Big Quake hits Japan

[DoctorP]

A big earthquake has hit mainland Japan in Iwate prefecture and the Sendai area.

English news site (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5IgwzKsStVs5sFHkA5uIawpldqAD919HKTG0)

A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked northern Japan early Saturday, swaying buildings and forcing authorities to close highways and stop high-speed trains. News reports said some people were cut by broken glass.

Authorities said two nuclear power plants in the area were not damaged and continued to operate normally, national broadcaster NHK reported. There was no danger of tsunami.

The TV news is starting to report deaths involved...will just have to wait and see. They are showing some cool video of the quake.

[Muku]

Authorities said two nuclear power plants in the area were not damaged and continued to operate normally, national broadcaster NHK reported.
I find it amazing that a country that sits astride some of the heaviest areas of seismic activity in the world that they are able to build and safely maintain nuclear reactors without any accidents occuring.:thumbup1:

[okisteve]

It looks like it was 7.0, centered in Iwate Prefecture, and there are 2 dead reported.

I'm amazed how fast the information about damage, response, etc. gets compiled and broadcast here.

[Muku]

It looks like it was 7.0, centered in Iwate Prefecture, and there are 2 dead reported.

I'm amazed how fast the information about damage, response, etc. gets compiled and broadcast here.

One thing I heard as an explanation is that the response after the Hanshin quake was too slow and the government put a lot of energy into making sure that something like that would happen again.

Plus they are always on the lookout for the "big" one that may hit Tokyo someday.

[TheNoNamedOne]

To throw in some sad irony about the quake: my wife just told me she heard the story on the news that one man rushed out of a building to save himself thinking it would collapse only to be hit by a truck in the street as he darted out.

He died.

[OCanadaOurHomeAndNativeLand]

I find it amazing that a country that sits astride some of the heaviest areas of seismic activity in the world that they are able to build and safely maintain nuclear reactors without any accidents occuring.:thumbup1:
:rolleyes:No accidents you say...:rolleyes:


A list of some accidents at Japanese nuclear reactors:

-- July 16, 2007: A powerful earthquake rips into Japan's northwest coast, killing at least eight people and causing a series of malfunctions at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, including radioactive water spills, burst pipes and fires.
-- Aug. 11, 2006: Tokyo Electric Power Co. reports that a negligible amount of radioactive steam was released at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in northern Japan on Aug. 6 and escaped outside the compound.
-- Aug. 9, 2004: Five workers at Mihama Nuclear Power Plant in western Japan are killed and six are injured after a corroded pipe ruptured and sprayed plant workers with boiling water and steam. The reactor was restarted on Jan. 10, 2007.
-- Feb. 25, 2004: Eight workers are exposed to low-level radiation at a power plant in Tsuruga, western Japan, when they are accidentally sprayed with contaminated water.
-- Sept. 17, 2003: Officials discover that about 1.6 gallons of radioactive water had leaked from the No. 1 reactor at Chubu Electric Power's Hamaoka plant in central Japan. In November 2001, the same reactor was shut down after two radioactive leaks occurred within three days.
-- July 24, 2000: Tokyo Electric Power Co. finds 29 gallons of radioactive water leaking from a nuclear reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 plant in northern Japan days after an earthquake.
-- September 1999: Two workers are killed in a radiation leak at a fuel-reprocessing plant in Tokaimura when they try to save time by mixing excessive amounts of uranium in buckets instead of using special mechanized tanks. Hundreds are exposed to radiation, and thousands of residents evacuate. The government assigned the accident a level 4 rating on the International Nuclear Event Scale ranging from 1 to 7.
-- March 1997: At least 37 workers are exposed to low doses of radiation at a March 11 fire and explosion at a nuclear reprocessing plant operated by Donen in Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/07/17/japan_nuclear_accidents_glance/

[OCanadaOurHomeAndNativeLand]

For those not worried about our friend, nuclear power, and the specific issues unique to the Japanese way, read on.


Japan’s turbulent history of war and natural catastrophe has already given the world a terrifying vocabulary of death: tsunami, kamikaze, Hiroshima.

But the country now stands on the brink of unleashing its most chilling phrase yet: genpatsu-shinsai – the combination of an earthquake and nuclear meltdown capable of destroying millions of lives and bringing a nation to its knees.

A 6.8 magnitude quake, which shook Niigata on Monday and left thousands of homes uninhabitable, was three times more powerful than the designers of the nearest nuclear power plant – Kashiwazaki-Kariwa – had prepared for, or even imagined.

