Japan quakes

[SKYMTL]

Japan is getting quite a lot of aftershocks by the looks of things!

Wow. Literally one every 3-10 minutes.

[G H Z]

What a tragedy, the earthquakes laid enough pain on the Japanese people already, now they must endure a nuclear disaster. Very very sad to see everything happening over there.

Miah man, good to see you're OK

[BeepBeep2]

Wow. Literally one every 3-10 minutes.

Not only this but several of the aftershocks are nearly as powerful as the initial quake that rocked Haiti...

Here is the localized list -
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...140_40_eqs.php

[josh1980]

I'll try to fill you guys in on some info since I work at a nuclear plant...

In the event of an emergency the containment building is meant to keep all the bad radiation inside. So far it looks like the building is still intact, which is great news. backup diesel generators onsite are supposed to power giant pumps that can pump water into the reactor from various sources. These sources are a bunch of tanks, the ocean, and the reactor itself. Once enough water has been pumped into the reactor then the system is realigned to provide a cooling path. Water is pumped out of the reactor, cooled, then pumped back in. If the reactor vessel were to crack, or something else happened that prevents the reactor from holding water inside it, then the plant is designed such that water is pumped into the reactor and comes out wherever the hole is. Then the containment building will start to fill with water. Once the containment building is filled completely then water is pumped from inside the containment building back into the reactor.

The key to preventing reactor damage is keeping water inside the core. As long as you can keep water in the core there will be no damage. This is a key characteristic of all nuclear power plants.

Currently, it sounds like there is no pure water available, so seawater is being pumped into the reactor. It isn't clear whether water is leaking out somewhere or just being vented. But the fact that water is being pumped into the reactor is the best news you could hear. It means that the amount of core damage is now under control. In the end, it looks like the worst is already over and all that is left is going to be keeping the pumps running until the reactor is completely cool(could be weeks or months) and then cleaning up the mess.

There's alot of sensationalism going on in the news. It's incredibly difficult to get any kinds of facts or solid numbers to figure out how bad it is. Honestly, if I lived close to the plant I wouldn't want to be there right now(mostly because there's so little data as to what is actually going on), but I'm convinced that in a few weeks it won't be as dire as the media says it is.

[Buckeye]

Thanks Josh

If you could explain just what was that, that blew up ?
The blast was major in my eyes and it took the whole top of the building off. Surely that causes major damage to the containment building itself ?

[dctokyo]

news update

more bad news, A partial meltdown is likely under way at second quake-stricken nuclear reactor

also
At the Fukushima No. 1 plant, a different reactor partially melted Saturday and operations to fill the reactor with sea water for emergency cooling continued Sunday to prevent an occurrence of criticality, but the utility also reported another rise in radiation surpassing the legal limit in the morning.

[dctokyo]

Thanks Josh

If you could explain just what was that, that blew up ?
The blast was major in my eyes and it took the whole top of the building off. Surely that causes major damage to the containment building itself ?

Chief Cabinet secretary Yukio Edano told an urgent press conference that the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has confirmed there is no damage to the steel container housing the reactor, although the 3:36 p.m. explosion resulted in the roof and the walls of the building housing the reactor's container being blown away.

[Kallenator]

Thanks Josh

If you could explain just what was that, that blew up ?
The blast was major in my eyes and it took the whole top of the building off. Surely that causes major damage to the containment building itself ?

This puzzles me a bit as well, although I think I read it was because of the hydrogen created from the reactor was released because of over pressure and then ignited when it met Oxygen.

[dctokyo]

Official NHK WORLD TV live on USTREAM.
NHK WORLD TV is an English language 24-hour international news and information channel.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-world-tv

[WaterFlex]

Please, Earth, stop doing that...

[josh1980]

Hydrogen is often used to cool the turbine generator. If it had been leaking(would anyone be surprised if some pipes burst?) then a spark would level the building. The turbine building is usually close to the containment building, but is not designed to be pressurized. I think that the building that is shown in the videos exploding was the turbine building.
The turbine buildings are often kept at a very slight vacuum so that any cracks in concrete(concrete is not always airtight and can be very porous), doors opening, etc sucks air into the turbine building. This provides the benefit of all air leaving the building only one way.. through HEPA filters. This is to help prevent any possible radioactive particles from escaping into the environment.

