Poor Japan

[Alan]

While the US might be doing more help inside Japan, other countries are trying to get supplies to Japan. Whether it be fuel (China is donating 20k tons of fuel), or boric acid (S. Korea is shipping some in) to fight the fires at Fukushima Dai-ichi.

Aside from industrialized nations like the US, Britain, France and Germany (examples; there are more), as well as rapidly developing nations like China (again, just an example), there's just not a whole lot many other countries can do to provide help the situation at the nuclear facility.

 

[Woodrat]

Updated chart

Linky

BBC Twitter, two real interseting notes...

1507: The Associated Press reports that the nuclear scare is proving to be a sales bonanza for traders in iodine, face masks and radiation meters. This is particularly the case in Russia, where people have painful memories of the false securities given in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster. "It is a pity that certain businessmen are trying to profit on the situation," Olga Shekhovtseva, an Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman in Russia's Primorsky region, told AP.

1545: The Pentagon has announced that US forces must stay 50 miles (80km) away from the Fukushima reactor unless they have specific authorisation, Reuters reports.

The US is also appearently trying to send equipment that detect radiaition levels in the ground, as well as 39 personnel.

 

[Alan]

AJE Live Blog:

12:50am
Some news breaking out of the Pentagon: US forces in Japan are not being allowed within 80km of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant without special authorisation.
It's worth remembering, for Japanese residents, the evacuation zone around the site is limited to 20km, and those living between 20-30km from the plant encouraged to 'stay indoors'.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78680.html

U.S. to fly spy plane over Fukushima nuclear plant for closer look

TOKYO, March 17, Kyodo


The U.S. military will operate a Global Hawk unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft over a stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, possibly on Thursday, to take a closer look at its troubled reactors, a Japanese government source said Wednesday.


Photographs taken by the plane equipped with infrared sensors could provide a useful clue to what is occurring inside the reactor buildings, around which high-level radiation has been detected.


The planned mission comes as the Japanese government appears unable to contain the crisis days after the coastal nuclear plant was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.


It would represent a deepening of Japanese-U.S. cooperation in coping with the escalating crisis, with the U.S. military having already provided logistical transportation, and search and rescue efforts in the wake of the disaster that hit northeastern Japan.

 

[Woodrat]

Efforts to use helicopters to dump water on the reactors has been called off, as radiation levels spikes within the plant. The next plan appears to be using hoses and firetrucks to spray water onto the reactors to cool them off.

 

[Alan]

Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear crisis, volcano. What else could go wrong?

Glad you asked.

<object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uAdfat4Cbqc&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uAdfat4Cbqc&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>

 

[Woodrat]

As of now, there are said to be somewhere around 180 personnel at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. They are working in rotating shifts to minimize the effects of the radiation upon them.

'm not sure if they are still on the ground or if they have abandoned it once more due to spikes in radiation levels.

BBC World

1825: Reuters reports that the quake has led to the shutdown of roughly one third of Japan's oil refining capacity of 4.5 million barrels per day. More than one fifth of its nuclear capacity, estimated at 49 gigawatts, is also believed to have been cut off.

1832: The AP news agency is quoting Tepco as saying a new power line is almost ready which could end the crisis. The disruption of power to the pumps which send coolant through the reactors is what led to their overheating.

1837: Gregory Jaczko, head of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has said there is no water left in the spent fuel pool in reactor four, adding: "We believe that radiation levels are extremely high." Mr Jaczko was speaking to Congress in Washington and it was not immediately clear where his information had come from.

Britian has also issued "advice" to their nationals to consider leaving Tokyo and northern Japan if they are in a situation to do so,.

 

[Alan]

Some absolutely amazing pictures of the devastation are located here:
http://english.aljazeera.net/photo_galleries/asia-pacific/20113111521996179.html

The US Embassy has now asked any of its citizens to evacuate the area around the plant.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78709.html

U.S. asks citizens in 80-km radius of Japan nuke plant to evacuate

WASHINGTON, March 16, Kyodo


The U.S. Embassy in Japan has asked American citizens living within an 80-kilometer radius of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in Japan to evacuate as a precautionary measure.


The advice was issued Thursday local time while the Japanese government currently sets the evacuation zone covering areas within a 20-km radius of the plant.

