Nuke Crisis : Level 7 on overall impact

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Do we have to worry about radioactive LEAFs now? I hope not. It's horrible what's happening over there. Didn't a volcano erupt too?
 
cdub said:
Do we have to worry about radioactive LEAFs now?
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No. Much of the fear surrounding these plants is just that and has little basis in reality. In reality, far more people have died from the oil refinery explosion/fire than will die from this nuclear incident.
 
Give this a read. It'll be worth your time.

http://www.pacafpixels.com/2011/03/displaced-reality-wakeup-call-to-why.html
Long shifts, little sleep and an operations tempo akin to attempting to sprint a marathon can make us lose sight of the bigger picture: Japan is in its largest and most expensive crisis since WWII, and needs us more than ever before. Recently, I saw that need first-hand, and it put new perspective on my role here, now.
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http://www.pacafpixels.com/2011/03/in-direct-support.html
Sendai lies in ruins, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant is going down the drain, damage estimates past the 100 Billion Mark, 977 deaths so far, 170,000 evacuated, and I have never been more inspired by the United States Air Force.
<snip>
Already help is arriving for the city of Sendai and affected areas, US Marines From across Japan, navy detachments from who knows where and more Air Force support at this base than I’ve ever seen in my short time here. Yet this is Day 2, the veritable tip of the iceberg, if past efforts of the Air Force are any indication we haven’t seen anything yet.

So far we’ve just been making sure that the planes can get up and go picking up essential material for the rebuilding to come and the shelters now, planes flying everywhere nonstop, supplying everything basically. In the days to come I expect to see massive coordination with the Japanese Military and civilian organizations, something on the scale of Katrina back in the states.

<snip>
This is the time for humanity to show the best of itself to help our fellow man; our darkest hours will forge our brightest days. Maybe not on a grand scale, but those that care about it still think fondly on the Berlin airlift, and while we may not be dodging Soviet fighter jets, this is going to likely be one of the most massive Airlifts since then, it’s already getting massive watching something like this grow is absolutely inspiring to me as a junior Airman.
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http://www.pacaf.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123246503
3/12/2011 - JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- A C-17 Globemaster III carrying a team of Pacific Air Force Airmen departed here at noon today to support ongoing disaster relief efforts in Japan.

The team of approximately 25 Airmen from a variety of Air Force specialties, are travelling to Yokota Air Base, Japan, where they will provide support to efforts underway to support the government of Japan.

The aircraft was also loaded with several generators, which will be used in the support efforts.
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http://www.5af.pacaf.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123246509
3/13/2011 - The first wave of American disaster relief forces exits a KC-130J aircraft here March 12. They are here to assist with Japan's earthquake and tsunami recovery effort. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Kimberly Spinner)
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http://www.kadena.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123246745
3/15/2011 - KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- An additional 15 Airmen from the 353rd Special Operations Group have departed here March 14 with support equipment and relief supplies on a MC-130H Combat Talon II to support humanitarian relief operations being staged out of Yokota Air Base.

The Airmen are highly-trained medical, communication and maintenance specialists capable of providing support in some of the most austere environments. The 353rd SOG now has about 115 Airmen and three aircraft deployed to support the Japanese government in the wake of an earthquake measuring 8.9 in magnitude and the following tsunamis that rocked Japan March 11.

"Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to our close friends in Japan during this difficult time," said Col. Stephen Bissonnette, deputy commander of the 353rd Special Operations Group.

Col. Robert Toth, the 353rd SOG commander, has deployed to lead the group's Airmen supporting the relief efforts and has stated the men and women are dedicated to aiding them in their time of need.

"We have already started working closely with Japanese officials to support relief efforts and will continue to provide support for our friends until our mission is complete," he said.

The 353rd SOG will be able to utilize its aircraft and aircrews to conduct search and rescue, transport emergency response teams, equipment and relief supplies; survey and open airfields and helicopter landing zones with special tactics personnel while providing air traffic controllers to control the airfields and landing zones; provide emergent medical care to injured people; and assist the Japanese government and other relief agencies with a variety of highly-trained support personnel during humanitarian operations.
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I've never been more proud of my brothers and sisters in arms.
 
Here is a good summary.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12745186

It is possible that Rods pulled out of reactors in other units now sit exposed to air. This is why France has characterized this as level 6 - 2 above the 3 mile island incidence and one below Chernobyl.

Why no new equipement ?

Among all the news coming out of Fukushima from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), the nuclear safety agency, and local and national authorities, there has hardly been a mention of new equipment arriving at the site.

That implies that technicians are still working with water pumps designed for putting out fires and an improvised technique based on the turbine hall's fire extinguishing system.
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Current new reports - which are really impossible to believe - are that TEPCO has removed all workers from the site of the damaged nuclear reactors.

This is quite hard to believe. With no one on site trying to manage the situation and trying to cool down the reactors, there is little doubt that the three reactors which were running when the tsunami hit will melt down. There appears to be a significant possibility that a complete meltdown would also breach the containment vessels, with reports that one containment vessel may already be breached. Even more concerning, that the spent rod storage pools at reactors 4, 5, and 6 - which are *outside* of the containment buildings, will continue to evaporate the water covering the spent fuel rods, allowing those rods to ignite and spread significant amounts of radiation. The weather for the next few days has the winds blowing out to sea (and towards the US). Over the weekend a front is supposed to hit Japan and reverse the flow of the winds. This would blow radiation over significant parts of Japan.

