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Title: Workers evacuated from Fukushima plant
Source:
CNN / FOX / MSNBC
URL Source: [None]
Published: Mar 15, 2011
Author: Various news sources
Post Date: 2011-03-15 22:38:15 by go65
Keywords: None
Views: 4234
Comments: 31
Japanese officials are saying that workers are unable to continue at the Fukushima plant due to radiation levels.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 18.
#1. To: All (#0)
weather forecasters are saying that winds could shift toward the west by Friday, Tokyo is what, 160 miles away? 400 square miles around Chernobyl are still uninhabitable.
Chinese government has decided to evacuate thousands of its citizens from the areas threatened by rising radiations spewed from a heavily-damaged nuclear power plant north of Tokyo. The Foreign Ministry has directed China's embassy in Japan to organize an orderly evacuation of Chinese nationals "due to the seriousness of and uncertainty surrounding the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant." The embassy has been working hard to rescue and help Chinese citizens affected by last Friday's massive earthquake and resulting tsunamis, a notice on its website said Tuesday. "We hope our compatriots in the worst-hit disaster areas remain calm, listen to instructions, understand and cooperate with the evacuation operation," the statement said. Early Wedneday, another fire broke out at the No 4 nuclear reactor at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, a day after the power plant emitted a burst of radiation that panicked an already edgy Japan and left Tokyo authorities struggling to contain a spiraling crisis caused by last Friday's earthquake and tsunami. The outer housing of the containment vessel at the No 4 reactor erupted in flames early Wednesday, said Hajimi Motujuku, a spokesman for the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. On Tuesday, a fire broke out in the same reactor's fuel storage pond — an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool — causing radioactivity to be released into the atmosphere. Tokyo Electric Power said the new blaze erupted because the initial fire had not been fully extinguished. The Chinese embassy in Tokyo and its consulates in Niigata are sending buses to Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki and Iwate prefectures, areas heavily battered by the earthquake and tsunamis, to pick up Chinese nationals. Earlier Tuesday, the Japanese government said levels of radiation released by damaged reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant were high enough to threaten human health. In a nationally televised address Tuesday morning following an emergency cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that radiation has spread from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant. "The level seems very high, and there is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out," Kan said. Chinese diplomats were visiting the areas to assist Japanese officials, said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jinag Yu in Beijing. Meanwhile, China's Ministry of Commerce said there had been no contact with 261 Chinese people in Japan's quake-hit regions as of 10 am Tuesday. The ministry reminded Chinese companies to verify the situation of their workers and trainees in Japan. Air China canceled three flights to Tokyo Tuesday where planes would have had to stay in Japan overnight. There was concern among the airline managers that the planes' safety couldn't be guaranteed in the event of any powerful aftershocks. It canceled a flight from Shanghai to Tokyo's Narita Airport and two flights from Beijing to Narita and Tokyo's Haneda Airport. But the Beijing-based carrier said that it is still operating 30 flights between China and Japan daily. China Eastern Airlines said it had suspended flights to Fukushima but its other flights, 50 a day, are operating normally. China Southern Airlines said its flights to Tokyo had resumed on Tuesday.
News networks now confirming that efforts to cool the remaining reactors have ended.
I suppose Mad Dog was right all along: this is trivial stuff and easily repaired and everyone is now going to take a long vacation based on their hard effort the past few days. We are saved. It is apparent the whole world can go back to normal now; thanks Mad Dog for all you have done to ensure we didn't panic or something silly beyond making a few concerned posts about breathing/drinking cessium that is aire borne or water bound.
I forgot hondo68.... you might be interested in this thread.
the weather is expected to shift over the next few days to blow radiation toward populated areas in Japan. the best hope now is that the containment vessels hold, but the burning spent fuel rods raise a whole new problem.
Agreed, this is frightening a turn of events. Right now I have mental images of the heroes of Chernobyl. Men who fought the deadly fires with only the certainty of death awaiting them in the aftermath of their efforts.
fwiw, i've found this to be the best source of news from Japan on the nuke situation: http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/16/fukushima-16-march-summary/
Not me. I use Mad Dog's threads/posts on LF. He reads Wikipaedia and knows EVERYTHING. He even tells us the same, so he is our resident expert.
Trouble is, Yucca Mountain is the leftover remnant of an ancient caldera and an active tectonic zone. Fault lines extend throughout the area. One good earthquake, and we’ll be one nervous country. Who’s going to go down and see how things held up after the big quake? Not me. 1 - Canisters of waste, sealed in special casks, are shipped to the site by truck or train. 2 - Shipping casks are removed, and the inner tube with the waste is placed in a steel, multilayered storage container. 3 - An automated system sends storage containers underground to the tunnels. 4 - Containers are stored along the tunnels, on their side. Here is a place I am proud we got shut down, but I worry about because of the length of time that stuff stored there is dangerous. The Nuclear Industry is a Pandora Box of horrors I wish we never had opened.
#19. To: Ferret Mike (#18)
www.democracynow.org/2011...v_fights_to_close_vermont Vermont Gov. Fights to Close Vermont Yankee, One of 23 U.S. Nuclear Power Facilities Nearly Identical to Failed Japanese Plant One day before the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan and sparked a nuclear crisis, the U.S. Nuclear Regulator Commission announced it would renew the license for Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Vermont state legislators had voted to close the plant when its license expires in 2012. The 38-year-old facility has had a series of radioactive tritium leaks and is almost identical to the troubled Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. “My heart obviously goes out to the people of Japan,” Gov. Peter Shumlin says. “Extraordinary crisis and everyone’s worst nightmare, when they have aging nuclear power plants in their country or in their state. Vermont is no different. We have an aging nuclear power plant here. It’s owned by Entergy Louisiana, a company that we found we can’t trust. And obviously, it asks all of us to reexamine our policy of irrational exuberance when it comes to extending the lives of aging nuclear power plants.” [includes rush transcript] snip
that's the single biggest problem with nuclear power - where to put the waste. I'm optimistic that some of the newer designs such as pebble bed reactors will address these problems, but we can't go around building 1960's style mega-reactors anymore.
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#2. To: go65 (#1)
weather forecasters are saying that winds could shift toward the west by Friday, Tokyo is what, 160 miles away?
#3. To: buckeroo (#2)
#4. To: go65, Mad Dog, Ferret Mike (#3)
(Edited)
News networks now confirming that efforts to cool the remaining reactors have ended.
#5. To: All, hondo68 (#4)
#7. To: buckeroo (#5)
#10. To: Ferret Mike (#7)
(Edited)
#13. To: go65 (#10)
"the weather is expected to shift over the next few days to blow radiation toward populated areas in Japan. the best hope now is that the containment vessels hold, but the burning spent fuel rods raise a whole new problem."
#14. To: ferret mike, mad dog, godwinson, mcgowanjm, skip intro, rek (#13)
#16. To: go65, ferret mike, mad dog, godwinson, mcgowanjm, skip intro, rek, All (#14)
fwiw, i've found this to be the best source of news from Japan on the nuke situation:
#18. To: buckeroo (#16)
Yucca mountain, NV leads to a massively deep and solid ignimbrite base that can keep nuclear waste far from the water table and our kid’s sippy cups. We could put shit down there, slap on a few warning signs and just monitor the place for about 50,000 years and we’ll be fine. Sort of.
Replies to Comment # 18.
#26. To: Ferret Mike (#18)
The Nuclear Industry is a Pandora Box of horrors I wish we never had opened.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 18.
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