And here, a rather comprehensive story on the steam from Reactor 3, as well as the planned "injection" of water.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78704.html

Steam at Fukushima No. 3 reactor, massive water injection planned
By Miya Tanaka and Maya Kaneko

TOKYO, March 17, Kyodo


Japan's nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power station showed no signs of abating Wednesday, five days after a mega earthquake crippled it, with the focus shifting to how to cool the possibly overheating pools that store spent fuel rods at the already troubled No. 3 and No. 4 reactors.


What appeared to be smoke coming from the No. 3 reactor in the morning led the top government spokesman to point to the possibility of damage to the reactor's steel containment vessel, but it seemed more likely later in the day that the smoke was radioactive steam coming from the No. 3 reactor's spent fuel pool.


(Continued)

 

[Woodrat]

A rather large sized picture of the Fukushima Daiichi Plant. I believe it goes from left to right, Reactor 4, Reactor 3, Reactor 2 and Reactor 1.

http://www.digitalglobe.com/downloa...aketsu_fukushima_daiichi2_march16_2011_dg.jpg

Clearly Reactor 4 has suffered much more damage than orginally thought.

BBC World

1945: Some 80,000 Japanese military personnel, police officers and firefighters have been deployed to areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami, the Kyodo news agency reports. The government has also mobilised 10,000 military reservists for the first time since Japan's Self-Defence Forces were established in 1954. About 420,000 displaced people are staying in more than 2,200 emergency shelters in eight prefectures.



1956: Earlier, the National Police Agency said it had confirmed 4,314 deaths in 12 prefectures, while 8,606 people remained unaccounted for in six prefectures. The Kyodo news agency reports that, in an unprecedented move, police in the badly affected provinces of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima have begun announcing the names, ages and addresses of people whose bodies have been recovered and identified based on their belongings alone, and not through a post-mortem examination.

--EDIT--

Japan Quake as Seen from Twitter... mini-stories.

LINK

The stories and more stories can be found on this Facebook page as a note.

LINK

 

[Alan]

Worker who was in Fukushima Dai-Ichi when the quake hit recounts his ordeal. It's not much, but it might be of interest. Sooo, here you go:

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110316005275.htm

Terror at N-plant during quake

Naoko Kagemoto / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

FUKUSHIMA--Strong horizontal jolts dislodged ceiling pipes and massive amounts of water started flooding out--this was the frightening scene experienced by a worker who was in the building housing the No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant when the earthquake hit Friday.

His tale told to The Yomiuri Shimbun sheds light on the heavy initial damage the quake caused inside the building.


The man works for a company contracted by Tokyo Electric Power Co. to handle inspections and maintenance of the reactor in Fukushima Prefecture. He had occasionally worked at the plant since last summer.

(Continued)

 

[Woodrat]

Two Japanese military helicopters are currently dumping water on reactor 3.

Hopefully this goes well. This is going on live on NHK TV.

 

[Vay]

Local thai news stations are reporting the earthquake was caused by global warming...... REALLY!?!?!?!

 

[Woodrat]

http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/6810.htm

NHK Live, translated real time into English.

Currently 11 water trucks are enroute to the powerplant.

The helicopters dropped 4 loads of water on reactor 3 and left, to minimise the crews' exposure to radiation.

 

[Alan]

It seems the water shots did have some effect, though...

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/79023.html

Water shots effective in cooling fuel pool as steam rose: TEPCO

TOKYO, March 17, Kyodo


Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday that high-pressure streams of water shot earlier in the evening by the Self-Defense Forces' fire trucks were effective in cooling an apparently overheating spent fuel pool as steam rose from the partially destroyed building housing it.


The five trucks shot 30 tons of water at the No. 3 reactor building of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, in an attempt to cool the pool storing spent nuclear fuel rods outside the reactor containment.


The operation, part of an unprecedented cooling attempt that also involved SDF helicopters dropping tons of seawater earlier in the day, came later than expected because of a high level of radiation in the vicinity of the building, it said.


But the radiation level remained more or less unchanged at around 3,600 microsievert per hour after the trucks completed their work, just as there had been no appreciable change in the level after seawater was dropped from the air in the morning, it said.

...alas, here's the "Breaking News" feed from Kyodo:

• NEWS ADVISORY: Satellite photo shows smoke emitted also from No. 2 reactor: agency (22:05)
• NEWS ADVISORY: Water shots had no immediate effect on radiation levels: agency (22:01)
• NEWS ADVISORY: Work to restore electricity at Fukushima plant to continue Fri.: agency (21:59)

Also, from AJE's Live Blog:

10:10pm Andrew Thomas, our correspondent in Tokyo, just tweeted:

"Two big aftershocks in the space of the last half hour - and both close to the original 'Big One's' epicentre"​

According to the USGS, those quakes were a 5.6 (at 8:32am EDT), and a 5.9 (at 8:54am EDT)

TEPCO is also says they're working on getting external power hooked up to the plant today, in an effort to get the cooling systems back online for at least two of the reactors. My guess would be reactors 5 and 6. While those reactors are still heating up (albeit very slowly), I can't see any of the other four cooling systems being salvageable.

