Japan hit by 8.8 magnitude quake - major tsunami event underway

[xYx]

There are actually people saying this is karma for what Japan did to Pearl Harbor....

...really?

REALLY?

Wow!
Ignorance can be so scary.
I'm just glad that my relatives over there are fine but my prayers are with those who have been affected with this terrible disaster.

On a sidenote the creator of Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri is one of the casualties at the age of 45.

 

[The Ween]

There are actually people saying this is karma for what Japan did to Pearl Harbor....

...really?

REALLY?

Probably one a-hole said that. This kind of thing brings the crazies out, like I said.

Look what some people said about us after 9-11!

 

[user 1190]

We have at least one tremor a year here in Ohio that you can feel. I've heard there are a lot of them under the floors of the Great Lakes. Don't know how true that is.

This is pretty telling about earthquakes in US

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/

There has been some talk that the constant quakes help release tension on faults.

This is scary to look at though

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php

 

[Sachiel]

Probably one a-hole said that.

That's what is sad... it's not just one person.

Bunch of idiots who seemed to have forgotten we dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan in retaliation.

 

[Devil_666]

On a sidenote the creator of Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri is one of the casualties at the age of 45.

Don't trip, it's just a BS internet rumor. Tajiri is alive and well.

 

[Rotfish]

Shat, there's been an explosion heard at the ___ushima nuclear plant. Some radiation's been released, but a meltdown hasn't occured at this point. Let's hope they can vent the rest before this happens, because a meltdown would be catastrophic -- and yes, those fumes can be carried over to other countries depending on wind conditions.

 

[jrice73]

Shat, there's been an explosion heard at the ___ushima nuclear plant. Some radiation's been released, but a meltdown hasn't occured at this point. Let's hope they can vent the rest before this happens, because a meltdown would be catastrophic -- and yes, those fumes can be carried over to other countries depending on wind conditions.

Yeah, just heard that on CNN. Chernobyl anyone?

 

[plasmid303]

Wow!

On a sidenote the creator of Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri is one of the casualties at the age of 45.

This has not been substantiated.

This is pretty telling about earthquakes in US

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/

There has been some talk that the constant quakes help release tension on faults.

This is scary to look at though

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php

SoCal rests on a big fault line. An earthquake there is not something I want to imagine.

 

[The Josh]

A big ass fault goes through Missouri. If that ____ goes I'm screwed and I live several hours away from it.

 

[Rotfish]

Yeah, just heard that on CNN. Chernobyl anyone?

Yep, that's what I was thinking. And there are still four or so other reactors they're keeping tabs on. If they all go (hell, if even one of them goes), the long-term effects of that will make the tsunami look like a pleasant memory. Scary stuff.

 

[The Josh]

Yeah, just heard that on CNN. Chernobyl anyone?

Yeah, its about to get really bad if that goes down. Thats why those plants as a fuel source scare me honestly.

 

[CelticPredator]

There are actually people saying this is karma for what Japan did to Pearl Harbor....

...really?

REALLY?

I guess everyone forgot about this little event...

 

[devilof76]

Looks like the worst is going down in that plant right now.

Earlier in the day, I heard something about the President sending emergency coolant to them. Anyone know what happened with that story?

 

[plasmid303]

Please, everyone calm down and stop comparing the situation with Chernobyl. We still don't have 100% confirmation of anything regarding the current state of the Daiichi plant. Some explaination:

The ___ushima Daiichi power plant is a Boiling Water Reactor. It is both moderated (what causes fission) and cooled (what stops the nuclear fuel/waste from getting so hot it melts) by water.

The plant was immediately stopped after the earthquake by inserting control rods (boron-infused 'rods' that prevent further fissions from taking place (by eating up all the neutrons necessary to initiate fission). This happened successfully. The plant is "shut down."

However, after the plant is shut down, there are still certain elements called "delayed neutron precursors" that will STILL released neutrons for some time period after the plant is shut down. These are what cause heat to accrue in a reactor that should theoretically be "shut down". This is why cooling needs to be provided in a typical 2nd generation light-water reactor (what most reactors in the world are) for a good while after shutdown.

Without cooling water, the likely "worst case" will be the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) building up heat, which builds up pressure, which could cause a rupture of the vessel. The fuel rods will spill out radioactive contents, fires might break out, and the reactor is basically a lost cause.

And how does that affect the general populace in terms of radioactive dose?
-Not at all.

The RPV is surrounded by a containment facility designed from the ground up to withstand everything short of hydrogen bombs. Given the semi-spherical distance from the RPV an explosion would have to travel to break through the containment vessel, it is fundamentally impossible (given the energy density the RPV is capable of containing) for there to be straight up "radioactive smoke" or such getting outside of containment. The containment building is constructed to prevent EXACTLY this emergency.

So while this is a worrying emergency, and could represent billions of lost dollars a mess to clean up should the WORST come about, it will still not be another Chernobyl. And given the efforts underway to provide cooling and the fact that the fuel rods are still not exposed to air (When the real danger of fuel melting can occur), there is still time to stop this loss of coolent accident (LOCA).

So we SHOULD worry about this reactor problem, but not for the reason most anti-nuclear activists would have you believe.

 

[Rotfish]

Press conference going on right now, but no new information is being released besides an expansion of the evacuation zone. Only things we really know are that smoke has been seen, an explosion's been heard, and the roof of the first reactor may have collapsed.

We'll probably get more information throughout the rest of the day, but Japan seems confident. They're saying the radiation levels are still not terrible and they are working to resolve the issue. The situation is apparently under control.

 

[devilof76]

Damn, plasmid. Thanks for the info.

So we SHOULD worry about this reactor problem, but not for the reason most anti-nuclear activists would have you believe.

What else is new.

 

[Rotfish]

Mind if I copy this message and send it to a couple people, plas? They're worrying quite a bit about it.

 

[plasmid303]

Mind if I copy this message and send it to a couple people, plas? They're worrying quite a bit about it.

Spread it around. A lot of scare is swarming facebook, Twitter etc etc and most of it is unfounded, if not totally understandable.

 

[devilof76]

It would help if the news stations stopped saying "meltdown" over and over.

 

[Devil_666]

It would help if the news stations stopped saying "meltdown" over and over.

And lose panic-stricken viewers? Nah..