Topic: RED ALERT: MAJOR EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI & NOW VOLCANO STRIKE JAPAN

[charlesoakwood]

Typical commie liming misinformation.

 

[Libertas]

Oh, for crying out loud.

A commenter at AoS said yesterday, "Japan has hit for the cycle with disasters."

Really.  Japan is getting hammered with everything.

Some background on this area...

http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=0802-09=

[Libertas]

This is pretty bizarre...found 10 miles out...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/13/japan-tsunami-survivor-shinkawa-rescued-fukushima

Lucky dude!

[trapeze]

Was reading the comments last night at Ace and the people who were sounding like nuke industry experts were saying that a lot (if not all) of the negative commentary you are hearing in the media is from anti-nuke activists rather than from nuke engineers and scientists. They were especially critical of Drudge for putting up all of the doom and gloom headlines that were direct links to anti-nuke activists.

This is not to say that what's going on in Japan with their nukes isn't serious. It is. But this is not (yet) a big effing deal.

But the MFM will continue to act in character. Which is to say they will be promoting anti-US, anti-growth, anti-capitalism, anti-conservative and especially anti-nuke propaganda.

Just remember, Jane Fonda is responsible for more American deaths than the US nuke industry and that fact isn't likely to change any time soon.

[trapeze]

And now, no joke, it gets worse: A volcano erupts in southern Japan.

[blockquote]
A volcano in southwestern Japan erupted Sunday after nearly two weeks of relative silence, sending ash and rocks up to four kilometres (two and a half miles) into the air, a local official says.

It was not immediately clear if the eruption was a direct result of the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that rocked northern areas Friday, unleashing a fierce tsunami and sparking fears that more than 10,000 may have been killed.

The 1,421-metre (4,689-feet) Shinmoedake volcano in the Kirishima range saw its first major eruption for 52 years in January. There had not been any major activity at the site since March 1.[/blockquote]

Seems like we were just wondering how things could possibly get worse for Japan. At least Mount Fuji is still quiet. For now.

[Glock32]

Man Japan is really getting kicked in the teeth by Mother Nature. It is, after all, located right on the Pacific Ring of Fire, so this is not entirely unexpected. It's quite possible that the same seismic activity that resulted in the earthquake also resulted in the volcano eruption.

While the situation with their nuclear reactors is dangerous, I don't think we're looking at a Chernobyl-type disaster. Western reactor designs (and I think you can count Japan as "Western" for this purpose) have failsafes that shut down the reaction by default. The main problem going on in Japan is that hydrogen gas pooled between the inner steel and outer concrete containment walls, and exploded resulting in damage to the outer wall.

The Chernobyl design had these notable deficiencies:

• The most significant difference between the Soviet-designed RBMK nuclear plant design and most of the world's nuclear power plants is the RBMK's lack of a massive steel and concrete containment structure as the final barrier against large releases of radiation in an accident. The effectiveness of American-style reactor containments was shown in the 1979 Three Mile Island Unit 2 accident, when virtually all radiation was retained inside the containment building, despite considerable melting of the fuel. In the Chernobyl accident, the RBMK plant's accident localization system (the RBMK's version of containment) could not withstand the force of the accident.
• Faster and less stable nuclear chain reactions -- and power increases -- when cooling water is lost. In technical terms, this characteristic is called a "positive void coefficient." Soviet engineers sought to mitigate this tendency by backfitting RBMKs with faster-acting control rods and other improvements. U.S.- style light water moderated plants, however, are designed with just the opposite characteristic -- a "negative void coefficient" -- so that the nuclear chain reaction automatically stops when coolant is lost.

If the Japanese successfully get this under control it may actually have a positive effect on public opinion of nuclear energy, because Japan's reactors will have absorbed the brunt of a perfect storm and not gone Chernobyl.

[trapeze]

I'm watching BBC News streamed over the Internet and one thing (among many others) that they are reporting is that the Japanese will soon begin to experience rolling blackouts due to a lack of generator capacity nationwide. They are expecting the blackouts to last three hours at a time and that this will go on for many weeks.

The Japanese economy is not shut down but it is in the process of shutting down. Each one of these things adds to the burden that the Japanese economy must labor under. A volcanic eruption with its large plume of abrasive ash will be yet one more thing that will slow things down. They can only hope that Obama does not decide to make aid to Japan a personal priority. The last thing that they need is for Toonces to focus like a laser beam on this tragedy.

[hemm]

I am still a bit in shock from it all I guess.  

Here I am, sitting on my back deck, drinking a beer.

easily more that 10K people are dead, number will climb exponentially as time continues to move forward, reactors are going to hell faster than can be reported, I noticed the temps in Japan are in the freezing range over night as well.

The pictures I see are beyond heartbreaking. So many............so so many.

[trapeze]

If you really want to get depressed you should take a look at places like Sendai/Natori (that's where the airport was that you see in the news vids) with Google Earth. This is, for now anyway, the ultimate "before" picture. I don't know how long it will take Google to update these satellite photos but for now they are pre-tsunami. Sendai/Natori was a fairly well populated area with what looks like a mixture of residential communities, light industry and agriculture along with a port facility. All of this has been wiped out.

I remember looking at satellite imagery of the Gulf Coast after Katrina and it was, of course, very ugly. In that case I was able to remember a lot of what the "before" looked like because it is an area that I have some familiarity with. The Japanese country side I am not familiar with at all and Google Earth helps to see what it was like mere days ago. It will never be the same.