But, hey, I've been wrong before.

 

[Alan]

Comparing Chernobyl and Fukushima: http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/03/17/comparing-chernobyl-fukushima/

A lot of information here, specifically about Chernobyl. If you think you know everything that went on there, need a refresher, or just weren't born yet, take a look here.

Edit: "A is for Atom" -- Adam Curtis of the BBC has something to say about the boiling water reactors in use in Fukushima. These same reactors are in use at several nuclear facilities in the US, including the Hatch facility in South Georgia (Altamaha River, Baxley, GA).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/03/a_is_for_atom.html#

Edit2: Kyodo News has an update on the status of the reactors at both Dai-Ichi and Daini.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/79046.html

Status of quake-stricken reactors at Fukushima nuclear power plants
TOKYO, March 17, Kyodo
The following is the known status as of Thursday night of each of the six reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and the four reactors at the Fukushima No. 2 plant, both in Fukushima Prefecture, which were crippled by Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.

(Continued)

 

[DoomOtter]

Just something a little heartwarming.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/i-cant-watch-this-japanese-dog-refuses-to-leave-injured-buddys-side/

 

[Alan]

I'd love a translation of what the guy is saying in the video. Still, this is what Fukushima currently looks like, from one of the military choppers circling the site. It was broadcast at 11pm GMT+9 on a Japanese news program.

<object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lBXqiw6EJUk&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lBXqiw6EJUk&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>

 

[Alan]

AJE's Live Blog:

12:58am
The United States is announcing millions in humanitarian assistance to quake and tsunami-hit Japan, with early reports suggesting the figure could be $35m. A nine- member team specialising in nuclear and hazardous material is also going to advise the Japanese military, Reuters has reported.

Meanwhile families of US military living in Japan have been given the go-ahead to leave Honshu island amid scares over radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Homeland security in the states are checking any passengers arriving into the country from Japan for radiation levels, but said none had been detected so far.

 

[Woodrat]

So are other countries taking this long to step in cause they're waiting to be ASKED, can't DECIDE on their own if they want to help, or just want to see this whole thing somehow get even WORSE?

Japan has a knack for wanting to be extremely independent. When this disaster (earthquake and tsunami) struck I think I heard it reported on one news site that 45 countries offered relief assistance, and Japan has accepted such assistance from only 15 countries.

As of now, many news agencies are reporting on the news that TEPCO has completed the set up of a power line out to reactor unit 2. The hope is to restore power enough to restart the pumps and get water flowing again.

Really hope this works...

 

[Alan]

Nothing but news feed stuff. From Kyodo:

• NEWS ADVISORY: 130 Tokyo firefighters sent to Fukushima nuke plant (09:56)
• NEWS ADVISORY: Water-dousing at nuke plant eyed for Fri. afternoon: Defense Ministry (09:54)
• BREAKING NEWS: Radiation down consistently at one point in Fukushima plant (09:53)
• NEWS ADVISORY: Cooling down Fukushima reactors to take several weeks: U.S. regulator (09:51)

 

[Alan]

It appears that some of the folks who were evacuated are passing away.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/79193.html

Infrastructure gradually restored, deaths among evacuees reported

TOKYO, March 18, Kyodo

Vital infrastructure was gradually being restored Friday in areas hit a week earlier by the mega earthquake, while the fate of tens of thousands of people remained unknown.

Around 90,000 rescue workers, including police officers and Self-Defense Forces personnel, have reached some 26,000 survivors so far, while the number of dead and unaccounted for exceeded 16,000 -- 6,405 deaths and 10,259 missing, a National Police Agency tally showed as of 9 a.m.

Damaged roads, airports and ports have been gradually repaired, with the Tohoku Expressway and the submerged Sendai Airport open to emergency vehicles, airplanes and helicopters.

But delivery of relief goods contributed from around the nation to evacuees and survivors still remains difficult due to shortages of fuel and transport vehicles. Some 380,000 people are still staying at 2,200 shelters at a time when temperatures in the quake-hit areas remain at midwinter levels.

(Continued)