From Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (Japanese News)
Evacuation area expanded from 3km to 10km (1.8 miles to 6.2 miles) around plant.
Citizens in area advised to cover mouths and noses with wet cloths and keep all skin covered.
Containment building had an explosion and is now “missing” with only partial structure left (look at left building in before/after photo below):
This came from another forum, I guess the winds will blow it across the Pacific
^This makes more sense if you look at this model of the jet stream:http://www.stormsurfing.com/cgi/display_alt.cgi?a=npac_250
i do hope that map is an exaggeration. According to wikipedia, 750 rads is about 95%-100% mortality
As it is not clear yet how much radioactivity has been and will be released, this map must be pure speculation.
This is from The Guardian’s live coverage:
[quote]10.40am: A nuclear expert says the a blast at Fukushima plant No 1 was caused by a hydrogen explosion.
Ian Hore-Lacy, of nuclear industry body the World Nuclear Association, also said the blast may not necessarily have caused a radiation leak.
He told Reuters:
“It is obviously an hydrogen explosion … due to hydrogen igniting. If the hydrogen has ignited, then it is gone, it doesn’t pose any further threat. As far as we know there is no particular danger from radiation leaks. There may be, but we don’t know that. There is no reason to suppose that there must be because of that.”[/quote]
guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ma … rmath-live
Here’s part of another Guardian entry posted a little before the one above:
[quote]Yaroslov Shtrombakh, a Russian nuclear expert, said a Chernobyl-style meltdown was unlikely.
“It’s not a fast reaction like at Chernobyl,” he said. “I think that everything will be contained within the grounds, and there will be no big catastrophe.”[/quote]
I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
The nuclear expert guy they had on the BBC also seemed fairly optimistic. He definitely made me feel less worried about it…
what does it mean if it really melts down? How big WILL the catastrophe be?
I can’t search for straight answers…
Yea. I am actually a bit scared.
The situation is looking less worrying now. According to Sky News,the plant operator has said that the containment structure is intact. Fingers crossed.
I guess that they blew a steam generator … or pressure vessel.
[quote]Wiki: Steam generators are heat exchangers used to convert water into steam from heat produced in a nuclear reactor core. They are used in pressurized water reactors between the primary and secondary coolant loops.
In commercial power plants steam generators can measure up to 70 feet in height and weigh as much as 800 tons. Each steam generator can contain anywhere from 3,000 to 16,000 tubes, each about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. [/quote]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_gene … r_power%29
Still mixed news from the media… you do not know what to believe. I wonder, did any of you had any kind of notification form the embassies about any directions of whatever? My country is not officialy represented here so i wonder if any ther countries have contacted their citizens…
We are really close to Japan so if there is anything in the air it can already be here or it will be very soon… they say that in 5-6 days in can be in East/Central Europe, 2-3 days in Wets coast in US…
Before we start guessing and panicking it’s important to know what kind of nuclear plant it is … speculation is not the right way to go … if we know the kind of plant we can start looking into the procedure and how it works, this way we can start dissecting and figure out what can go wrong …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_ … rs_on_site
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_Water_Reactor
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_Wa … ty_Systems
If all the safety systems have failed … than we can panic 
[quote]… The core is cooled rapidly and completely, and following cooling to a reasonable temperature, below that consistent with the generation of steam, CS is shut down and LPCI is decreased in volume to a level consistent with maintenance of a steady-state temperature among the fuel rods, which will drop over a period of days due to the decrease in fission-product decay heat within the core.
After a few days of LPCI, decay heat will have sufficiently abated to the point that defueling of the reactor is able to commence with a degree of caution. Following defueling, LPCI can be shut down. A long period of physical repairs will be necessary to repair the broken recirculation loop; overhaul the ECCS; diesel pumps; and diesel generators; drain the drywell; fully inspect all reactor systems, bring non-conformal systems up to spec, replace old and worn parts[/quote]
It can take a few days …
well, according to german internet, the cooling water ist just 1.7 meter high, meaning the metal-bars are out of the water more than half.
