8.9 earthquake Sendai, Honshu, Japan _Tsunami

[SoobieOut]

My heart goes out the the people of Japan in this crisis. As far as earthquake predictions, I read that looking in the newspapers for lost cats is by far the most accurate method. Seems alot of cats run away from home a couple of days before a major event.

Donations to the Red Cross is the best way to help.


https://american.redcross.org/site/D...rm1&df_id=5052

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by dcb

...it is a simple matter of plate tectonics and living at the wrong place at the wrong time:

And it's a good idea to remember that the Pacific Northwest coast is also the same sort of wrong place, and it's just a matter of time: A Postcard to the Pacific Northwest: Prepare - NYTimes.com

[echomodder]

Hows "The cleanest form of energy" looking now?

[Odin]

Originally Posted by echomodder

Hows "The cleanest form of energy" looking now?

pretty good seeing as how they went through a 9.0 and a 30 foot wave and radiation leakage is still minimal. Take any reactor from the US and put it through the same situation and we would have already had a complete meltdown.

[vacationtime247]

What scares me is the sheer volume of contamination and pollution related to the tsunami and nuclear disaster. First the massive earthquake, 8.9 on the scale. Watched a Discovery show explaining how the scale is rated. Just an increase of 1 on the scale say from 8 to 9 magnifies it's intensity exponentially. Then the ensuing tsunami and finally the nuclear plant explosion. No word yet on what was realeased, they say it was hydrogen but we'll see. Reports are that radiation levels have increased. Time will tell what the final damage will be.
VT247

[dcb]

Yah, lets not jump on either the "for" or "against" nuclear bandwagon at this opportunity please.

[roflwaffle]

In terms of nuclear power what we really need to be "For" are passive cooling and structures capable of withstanding 9+ magnitude quakes, and against skimping on design. This tragedy illustrates that across the board we should prepare for 1000+ year disasters.

[NeilBlanchard]

They have had a third explosion now, and by all accounts it probably will not be any where near as bad as Chernobyl, but it certainly could be a lot worse than Three Mile Island. They have most certainly had some melting but whether it goes into an uncontrolled meltdown unknown at this point.

They are running out of food and water and fuel, and there are about 500,000 people completely devastated by this, with over 10,000 killed. The tsunami was huge; and they could still get more earthquakes and possible tsunamis.

[cfg83]

roflwaffle -

Originally Posted by roflwaffle

In terms of nuclear power what we really need to be "For" are passive cooling and structures capable of withstanding 9+ magnitude quakes, and against skimping on design. This tragedy illustrates that across the board we should prepare for 1000+ year disasters.

From what I hear (which may be wrong!), there are lots of things that could have been done in hindsight :

1 - House the backup generators in a tsunami-proof location nearby. They were in the basement, became flooded, and therefore useless.

2 - The power connections from the backup generators to the cooling systems were also (obviously) in the flooded basement. The building design could have incorporated multiple power connections from different locations around and above the building.

3 - They did transport new power generators into the site, but I don't know if this was part of an existing Plan-B or just improvisation. You could have heavy lift choppers for generators and diesel fuel on standby for just this scenario. The only requirement would be a high-ground heliport (aka tsunami-proof) that could get the generators and diesel-fuel to the reactor *and* installed before the backup batteries went dead. This does not address the possibility that the helicopters and/or backup-backup generators would *also* be damaged in the initial earthquake.

CarloSW2

[vacationtime247]

A volcano erupted yesterday in Japan following the recent 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.
VT247

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxUjK0C71yE