Japanese Nuclear Plant Explosion

[Tim Smith]

It is newsworthy, but it seems that the media is keen to run with a 'nuclear explosion' story. The bigger story is the loss of life in Japan - I feel for the people over there - can you imagine that happening along our coast? It's hard to prepare for an earthquake/tsunami.

Given the energy-related issues that are boiling around the glob now plus what happened at Chernobyl it's no wonder the press is on this story hard. Most of the Japanes nuke plants were shut down by the quake and 30% of their energy comes from those. They are looking at some long term problems stemming from this.

The nuclear issue is probably more directly relevant to the forum than the tsunami given recent discussions and our geographic location. It looks like it will be a while before the dust settles and we actually know what happened. Lots of conflicting stories out there right now.

I kept a Japanese exchange student a few years back and I'm trying to find him now. I'm sure he's fine, but it's hard to think about him over there in all that mess and how badly a modern country like Japan can be rocked by a simple natural event.

[flytyer57]

Well I guess the Japs can't blame us for nuking them this time.

[Fly_Guy]

Given the energy-related issues that are boiling around the glob now plus what happened at Chernobyl it's no wonder the press is on this story hard. Most of the Japanes nuke plants were shut down by the quake and 30% of their energy comes from those. They are looking at some long term problems stemming from this.

The nuclear issue is probably more directly relevant to the forum than the tsunami given recent discussions and our geographic location. It looks like it will be a while before the dust settles and we actually know what happened. Lots of conflicting stories out there right now.

I kept a Japanese exchange student a few years back and I'm trying to find him now. I'm sure he's fine, but it's hard to think about him over there in all that mess and how badly a modern country like Japan can be rocked by a simple natural event.

hope he's ok. Just offhand (because I have no idea), is there an advantage to building a nuclear power plant along the coast? You would think inland would be safer for an island like Japan - or does it have something to do with cooling? I'm somewhat versed in the actual molecular process, but not on powerplant design

[Hotdawg Guide Service]

Just came over te news that the whole island of Japan moved ten inches after the quake also the earth axis has tilted on its rotation maybe that will bring back some more rain.

[Tim Smith]

Just came over te news that the whole island of Japan moved ten inches after the quake also the earth axis has tilted on its rotation...

Ha. How about that.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/quake-shifted-rotation-of-the-earth-20110312-1bsbb.html

Hope that rain isn't glowing.

The stories are starting to get more tangled. The Los Angeles Times reported 3 people near the plant were irradiated and now it looks like there is a growing divide between what the Japanese Government is saying and what outside experts are ready to accept.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/US-Nuclear-Experts-Worry-About-Possible-Japan-Reactor-Meltdown-117863244.html

There are news reports saying it's all over now and others saying they're still touch and go.

Ken Bergeron, a physicist who formerly worked for Sandia National Laboratories, says a so-called station blackout - which involves the loss of both off-site electricity and on-site backup power from diesel generators - is viewed in the nuclear industry as extremely unlikely. But he says it happened.

"So we're in uncharted territory. We're in the land where probability says we shouldn't be. And we're hoping that all of the barriers to release of radioactivity will not fail," he said.

Funny how so many things happen that engineers say can't possibly happen.

Fly, nuclear plant design is outside my area. I have a pretty good handle on the atomic theory behind it and the general lay-out but I have no idea if building near the ocean is really an advantage. There are normally large cooling water sources of one type or another nearby.

[jdmidwest]

So far, according to reports, containment has been kept in place with only small releases of radioactive material. It is 40 year old technology in a foreign country. Who knows what their failsafe policies are compared to ours. Nuke power is a cheap alternative in most countries outside of our own. Building them away from population centers make sense too, just in case. It seems that most of their buildings withstood the shake as most were engineered with major quakes in mind. That engineering may have saved countless lives.

Why is everyone so worried about the reactor problem and not all of the rest of the devastation that took place over there? The Tsunami seems to have created the most damage. Our time is coming soon one day when the New Madrid Fault takes another slip. While Tsunami is not a problem unless you live by a lake or a river here, the devastation will be pretty severe. Just another wake up call to prepare ourselves for what could happen here.

[flytyer57]

So let's build nuclear power plants everywhere so we can turn our lights on and sit at the computer typing crap on internet forums.

But make sure we build them on known earthquake fault lines because nuclear power is the safest & cleanset source of energy in the world.

Those plants that fail use old technology and our latest and greatest technology will keep us safe for the mext millenium because it's so much better than that 30 year old stuff.

Give me a break.

[Quillback]

I was watching CNN's coverage yesterday, usually don't watch them, but they were the only ones offering coverage at the time. I was reminded why I don't watch CNN. I must have heard "Japan is not Haiti" about 15 times. No kidding..

They must have trotted out about a dozen different Nuke experts. What I got from it was that no one really knows what is going on with the Nuke plants in Japan, but concensus seems to be that it will be contained. But no one is sure.

[Wayne SW/MO]

but concensus seems to be that it will be contained. But no one is sure.

That's pretty much what I'm reading also. JD is right that the worry here is the New Madrid fault. Depending on the severity of a slip on it, even St Louis could be left in shambles and KC badly damaged. The theory is that the river bottom geology would carry the shake a long ways.

The serious situation in Japan isn't the reactors, but the millions who are without any food, water or help in very cold temperatures, I feel for them.

[Tim Smith]

MSN (as opposed to MSNBC) tends to be very conservative with this kind of information.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42056237/ns/world_news-asiapacific/?GT1=43001

Six plants are now threatening meltdowns and cannot be cooled by normal means.

Looks like this story isn't done by any stretch of the imagination.