Poor Japan

Reports are now coming out saying an explosion was heard, and smoke has been seen billowing from the nuclear facility. This comes on the heels of another report saying that an effort to relieve pressure in reactor number one was successful.

Al Jazeera just had a guy on the phone from the facility that said a meltdown in in progress. The presence of cesium has been detected.

No published stories yet.

I'm tired, but I'm not sure I can sleep right now.
 
Do not like. :/
 
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/77065.html

URGENT: Explosion heard at Fukushima nuclear plant, 4 injured: TEPCO TOKYO, March 12, Kyodo
Four people have been injured in an explosion that occurred at the No. 1 reactor of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday.
The explosion was heard at 3:36 p.m. following large tremors and white smoke was seen at the facility in Fukushima Prefecture, the company said.
The four workers were working to deal with problems caused by a powerful earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on Friday.
==Kyodo
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According to Al Jazeera English, the explosion was a hydrogen explosion. Also, the building that houses reactor may have collapsed.

Don't have access to Al Jazeera English? Never fear. You can watch it online.

http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Lastly, just saw this on Twitter, from @DailyYomiuri:

Residents within 10 km of Fukushima No. 2 N-plant instructed to evacuate; previous radius was 3 km. #Japan #quake
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What we've been seeing in the news now is the first plant. Now, we're talking more severe problems potentially for the second plant.
 
Video of the explosion.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pg4uogOEUrU" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" width="480"></iframe>
 
Alan said:
I'm tired, but I'm not sure I can sleep right now.
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All I can say is that, while I think your concern is entirely justified, sitting there worrying and not sleeping is good for your health. If I was over there, I'd appreciate said concern, but I wouldn't want you to stay up worrying yourself to death.

Try to get some sleep. I'm doing the very same.
 
I really don't intend this to come across as callous or cold by any means, but I'm not "worried." I'm more curious. Me sitting awake, being worried, isn't going to help anything. It's more the fear that something will happen, and I won't find out until I wake up. :P

It's awful, and it's scary as hell. However, I'm up more due to my curiosity.
 
So wait how polluted with radiation is Japan going to be now with all of this going on? Are we going to see radiation poisoning in people if they drink the water or something like that?
 
According to reports I just heard via AJE, some people who live near the facilities have already tested positive for radiation exposure. To be clear, though, I don't think it's anything too serious. It takes a lot of radiation exposure before it begins to adversely affect your health (~200RADs). This sort of thing isn't going to affect other places in Japan, like Tokyo or Sapporo. This is only affecting the areas where the two nuclear facilities are located, and its areas surrounding it. The wind (and jet stream) is moving east, carrying the radiation laden steam out to sea.

Before going to sleep at about 5am last night, a report came across saying the evacuation area around both Fukushima plants had been extended to 20km. Reports are still being coy on whether or not a meltdown is in progress, but with the presence of cesium, that makes it hard to believe there isn't one.
 
Basically the concrete building (containment building?) that housed the reactor has collasped, but the metal reactor container is at this point still intact. Unknown what damage the explosion/collapse has caused.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is giving this a rating of 4 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. In comparison, the Chernobyl disaster was rated 7 and Three Mile Island accident was rated 5.

On the other side... appearently according to Yukio Edano, one of the goverment spokesmen, radiation levels around the plant had fallen after the explosion. Take that for what you will.
 
Updates for those interested.

Though it has been in the reports afore, the appearant Japanese goverment spokesman, Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano basically confirmed that
the third reactor at the Fukushima No. I plant was in danger but attempts were under way for a controlled release of air.
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There is also efforts underway to pump sea water into the nuclear reactor that blew it's top. CNN is reporting on a potential metldown underway, though entirely unconfirmed as of now. Not sure where they are getting their information.

Going to go out on limb, but I'm figuring that future designs in Japanese nuclear power plants is going to include plans on tsunami proof shelters for their back-up generators and back-up back-ups.
 
Well, if Godzilla appears at least they'll be super prepared! J-Pop idols and children evacuate first!
 
The latest: A cooling pump (presumably, just one) has failed at the Tokai nuclear facility. <s>There's no other details, and there's no published stories currently on the situation -- just a couple tweets from Kyodo news.</s>

The content of the story sounds promising, at least, insofar as they report no issues with cooling the reactor core.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/77484.html

Cooling system pump stops at Tokai nuclear power plant TOKYO, March 14, Kyodo
One of the two cooling system pumps at the Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, stopped Friday when a massive earthquake hit Japan but there is no problem with cooling as the remaining pump is working, according to local authorities late Sunday.
Tokai No. 2 Power Station, operated by Japan Atomic Power Co., shut down automatically after the magnitude 9.0 quake, one of the biggest quakes in history, jolted northeastern and eastern Japan.
According to a report submitted to the Ibaraki prefectural government, one of the two pumps used to cool the water of a suppression pool for the nuclear reactor at the plant stopped working.
The nuclear safety section of the prefectural government said the other pump is working and that there is no problem with cooling the reactor. All control rods are set in completely at the nuclear reactor, it said.
Japan Atomic Power said the reactor core has been cooled without any problem.
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On a brighter note...

A tsunami alert along the north-east coast has been lifted, AFP reports, quoting officials.
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Suppose a minor good note, for what it's worth.

And appearently a 15 man rescue team from China has arrived in Japan.
 
And now, to drown the good news in sorrow...

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/77668.html

Some 2,000 bodies were found Monday on two shores in Miyagi Prefecture following Friday's devastating earthquake and massive tsunami, as Japan continued to struggle to grasp the full extent of the disaster.

The findings will significantly increase the death toll from the magnitude 9.0 quake and ensuing tsunami, with police having so far confirmed 1,647 deaths and 1,720 people missing across the affected areas in northeastern and eastern Japan.



(Continued)
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http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/meltdown_fears_rise_after_rods_at_LTbywcAFvhyqtnnUbTVRcN

TOKYO -- The Japanese government warned that three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant were "highly likely" to face meltdown, the Kyodo News agency reported Monday.

Chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said Monday night that a meltdown was "highly likely" at three of the plant's nuclear reactors on the disaster-shattered country's northeastern coast.


Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) confirmed Monday that fuel rods at the plant's No. 2 reactor were exposed and that a meltdown could not be ruled out.


The cooling system at the No. 2 reactor stopped working Monday, and TEPCO said that the four-meter (13.2-foot) fuel rods were exposed to the air to a length of 3.7 meters. Water was later pumped back into the reactor, so the danger was unlikely to get worse in the short term, the company said.


(Continued)
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More and more often the word Chernobyl is being tossed around by the major news agencies. Also...

2207: Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, has said a partial defect has been found inside the containment vessel of reactor 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the Kyodo news agency reports. He has also said the reactor is "not necessarily in a stable condition". Early on Tuesday morning, officials said pressure inside the container had dropped and sea water was being pumped in to cool the fuel rods.
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There has also been talk about valves that are being used to reduce the pressure within the containment vessel malfunctioning. Which isn't 'xactly a good thing.

Some interesting pictures...

Before and after pics, pull the slider in the middle of the pics left and right ... really hits home on the damage.

Linky

Poor kitty...

Link

The UN put together some must watch twitter links for those wanting more info.

linki
 
You know, this whole bunch of stuff going on in the middle-east and asia makes you think the mayans didn't just run out of stone to carve the calendar.
 
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