The news reports are really unthinkable as the result would be beyond catastrophic. It's hoped this is again an issue with understanding the translation of the Japanese. If all efforts have really been abandoned, it appears to be pretty ominous.

Let's hope the reports are not true. The reactors and rod pools simply *must* be cooled, whatever the cost, as the cost of not cooling them is unimaginable.
 
ENIAC said:
Let me pose this question to you for fun. For $5M US (tax free and all your expenses paid) how close to the Fukushima Daiichi complex would you being willing to live, with your whole family, for a period of one year starting today? One mile? Ten miles? 100 Miles?
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I'll live where the camp is setup for people who have been evacuated. I'll probably carry a Gieger counter.

I consider this less risky than - say - skiing.
 
evnow said:
ENIAC said:
Let me pose this question to you for fun. For $5M US (tax free and all your expenses paid) how close to the Fukushima Daiichi complex would you being willing to live, with your whole family, for a period of one year starting today? One mile? Ten miles? 100 Miles?
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I'll live where the camp is setup for people who have been evacuated. I'll probably carry a Gieger counter.

I consider this less risky than - say - skiing.
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Well I guess there's where you and I differ. I can ski down a kitchen wall, what i can't do is avoid fall out from a nuclear reactor explosion.
 
ENIAC said:
Well I guess there's where you and I differ. I can ski down a kitchen wall, what i can't do is avoid fall out from a nuclear reactor explosion.
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You can't avoid someone else hitting your car either. Will you stop driving ?

One thing to remember is that all reactors are sub-critical. This won't be another Chernobyl.
 
LakeLeaf said:
Current new reports - which are really impossible to believe - are that TEPCO has removed all workers from the site of the damaged nuclear reactors.
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Just temporary evacuation according to this article:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/16/japan.nuclear.reactors/?hpt=T1
 
Now we know how the workers got back to the nuke plants.

Japan has raised the maximum radiation dose allowed for nuclear workers, citing the urgent need to prevent a crisis at a tsunami-stricken power plant from worsening.

Despite the increase, surging radiation levels forced emergency workers to temporarily withdraw from the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant on Wednesday, losing time in their struggle to cool overheating fuel in reactors crippled by last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare raised the maximum allowable exposure for nuclear workers to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts. It described the move as "unavoidable due to the circumstances."
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Billion-euro nuclear shutdown in Germany

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/C_Billion-euro_nuclear_shutdown_in_Germany_1603111.html

Chancellor Angela Merkel decreed yesterday that the country's nuclear power reactors that began operation in 1980 or earlier should be immediately shut down. Those units closed yesterday and were joined by another unit already in long-term shutdown, making a total of 8336 MWe in generation offline under her direction.
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drees said:
Just temporary evacuation according to this article:

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/16/japan.nuclear.reactors/?hpt=T1
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Yes - thanks drees. Seems again to be an issue with very poor communication. They appear to now have moved to a situation where then send workers into the hot zone for a limited amount of time to try to take some action, then pull them back out again rather then abandoning efforts all together.

Pictures this morning are pretty amazing.

Spent rods are stored outside of each of the reactors on the top floor of the reactor. Unknown if the hydrogen explosions have effected any of the storage pools.

Apparently also a larger, longer term storage pool closer to ground level. Efforts to keep water in all of the pools they can get to above the level of the rods.
 
TEPCO says they are almost finished install a new electric line which would supply enough power to the complex to power the pumps and hopefully keep water on the reactors and rod pools.

If they can complete this effort successfully, it would be extremely good news.
 
In the mean time, the USAF has supplied water tankers that are in use at the plant. The helicopter drops were put on hold.

Just heard that helos from the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier (powered by 2x Westinghouse reactors, BTW) has been flying about 30 round trips per day bring relief supplies to the mainland. The sortie count is down due to weather. There are a lot of MREs and bottles of water being moved around. In addition, the desalinization plants aboard ship can make about 400,000 gallons of fresh water each day.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/us-br...-nuclear-crisis/2011/03/16/AB3m1qd_story.html
 
Lot more damage on 3, 4 than the reactor damage we had previously seen on #1.

http://isis-online.org/isis-reports/detail/new-satellite-image-of-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-site-in-japan-from-march-1/

DG_March_16_annotated_copy_thumb.jpg
 
LakeLeaf said:
TEPCO says they are almost finished install a new electric line which would supply enough power to the complex to power the pumps and hopefully keep water on the reactors and rod pools.

If they can complete this effort successfully, it would be extremely good news.
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Yes - that will help. But couple of reactors are past that stage - the controls and other systems are probably not functioning.
 
Unnamed US official ....

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-send-special-nuclear-team-japan-nuclear-regulatory/story?id=13148044

"They need to stop pulling out people—and step up with getting them back in the reactor to cool it. There is a recognition this is a suicide mission," the official said.
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Not sure how much he actually knows.
 
So sad.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/16/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T1

The number of nuclear workers remaining on site was slashed Tuesday from 800 to 50 but had grown to 180 by Wednesday afternoon, the power company said.
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As a result of the monitoring of about 150 people from around the Daiichi site, 23 have been decontaminated, IAEA said.

"Their situation is not great," said David Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University. "It's pretty clear that they will be getting very high doses of radiation. There's certainly the potential for lethal doses of radiation. They know it, and I think you have to call these people heroes."
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