Let us pray for Japan.

[Rachel]

See Japan, earthquake that triggered the tsunami disaster pictures.I feel,Human in natural disasters in front is very small.
Nuclear explosion greater disaster,2011 really is the end of the world?No matter how you. We want to do in the disaster for those people to pray.Let us use quiet, gentle state of mind.


Rachel.

[Sylvain D]

Well, it seems so bad, thinking that whatever man would/could do, the nuclear problem can not be stopped so "easily" in Japan.
The main problem is, if some nuclear particles are "freed", the weather can not just "take it away".
I have read that a navy with many soldiers, from U.S.A, has been in contact with those particles, so, it just sounds no good at all...
Plus, so many people are lost, no news from them, and the government can also not say exactly how many people died.
Well... I just agree that man should pray more and more, and hope that all that can stop asap, before the nuclear problem can hurt more and more people over there.

[David E]

Just hang on there a minute........WHAT nuclear disaster

The secondary coolant system has failed, they are now using sea-water as an emergency coolant. This unfortunately produces hydrogen gas which goes "Bang" and blows off some exterior cladding in the reactor building. It is a part of their safety plan and nothing to get overly concerned about.

The nuclear core, where lives the fuel rods is entirely intact and in no danger of a breach, and thus a melt-down. If things get more critical (repeat IF) then they have the option to flood the core with Lithium and bring to a complete halt all the nuclear activity. Of course, this will wreck the reactor and they will have to rebuild it...something they would not want to do until it is absolutely necessary. But if it IS necesary, they will do it.

Unlike the Chernobyl reactor that the Russians built out of used baked bean cans, the Japanese reactors are superbly engineered and safe. The amount of radiation released so far in the small hydrogen explosions is less than a dental X-Ray. Nuclear products released from secondary coolant incidents have half-lives of minutes, whereby the nuclear contaminents released when the Chernobyl core blew and went into melt-down were much more serious with half-lives up to 250,000 years !!

And dont forget that this particular Tsunami was a baby compared to the one that hit Thailand and Indonesia a few years ago. Of course, we all regret the loss of life, property and the human tragedy...but to talk about the end of the World is rubbish.

We survived Chernobyl, we survived the Indonesian Tsunami...and we will survive this one...and the next.

[Paul Todd]

Radiation from Japan's quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has reached harmful levels, the government says.
The warning comes after the plant was rocked by a third blast which appears to have damaged one of the reactors' containment vessels for the first time.Officials have now also extended the danger zone, warning residents within 30km (18 miles) to evacuate or stay indoors and make their homes air tight as well as saying don't hang your laundry outside to dry!!!!!!! .Reminds me of the old "Duck and Cover" advice they gave in case of nuclear attack back in he 50's.
Radiation levels around Fukushima for one hour's exposure rose to eight times the legal limit for exposure in one year, said the plant's operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco). The International Atomic Energy Agency said after Tuesday's blast that radiation dosages of up to 400 millisieverts per hour had been recorded at the site and exposure to over 100 millisieverts a year is a level that can lead to cancer, they added
An official with  Tepco, which runs the site, said seawater was being pumped in both by fire engines and via the system installed to extinguish fires in the power station's turbine hall. What the incident illustrates is the ad-hoc nature of the operation being mounted. Paddy Regan of  Surrey University said "The mere use of seawater in this way was an extraordinary step to take". Add to this the idea of knocking holes in the buildings try and realise the hydrogen gathering there leads me to think that this site is not at all safe or superbly built.  As you can probably guess I'm not a big fan of nuclear power. I do have to agree with David that it is hardly the end of the world.

[Sylvain D]

Well, that sounds very bad ...  the news report that one city close to Tokyo has been contamined by the nuclear particles, ten * the "normally particle air allowed" (sorry for my bad english when talking about that)
I also don't really know why the seawater has been used, into the confineries :s was it really a good idea? I don't know if it would had been tested before, but well, maybe was it just, in aim to gain a little bit some time...
Now, what about the people? Would or could Japan help its livers to go somewhere else, and try to do something about the refineries?
Many people said "no it can not be lilke Tchernoby"... but well... it just seems it is going on that way...
And that is just so much bad... What about the pacific Coast in U.S.A?
Some news report that some nuclear particles have reached that part of U.S.A :s

Plus, the news also said that another earthquake is awaited, and that it could be about at lvl7... just like that one which hurt Haïti, last year....
Did Japan really need that?? :s:s

[Vince G]

We want to do in the disaster for those people to pray.Let us use quiet, gentle state of mind.

    

[Sylvain D]

Lvl 6/7 reached....

[djshotty]

See Japan, earthquake that triggered the tsunami disaster pictures.I feel,Human in natural disasters in front is very small.
Nuclear explosion greater disaster,2011 really is the end of the world?No matter how you. We want to do in the disaster for those people to pray.Let us use quiet, gentle state of mind to meet./quote]

My thoughts and prayers are with you, and the people of Japan and China.  It is so very sad what is happening there.  May God be with you all...

[Bee964]

Just hang on there a minute........WHAT nuclear disaster

From what I understand David, building #4 is used to store the spent fuel rods. They are  under water and this keeps the radiation intact. The water level had dropped so low that the fuel rods were exposed to the air. "They" did not say how long they were exposed for... levels of radiation are 500 times above the "safe" levels, no say on if this was inside the reactor buildings or the storage building... reactor is on fire, for a second time... the buildings are now evacuated because the radiation and the conditions inside the buildings are not safe.... The officials continually enlarge the evacuation zone....

This situation is still unfolding as we speak. The media will blow it up to sensationalize it, (keeps viewers watching and readers buying) but to say that there is no disaster at this nuclear power plant is a little premature and careless. There is no safe nuclear power plant, PERIOD! I am not a Greenpeacer but I firmly believe that ALL nuclear power plants are a disaster waiting to happen. It is all a matter of where and when.

Dave C

[halfpint]

200,000 people are evacuated because of the risk of radiation.  These people don't know if they will ever be able to go back to their homes or their jobs.  They have left all of their personal possessions behind.  Their lives are ripped apart and they are scared.  In my mind, this is already a disaster and it has a high potential of becoming much worse.  I don't pray on a regular basis, but I am praying for all the people in Japan. 

[Rachel]

I have here a lot about Japan nuclear, wind direction figure. But I don't know how to upload pictures.Hope this all disasters can minimize.
Stop expanding.Who can tell me how to upload pictures here?

Rachel.

[Rachel]

oh.One can only upload a picture.

[halfpint]

Rachel it appears you figured out how to upload a picture.  In your 1st picture what does the chinese character mean after the "3", "6" and "10"?  My home is in the range of the 10, im very curious what this picture is telling us.

[David E]

No doubt we will have a review of what you said and what I said when all this is over, one way or the other.

I have my point of view, and you have yours.

Without differing views, this Forum would again get lopsided.....people may get scared half to death.

The Law of Unintended Consequences is alive and well.

I personally hope that nuclear power generation becomes a total replacement for coal, throughout the whole World...but that's only my view.

David

[Bee964]

Yes David, differing views is what make this forum interesting. Without it the forum would go stale and not be interesting. I myself would rather have hydroelectric and wind turbines replace both coal and nuclear generation. What gets me though is if lithium, as you say, can put the reaction out but it renders the reactors to scrap, and the reactors are already scrap from using sea water to try cool them down, why not do the planet a favour and dump the lithium in the reactor and stop the reaction? The reactors are scrap anyways. But there are other factors involved too. I will stop here.

Dave C