Just up the coast from Sendai/Natori is Minamisanriku which is even more densely populated. It is hard to imagine that, with what little warning there was, very many made it out of there alive.

[trapeze]

Okay, someone at the NYT is very talented with photography and web stuff because they have published a very clever interactive feature where you can see a before and after aerial shot of quake/tsunami damaged areas. Take a hold of the slider with your mouse and move it from side to side to see what things looked like before and after.

There are no words to describe this. You have to see it for yourself. Hurricane damage doesn't look this bad. It's like the place was nuked.

[Libertas]

Wow. That's impressive Trap.  The devastation is just total!

Fox posted a link with links in it for people who are wanting to make contributions -

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/12/help-victims-devastating-earthquake-tsunami-japan/

Hope they are still finding people alive!

 

[John Florida]

Wow. That's impressive Trap.  The devastation is just total!

Fox posted a link with links in it for people who are wanting to make contributions -

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/12/help-victims-devastating-earthquake-tsunami-japan/

Hope they are still finding people alive!

 

 Amen to that.

[michelleo]

Looks like a hydrogen explosion just occurred at Reactor #3 at Fukushima plant 1 similar to the explosion a couple days ago at reactor #1, a result of the release of air to relieve pressure. 

Also there is a 3 meter tsunami alert underway for Fukushima prefecture.  However, at a press conference that just finished up, there has been no evidence of tsunami happening.  It should have happened by now if it was going to happen.  Japanese press secretary says seismological readings could have been set off by landslide instead of tsunami inducing earthquake.

Great primary source for japanese news - live feed.

[Libertas]

Good link Michelle.   

Talking about #3 reactor right now.

I'll have to monitor this from time to time.

[rickl]

Here's an article I read earlier tonight that's a pretty good layman's explanation of nuclear plant design and emergency procedures.

http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/

From what I've read elsewhere, the explosion at #3 wasn't exactly unexpected.  In the video I saw, it did look more powerful than the explosion at #1, though.

[charlesoakwood]

If you really want to get depressed you should take a look at places like Sendai/Natori (that's where the airport was that you see in the news vids) with Google Earth. ...communities, light industry and agriculture along with a port facility. All of this has been wiped out.
...
 It is hard to imagine that, with what little warning there was, very many made it out of there alive.

I'm not depressed, stuff happens.  I pray for the suffering and for the survivors and praise them for their valiant efforts.  These are smart, tough, people; they will get up and dust off and get to work. They will show the crying whiners what good stuff we are all made of if we just call upon it and use it.

Using the Katrina analogy: They come from Mississippi, not Louisiana; AlanS and his like, excepted.

[trapeze]

It's now been long enough for these to have made it onto the Internet. What is particularly disturbing is how very few survivors there are in sight while these are taken.

Newly released video of the Tsunami and the search for survivors in Japan
Tsunami in Japan 3.11 first person FULL raw footage
Japan video amateur tsunami-Tsunami imagens inéditas feito por um amador
Japan ground cracking open and moving (CNN video) - March 11th 2011.

[Libertas]

If you really want to get depressed you should take a look at places like Sendai/Natori (that's where the airport was that you see in the news vids) with Google Earth. ...communities, light industry and agriculture along with a port facility. All of this has been wiped out.
...
 It is hard to imagine that, with what little warning there was, very many made it out of there alive.

I'm not depressed, stuff happens.  I pray for the suffering and for the survivors and praise them for their valiant efforts.  These are smart, tough, people; they will get up and dust off and get to work. They will show the crying whiners what good stuff we are all made of if we just call upon it and use it.

Using the Katrina analogy: They come from Mississippi, not Louisiana; AlanS and his like, excepted.

I agree Charles.  It is difficult to see such destruction and not be affected by it, but the Japanese people are pretty tight-knit, they always have been.  They are acquiting themselves admirably, I have not heard one single instance of lawlessness, not one single act of one person preying upon another.  There is much to admire about them.  Partly I attribute this cohesiveness to a lack of porous borders and unassimilated immigrants, which allows their society to be more culturally uniform.

[Libertas]

Man, there is so much hype over the nuke issue, not sure what is real.  I am starting to think rush is right...the left is shocked that there is not looting and now it appears not only do they want that, they want to see a nuclear catastrophe!

http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/03/breaking-japan-says-it-is-likely-meltdown-is-underway-in-3-reactors/

Since GP is sourcing WaPo & ABC...is it just more noise or is there somethingmore to it?

Fox is still trumpeting disaster too...

http://www.foxnews.com/

In other news, the tsunami has wiped out one fighter squadron in Japan...

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20110313.aspx

[Pandora]

Man, there is so much hype over the nuke issue, not sure what is real.  I am starting to think rush is right...the left is shocked that there is not looting and now it appears not only do they want that, they want to see a nuclear catastrophe!

http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/03/breaking-japan-says-it-is-likely-meltdown-is-underway-in-3-reactors/

Since GP is sourcing WaPo & ABC...is it just more noise or is there somethingmore to it?

Fox is still trumpeting disaster too...

http://www.foxnews.com/

In other news, the tsunami has wiped out one fighter squadron in Japan...

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20110313.aspx

They want it, bad, even Fox.  It'll be great for ratings and ready-made 24-7 broadcast material, despite what such horrors will mean to the survivors.  Bunch friggin ghouls.