Japanese nuclear disaster

[hembo]

If high radiation spread upto Tokyo then what Japanese govt. will do? How can they vacate whole city in 2-3 days?

5.05am GMT: Reuters reports of panic in Tokyo, where long queues at railway stations have been seen as residents attempt to leave the city:

Panic swept Tokyo on Tuesday after a rise in radioactive levels around an earthquake-hit nuclear power plant north of the city, causing some residents to leave the capital and others to stock up on food and supplies.

Several embassies advised staff and citizens to leave affected areas, tourists cut short vacations and multinational companies either urged staff to leave or said they were considering plans to move outside the city.

In one sign of the panic, Don Quixote, a multistorey, 24-hour general store in Tokyo's Roppongi district, was sold out of radios, flashlights, candles, fuel cans and sleeping bags on Tuesday as a Reuters reporter visited the shop.

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Kyodo reports: "Small amounts of radioactive substances detected in Tokyo". It was from a Tokyo University monitoring post about five hours ago, some half an hour after the explosion in Fukushima.

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Where will the people go? People from even 400 km radius is at the risk of exposure to some level of radiation? IMHO, if the other 3 reactor rod also gets exposed, this is going to be much worse situation then Chernobyl!!

Everyone pray for the Japanese.. It's a small country (area wise) and catastrophy may strike anywhere..

 

[hembo]

The word "meltdown" goes to the heart of the big nuclear question - is nuclear power safe?

 

[below_freezing]

This is the punishment they get for making a reactor design that can be exploited to enrich weapons grade plutonium.

No sympathy

 

[Shak]

Only god can save Japan now.

 

[fawwaxs]

 

[hembo]

• The Japanese government has imposed a no fly zone over the 30km radius from the Fukushima plant site. Most staff have been told to leave the site as radiation levels soared to dangerously high levels around the plant.

• Residents have been evacuated from a 20km radius of the Fukushima plant, while those within a 30km radius of the plant have been told to stay indoors and seal doors and windows

 

[hembo]

This is the punishment they get for making a reactor design that can be exploited to enrich weapons grade plutonium.

No sympathy

Are you kidding or really condoning this emoromous human sufferings?

 

[fawwaxs]

Radiation leaks pose health risk

Radiation leaks from a damaged nuclear power plant in tsunami-hit Japan now pose a risk to human health, officials have warned.

Concerns rose for those near Fukushima Dai-ichi plant as a third explosion rocked the complex early on Tuesday.

The nuclear crisis deepened as the official death toll topped 2,400 following the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami on Friday. Tens of thousands are still missing.

In an televised statement after the latest blast, believed to be in the number 2 reactor, prime minister Naoto Kan urged those within 19 miles of the area to stay indoors. He said: "The level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out."

In addition to the three blasts that have occurred since Saturday, chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said a fire had broken out in a fourth reactor at the plant, and more radiation had been released.

Mr Edano said: "Now we are talking about levels that can damage human health. These are readings taken near the area where we believe the releases are happening. Far away, the levels should be lower.

"Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight. Don't turn on ventilators. Please hang on your laundry indoors.

"These are figures that potentially affect health, there is no mistake about that."

Some 800 non-essential staff have been evacuated from the plant, while 50 workers remained at the complex to try to cool the reactors with water.

Fears of a major slowdown in the world's third-largest economy sparked a huge slump in Japanese shares, with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closing more than 6% lower and some of the world's biggest firms, such as Toshiba, Toyota and Honda, sustaining heavy share price losses.

 

[hembo]

Yara.. This is not the nuclear power plant.. Rather these are the LPG storage vessels (Horton Sphere) at the Petroleum Refinery complex which caught fire after the earth quack. Old story now.. Japan is in much graver danger as of now..

 

[hembo]

While Germany and Switzerland have both put the brakes on their nuclear sectors (read the Guardian's coverage of those developments here) the US administration has announced that it will push ahead with nuclear power as a vital part of its energy mix.

"We view nuclear energy as a very important component to the overall portfolio we're trying to build for a clean-energy future," US Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman told reporters at the White House.

He added the administration believed US nuclear plants are safe.
"We will continue to seek to build nuclear into a part of a responsible energy future," he said, adding that nuclear power was a critical component in the US energy portfolio, with 104 operating reactors providing 20 percent of the nation's electricity.

Here is some background from Reuters setting the context to those remarks:

President Barack Obama has urged expansion of nuclear power to help meet the country's energy demands, lower its dependence on fossil fuels and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Last year Obama announced $8.3 billion in loan guarantees to build the first U.S. nuclear power plant in nearly three decades.

It remains to be seen whether US domestic public opinion will swing against nuclear energy as engineers fight to prevent a meltdown at a Japanese nuclear plant following Friday's huge earthquake.

The events in Japan have shaken confidence in nuclear power in some countries while others have reaffirmed their commitment to atomic energy.

Germany suspended an agreement to extend the life of its nuclear power stations and Switzerland put on hold some approvals for nuclear power plants. Taiwan's state-run Taipower said it was studying plans to cut nuclear power output.

Since the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, many Americans have harbored concerns about nuclear power's safety.

Controversy has also dogged the nuclear power industry because of its radioactive waste, which is now stored on site at reactor locations around the country.

 

[hembo]

A good interactive explainer by the New York Times: How a Reactor Shuts Down and What Happens in a Meltdown

 

[hembo]

tokyodandy tweets a common sentiment: "Thinking of the 50 workers on site at the Fukushima Power Plant risking their lives to bring the situation under control. THANK YOU"

 

[Roybot]

BBC News - Japan quake: Radiation rises at Fukushima nuclear plant

 

[Shak]

Can any one explain what is min level of radiation?

 

[StingRoy]

tokyodandy tweets a common sentiment: "Thinking of the 50 workers on site at the Fukushima Power Plant risking their lives to bring the situation under control. THANK YOU"

Thats the Japanese spirit. I have a feeling that rest of the world is panicking more than the Japanese themselves.

In CNN they showed that on the street in Sendai, people are more worried about how to rebuilt their lives and focus on food and water, and when asked about the nuclear threat, they said, they trust their govt's actions and are ready to cooperate with them. Most were elderly though, most of who would have been alive during the WWII atomic bombings.