Also it seems more than just (??) 1 reactor have a serious problem.
Also cooling with seawater is (according to experts) a kind of desperate measuremt, a bit just to get extra-time.
Sounds the fight cannot be won. Lets hope an unexpected wonder will occur.
Never thought that I would experience a 2nd Chernobyl - just frightening terrible …
And yes, I am scared. I cannot blame Japan, as I think their safety measurements are of the highest standards worldwide.
But it seems they wanna cover-up the truth - denying the worst case scenario, but evacuating and giving-out medication
sounds weird to me …
Whereever the wind is blowing, people will be affected. Hoping it is not towards Taiwan, well, this is just selfish too.
And (in worst-case scenerio) we will more or less have the shit on our plates, at least I would not eat any seafood anymore …
[quote]Japan evacuates 50,000 after nuclear power plant explosion
Japanese officials, trying to calm a stunned nation, say the explosion didn’t damage the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor itself but merely caused the collapse of a wall outside. Japanese television is reporting that at least three residents among 90 tested showed excess exposure to radiation.
latimes.com/news/nationworld … feedburner
[/quote]
[quote]http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20110312D12JFF03.htmMeltdown Caused Nuke Plant Explosion: Safety Body
TOKYO (Nikkei)–The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said Saturday afternoon the explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of the reactor core.[/quote]
Man, this is getting bad.
[quote=“Reuters”]Thousands of people fled the vicinity of an earthquake-crippled Japanese nuclear plant after a radiation leak and authorities faced a fresh threat on Sunday with the failure of the cooling system in a second reactor.
Operator TEPCO said it was preparing to vent some steam to relieve pressure in the No.3 reactor at the plant 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo – which would release a small amount of radiation – following an explosion and leak on Saturday from the facility’s No. 1 reactor.[/quote]
Uh… duck?
The news about the deteriorating situation at the damaged power plants (yes, plural) is not good… And some of my relatives who live in the city of Tsukuba (Ibaragi Prefecture), not far from Fukushima, have decided to come down to Okinawa now and not take their chance with a forced evacuation. At least buses are going, so they will be able to make it to Haneda airport within a few hours, and then they’ll have to see when they can get on a flight.
I suspect they are not the only ones leaving for other parts of the country right now… Fortunately people in Japan are used to extreme circumstances: we have to deal with large scale interruptions of transportation services every year (because of typhoons and snow storms), and airline and railway staff, etc., are always working hard to work around the problems.
Background information in English (BBC):
bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12724953
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[quote=“yuli”]The news about the deteriorating situation at the damaged power plants (yes, plural) is not good… And some of my relatives who live in the city of Tsukuba (Ibaragi Prefecture), not far from Fukushima, have decided to come down to Okinawa now and not take their chance with a forced evacuation. At least buses are going, so they will be able to make it to Haneda airport within a few hours, and then they’ll have to see when they can get on a flight.
I suspect they are not the only ones leaving for other parts of the country right now… Fortunately people in Japan are used to extreme circumstances: we have to deal with large scale interruptions of transportation services every year (because of typhoons and snow storms), and airline and railway staff, etc., are always working hard to work around the problems.
Background information in English (BBC):
bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12724953[/quote]
I noticed while reading various news reports that the Japanese government ignored warnings about this problem in the past, so I think it’s in their interest to minimize the situation as much as possible. Quotes from foreign experts seem to paint a much more serious picture. It’s my guess the Japanese engineers will figure out a solution, though. But until they do, going to Okinawa sounds like a wise plan to me, and it is probably what I would do, if I was in that situation.
This report is the most comprehensive I’ve seen – npr.org/2011/03/13/134501905 … es?ps=cprs. I’ll add that by using sea water to cool the core, the reactor was damaged beyond repair.
This reactor would have been decommissioned this month … after 40 years … that’s why they have 2 new in construction …