If a nuclear reactor gets hot enough the water will split back into hydrogen and oxygen(electrolysis). I'd expect that in an emergency if they have to vent the reactor, they vent it to the turbine building and then blow the air out through the HEPA filters into the environment. This would minimize the release to the environment. Of course, if you vent enough hydrogen and get a spark, you could level the building.

My guess is they vented to the turbine building and a spark ignited the hydrogen. You get a spectacular blast but it doesn't provide any indicator as to the status of the reactor.

One thing is for sure. If you destroy the turbine building, you'll likely never make any electricity again. The turbine generator is quite expensive . Of course, since core damage has likely occurred it's unlikely they'd even try to make electricity again anyway.

Edit:

One other thing i'd like to say...

The people at the plants are literally heroes. They're working hard despite possibly not knowing if their families are still alive, their homes are still there, etc. I'm sure some of them are grieving for lost ones and yet still expected to perform their job. Imagine the kind of stress on their shoulders right now. On top of that they're being exposed to large doses of radiation. It is possible that some of them may be exposed to lethal doses of radiation to protect the general public. Pray for the workers that may be sacrificing themselves.

[Buckeye]

Thanks Josh for that explantion

[Hondacity]

i just realized something...its a good thing my country didn't approve of a nuclear power plant...we're also in the ring o fire...and im sure my country couldn't respond to this nuclear possible meltdown scenarios

hopefully our super jap bros handle the nuke problems well..

i thought a us ship was suppose to be there by now....

[BeepBeep2]

i just realized something...its a good thing my country didn't approve of a nuclear power plant...we're also in the ring o fire...and im sure my country couldn't respond to this nuclear possible meltdown scenarios

hopefully our super jap bros handle the nuke problems well..

i thought a us ship was suppose to be there by now....

From what I hear (NBC news) the military already has a ship there with supplies as well as airlifting food and supplies to areas affected.

[vitaminc]

One other thing i'd like to say...

The people at the plants are literally heroes. They're working hard despite possibly not knowing if their families are still alive, their homes are still there, etc. I'm sure some of them are grieving for lost ones and yet still expected to perform their job. Imagine the kind of stress on their shoulders right now. On top of that they're being exposed to large doses of radiation. It is possible that some of them may be exposed to lethal doses of radiation to protect the general public. Pray for the workers that may be sacrificing themselves.

They are literally risking their lives saving the Earth right now. Heros.

[miahallen]

Miah man, good to see you're OK

Thanks Mark

Thanks again everyone for your prayers, I went and got my wife today, so we're all back together, safe and sound

[El Mano]

Thanks josh1980 for sharing all this info with us

[Shahryar_NEO]

Very very sad for what happened in japan . japanese people really should be strong . Just after earthquake and tsunami , another chernobyl occured really really sad .

Don't know exactly but hope replacing of fusion based reactors cause less disaster of nuclear power in the future .

[dinos22]

good to hear our Japanese friends are ok

terrible event this as well as NZ

[FlanK3r]

I watch every day morning news at czech idnesweb...hope, not only problem with the reactor (hot) will be fixed.

[RPGWiZaRD]

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/geiger..._medium=social - if you want a quick way of checking if there's been any serious reactor leakages, at least it would show an increase in CPM, as it is now around 12.xx cpm that's perfectly normal levels (10~20 is usually concidered natural levels of radioactivity).

[F.E.A.R.]

http://video.corriere.it/tsunami-si-...d-745e25f97bf2

[Postmodum]

Mia... glad you're ok man! I'm always trying to talk with all my japanese friends but i had not luck so far kind of worried ...

[RPGWiZaRD]

They are now planning on scheduling blackouts for outer areas of Tokyo starting tomorrow by different regions on a 3hr basis by rotating around the areas. They are sure handling things quick and nicely over there with all these press conferences and decisions made on a short time period etc.

[Cooper]

They are now planning on scheduling blackouts for outer areas of Tokyo starting tomorrow by different regions on a 3hr basis by rotating around the areas. They are sure handling things quick and nicely over there with all these press conferences and decisions made on a short time period etc.

Those decisions were predefined long time ago.
It's called social defense.