, either next to a stream, lake, ocean, ect. So there is a natural source of water available to use. It doesn't need fresh water, it just needs to be WATER.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/cooling_power_plants_inf121.html

2. Cooling to condense the steam and discharge surplus heat
The second function for water in such a power plant is to cool the system so as to condense the low-pressure steam and recycle it. As the steam in the internal circuit condenses back to water, the surplus (waste) heat which is removed from it needs to be discharged by transfer to the air or to a body of water. This is a major consideration in siting power plants, and in the UK siting study in 2009 for nuclear plants all recommendations were for sites within 2 km of abundant water - sea or estuary.
This cooling function to condense the steam may be done in one of three ways:

• Direct or "once-through" cooling. If the power plant is next to the sea, a big river, or large inland water body it may be done simply by running a large amount of water through the condensers in a single pass and discharging it back into the sea, lake or river a few degrees warmer and without much loss from the amount withdrawn[5]. That is the simplest method. The water may be salt or fresh. Some small amount of evaporation will occur off site due to the water being a few degrees warmer.

 

[EQnoble]

Basically a liquid cooling system like a pc's but with the ocean or a lake as a reservoir. Right?

 

[Elizabeth]

Basically a liquid cooling system like a pc's but with the ocean or a lake as a reservoir. Right?

Yeap, you got it. They do that on purpose. The newer ones are called ABWR's but the concept is the same. (A standing for Advanced). My Husband was working for Hitachi-GE in the division that was working on the next generation ABWR plants before his medical retirement and he spent all our married life in the industry. I did get some of the information thru osmosis in hanging around him and his co-workers or I would have been seriously bored.

Liz

 

[Adam Howard]

But that is one reason BWR power plants ARE always built on bodies of water, either next to a stream, lake, ocean, ect. So there is a natural source of water available to use. It doesn't need fresh water, it just needs to be WATER.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/cooling_power_plants_inf121.html

Correct. But radiation of such a high yield is not going to stay localized. If they were to have a stage 9 meltdown, we're talking about 100x yield then what Russia faced and that is even with all the safeties they have in place.

 

[Elizabeth]

Correct. But radiation of such a high yield is not going to stay localized. If they were to have a stage 9 meltdown, we're talking about 100x yield then what Russia faced and that is even with all the safeties they have in place.

To be honest, the media is making it sound far more worse than it might be...until the World Nuclear Organization steps in and releases the news, I don't believe what is on the media reports.

 

[Elizabeth]

You can track the International Atomic Energy Agency Twitter Feed here

 

[EQnoble]

Absolutely...mainstream media has made a practice of business out of what should be unbiased reporting. They don't make money(get viewers) telling the people what they want to hear or even the complete truth most of the time, they do it by telling people their worst fears. I am not saying there is not people in journalism who WANT to make a difference in their field...it is just hard when your in a room full of Goliaths and your fresh out of stones. The ones who report as it is usually get discredited and shunned.

 

[Crazyfruitbat]

To be honest, the media is making it sound far more worse than it might be...until the World Nuclear Organization steps in and releases the news, I don't believe what is on the media reports.

Absolutely...mainstream media has made a practice of business out of what should be unbiased reporting. They don't make money(get viewers) telling the people what they want to hear or even the complete truth most of the time, they do it by telling people their worst fears. I am not saying there is not people in journalism who WANT to make a difference in their field...it is just hard when your in a room full of Goliaths and your fresh out of stones. The ones who report as it is usually get discredited and shunned.

Agreed, here in japan it's certainly not being played that much compared to the foreign media - yes, they have evacuated 3 towns but its just as a precaution. It seems like it is under control, US is sending in extra coolant just in case something goes bad - but it seems like the reactor is starting to cool. Though in fairness, the area around the factory is trashed- there isn't much left standing except that power plant

 

[EQnoble]

Yeah there was a US powerplant that went critical and was for days and they secured it and no loss of life...the president even had shown up...and there was definitely an error with the error console that wasn't displaying a critical failure point. They use the momentum of a story for ratings.

 

[Floris]

Good luck to everybody in Japan. And to the idiots that went to the shore in California somewhere to see the tsunami despite a 24h warning and got in trouble due to it.

 

[EQnoble]

You know what would impress me....if the media companies donated the ad income from the time slots where they aired footage, audio, imagery and whatever else have you of this occurrence of nature that had tragic effects for many people like you or me. Nope, that might just be... human.

 

[Crazyfruitbat]

I think we spoke too soon, the tv just annouced that the power station has gone into meltdown...

 

[SilverCircle]

Absolutely...mainstream media has made a practice of business out of what should be unbiased reporting. They don't make money(get viewers) telling the people what they want to hear or even the complete truth most of the time, they do it by telling people their worst fears. I am not saying there is not people in journalism who WANT to make a difference in their field...it is just hard when your in a room full of Goliaths and your fresh out of stones. The ones who report as it is usually get discredited and shunned.

To be honest, I've long ago lost all respect for most of the media clowns, although I agree that there are a few, rare exceptions.

I've a fairly good understanding of aviation-related topics, because my father is a retired airline captain with 30 years of experience and I hold a pilot's license (though, not a commercial one, but still you need to learn and know a lot of things) and whenever I see reports about aviation incidents in the mainstream media, I really wonder if they are doing ANY kind of research today. They tell you all kind of total and utter crap when they speculate why said incident could have happened - if it wasn't so sad, I couldn't do anything but laugh at so much incompetence.

Good example: The Qantas incident with the A-380 losing large parts of one of its engine in flight a while ago. It was all over the media and... wow, never read, heard and seen such a load of uninformed nonsense. To be fair, there were a few exceptions where reports were actually well researched and informative, mainly from British and Australian networks, but the majority was like the "oh my god, they were all going to die" stuff.

I really wonder if they produce the same sort of bs when reporting on other more complex topics for which my BS detector doesn't work well enough to spot all that fluff.

Best example: Look at CNN. They were once highly respected and given (rightfully) lots of credit for good journalism and reporting, but virtually nothing of that quality is left.

 

[EQnoble]

I had not heard of that incident myself but then again I don't believe much of the news unless a well known expert or better yet panel of said experts can detail a full accounting of through a reverse engineering of the accident or event even more so when we are talking about events like the one that transpired in Japan.

As far as what the press can print here...well...I blame a few important people with blackberry's but what do I know. From their (the press as a whole's)point of view if this we're true , they would be guilty of trying to add water to their frosted flakes and smiling about it so they can sell you a bowl and buy themselves a better dinner. Everyone's gotta eat. The side effect is that they perpetuate the cycle of stupid in the process. Don't believe me? Look how I constructed this paragraph.

 

[FreshFroot]

All I can say is it looks horrible there and I just hope a lot of lives are not lost. It's looking like one of the worst disasters in the last decade.

There is a train missing with hundreds of people on it... just vanished as if it doesn't exist.

 

[Walter]

12:01 pm Saturday --- woke up about two hours ago, we had another large quake near Nagano, but not much in Tokyo.

Glad you're ok.

 

[DregondRahl]

I don't watch the news anymore, its too stupid how they talk about things, I'm very upset over the japan earthquake i have a lot of friends there and its a very busy city, lots of people are missing, if i could id go there and help with the relief efforts in a heart beat. Its sad that people are taking it lightly.

 

[Walter]

It seems like it is under control

Really?

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