!!!!!TSUNAMI!!!!! (Page 3 of 4)

I also feel terrible for them, especially the innocent kids. Looking at the photos last night on national news, I realize that Japan has some of the most beautiful kids in the world, really adorable. They cannot fully comprehend the devastation, and now will have to deal with pretty much the same as their grandparents after WW2. I just pray they can avoid any total meltdowns ala Chernobyl. The only thing good to come out of this....Gilbert Gottfried is fired by AFLAC and soon as they can replace him we will never have to listen to that crazy duck scream of his. Meanwhile, and it's the least of my worries compared to their loss and suffering, the 401K is going downhill rapidly.

Tres

Japans great culture and loyalty displayed during this tragedy is not only seen in its people. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookou … the-rubble

I've kept off this thread for a few days. Said what I felt earlier based on what we knew, or didn't know. What else could one say?

Fact is the nuclear drama has diverted most of the interest away from the unfolding human drama. Nearly 500,000 people displaced. Many of them sleeping on floors without hot food, fresh clothes or the knowledge when or if they can ever return home. There is a test of human character going on here. What we have seen so far is the Japanese have this particular trait in abundance.

But I'm not sure about the durability of their patience in the face of what seems like the growing swell of misinformation and incompetence that is engulfing the nuclear plant like the cloud of radioactivity eminating from it.

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday trying to imagine being one of the 50 workers left behind at the plant. Yes, I would feel a sence of moral obligation in a National emergency situation to do my utmost to avert a disaster. But at the same time I now am under a death sentence, long or short, I don't know. What am I being paid? Given what I know about my employer, how do I know my dependants will be taken care of their whole lives? What guarantees do I have and do I believe them anyway?

Perhaps in this moment of terror it is immoral to think about money. Fact is though if you don't think about it now I bet it will be difficult to get TEPCO to think about it objectively afterwards. I strongly hope somebody is negotitaing for these guys and fighting for their rights, irrespective if they are part of the reason for this unfolding disaster. They didn't sign up for this, but then nobody does.

Nobody expects a 9.0 richter earthquake do they? eerrr. Why not? You could say Fukushima got unlucky, but c'mon, you build a nuclear plant in an earthquake zone next to the ocean then you have to  risk assess out the possibilities. Reactor shutdown. Ooops no power. Back up gens, aaaah dammit. Tsunami swamped 'em and the pumps and now the diesel is contaminated. Fire service can help. Oh no, they can't get through because of the devastation. You get the picture. The chain reaction being exposed here isn't nuclear, but day by day it is a chain reaction of human error.

Rick posted earlier that all the incidents in this accursed industry are human error and he is right. A minor technical malfunction may be the start point but it is then compounded by the human error reactions to it. Bad news is we can't design that out, because we are only....human.

Most of the misinformation seems to stem from that the management don't really know what is going on. They can't. It is inside the reactors. Processes are being carried out unseen and the humans can only speculate and react to it. Watching and reading about it now it is almost like a keystone kops movie.

They are going to try and damp down nuclear fuel rods in a dry storage pond with water cannon. I don't believe I just wrote that. I wonder what page of the manual that was on when they built the place?

The Germans have a great phrase - 'Learning by doing'. In some circumstances there is no substitute for it. However, I don't think in an atomic power station it is approriate.

Word is this storage pool is filled with rods beyond its design capacity. They just put more protective sheets between them. Hey, as long as they are covered in water its ok. But now they are not. They are open to the air and there is enough fissile material for them to begin their nuclear chain reaction again. So even though the reactor is offline, we now have an 'open air' reactor.

Learning by doing. Sure going to be a lot of lessons learned from this one. I hope those 50 guys won't have to learn the hardest way of all, but I fear it will be so.

really interesting to read your insight mike, thank you.

Agree with you the threat of what might be happening is taking away the focus from the actual disaster that is going on. I guess it would be very harsh to blame the lines of people at the airport fleeing but cannot help but feel a twinge of uneasiness about what appears to be lack of support for those who have been left without anything or a week on might just still be alive under a pile of debris. Although in saying that this could be a misconception based on poor media coverage.

As I learn more about this, it seems to me more of a human error on the design side by GE.  The primary cooling system has a backup, but there was no design for the backup to operate in a full power failure mode.  Learning by doing is indeed very appropriate in this situation.  I would think that backup designs have progressed in the 35 years since this facility was constucted and I have to wonder why TEPCO hadn't modified their backup scenario to include a complete power outage.  From what I heard on the news radio on the drive to work, thier hopes are now set on running electric lines from some nearby area to power the backup system.  In the meantime, radioactivity continues to be emitted.

This hits kind of close to home (well work actually) as my work location is only about 5 miles (as the crow flies) from San Onofre nuclear power plant on the CA coast.  It was only designed to withstand a 7.5 earthquake and a 25' tsunami.  Kind of scary when you think about it, and the prevailing winds are onshore so any disaster would bring the radiactivity inland to highly populated areas.

I don't know what the short term or the long term answers are, but my heart goes out to the people of Japan and those brave souls fighting to cool down the reactor which, as hansamike so appropriately stated, is likely a death sentence.

God Bless them all.

7 days! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12782463

This is the most incredible footage i've seen of the absolute terrifying power of the tsunami hitting Japan ...... it is unbelievable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpuLlIrUYsI

Michael

Yes indeed Michael. What makes it so incredible is that there is no break in the filming, no cuts, no edits, just what happened in 6 and a half minutes - just simply staggering footage!