The unfolding crisis at Kashiwazaki has renewed calls for the immediate closure of the five atomic reactors at Hamaoka – an old plant in Shizuoka built directly above a geologically active fault about 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Tokyo. Despite claims by its operators, Chubu Electric, that the plant meets government standards, seismologists said yesterday that it was “almost impossible” to ensure the safety of a nuclear plant in that location. The Hamaoka plant, said Mitsuhei Murata, a former diplomat and professor at Tokai Gakuen University, presents Japan with its biggest risk of genpatsu-shinsai.

A quake there, he said, could smash the reactor and send a radioactive cloud over Tokyo within eight hours: “We would be looking at 24 million victims and the end for Japan.”


The full article is rather informative:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2112763.ece


There is a big nuclear reactor positioned perfectly to take out Tokyo. Godzilla was a pussy. This is way scarier.

http://www.stop-hamaoka.com/english/map-large.jpg

And, WHEN, not if, things go wrong...

http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/senza_fine/imgs/0/c/0c763aae.gif

Educate yourself about what awaits Japan in the not-so distant future.
http://www.stop-hamaoka.com/english/english.html

http://transitionculture.org/wp-content/uploads/thumb-homer.jpg

Muku's not worried. Why should you be?:rolleyes:

http://michigansfe.org/Portals/1/nuclear_homer.jpg

[Ammoyankee]

When this does happen, we need to do a hands around Japan protest...!

[Muku]

Eele thanks for googling the information, quite adept at it I see.:smile4:

I should have written nothing serious as in Chernobyl like accidents.

[OCanadaOurHomeAndNativeLand]

Yes, indeed! You should have thought before posting yet another one of your bass-ackward "observations".:rolleyes:

The earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, also caused a leak of radioactive water from a power plant, although the company said that the amount was so small that there was no cause for public concern.

More than 20,000 houses were without power across northern Japan after the initial earthquake, which struck just 8 kilometres (five miles) underground.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that 14.8 litres (3.8 gallons) of water came out of a pool in which radioactive equipment is stored at a reactor in Fukushima prefecture, but the company said there were no risks to the public.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/080614/afp/080614072621top.html

Let's hope that's the extent of it, and that the reporting has been accurate. Japan does not exactly have a stellar record reporting problems with their reactors...


Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday that it had concealed an emergency shutdown of a reactor at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 1984.

The utility also reported to the government that a criticality accident occurred in a separate reactor at the plant in 1978, changing its earlier claim that such an accident was "likely to have happened."

Tepco is the second power company in recent days to acknowledge the occurrence of a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Hokuriku Electric Power Co. did so on March 15.

Along with Tepco, 11 other power companies also reported to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, an arm of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, all the irregularities they have found in their probes since November under an order by Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070331a4.html

[Zorro]

Yes, indeed! You should have thought before posting yet another one of your bass-ackward "observations".

Now, now. Lighten up on poor Muku. He almost said "sorry" last post. It was close enough.

I dont think he is or was alone in thinking Japan has a clean record for nuke power safety.

[Muku]

I dont think he is or was alone in thinking Japan has a clean record for nuke power safety.

Quite so....and I think that the majority, minus the person you are responding to here :rolleyes: "know" what I was making an observation about knew this as well.

[OCanadaOurHomeAndNativeLand]

I dont think he is or was alone in thinking Japan has a clean record for nuke power safety.
That could be. I do think that most would check if they didn't know. As another member has said before, Muku tends to write with an authorative tone, and so some mistake his observations for assertions of fact. Muk writes that he wishes other posters avoid assumptions - so I'd hope he puts his money where his mouth is.

[OCanadaOurHomeAndNativeLand]

Doh!

A small amount of liquid containing uranium splashed out of a container at a Japanese nuclear fuel plant near Tokyo, slightly exposing two people to radiation, the plant operator said Friday.

The amount of radiation in the spill was «extremely low» and there was no health threat to the workers, Global Nuclear Fuel-Japan Co. said. The company said the incident was also contained inside the plant in Yokosuka, about 30 miles (45 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo.

The accident occurred when the plant workers were changing oxygenated water containing uranium without closing a valve on a tank, causing bubbles to emerge and splash on to them, the company said in a statement.

Friday's accident was the second in recent weeks at the plant. Another worker was slightly exposed to radiation in July when a small quantity of uranium powder escaped from a machine. There was no injury or damage.
http://www.pr-inside.com/uranium-spill-at-japan-fuel-plant-r745171.htm

http://www.spaghetti-factory.co.uk/spagpx/homer_polonium.jpg