Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake

[Silver Rider]

Man pulled alive from rubble 8 days after quake

Military says he was found in wrecked house in northern Japan

msnbc.msn.com

[Walter]

I hope all is well with you, SAJ. Take care brother!

My school is also planning a relief effort for Japan. All of these little efforts can add up to something big. I am so impressed with the people of Japan with everything that is going on. They are a true sign that society as a whole can act civil in the face of a catastrophe/tragedy of epic proportions! Instead of looking out for themselves, people are working towards the greater good of everyone. Godspeed to you all.

Peace.

[planted]

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100079703/why-is-there-no-looting-in-japan/

[FireOpal]

I was hoping there'd be a response from the music community and the Brits are doing it (again):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110322/music_nm/us_japan_quake_concert

British rock stars to play Japan benefit concert

LONDON (Reuters) – British rock stars including Richard Ashcroft, Paul Weller and Liam Gallagher of Oasis fame will play a charity gig next month to raise funds for the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal.

The benefit concert will be held at the Brixton O2 Academy in south London on April 3, and the lineup includes Beady Eye, the band which Gallagher formed after Oasis broke up, Primal Scream, The Coral and Graham Coxon of Blur.

"With images beamed worldwide as they occurred, the horrific tragedy that beset Japan in recent days has affected everybody," Beady Eye said in a statement on its website.

"In response, a collection of Britain's finest rock musicians have heeded the rallying call and come together to present a very special one-off event.

"Beady Eye -- who still have fond memories of their concert in Sendai as Oasis in 2002 -- are delighted their idea for a benefit gig has come together so quickly and with such fantastic support."

The concert follows Monday's announcement that Universal Music was putting together a digital-only album featuring tracks from some of its leading artists, including Justin Bieber and U2, to raise money for victims of the Japanese disaster.

More than 9,000 people have been confirmed dead after the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami, while more than 13,500 are reported missing.

[spidersandsnakes]

Don't think worrying about it is going to help but being as prepared as one can be is definitely the smartest move.

As I alread stated elsewhere on the forum, there was once a very expert Japanese seismologist (he was quite old in his day) who stated that quakes can be predicted ver well in advance of what the "world authorities" currenty state (e.g. 8 seconds before the quake hits....which is USELESS!!!!).......well, to make a long story short, this Japanese seismologist was branded as INSANE and locked away somewhere in Japan!!!!! My point, if that Japanese expert was right, WE are the insane for not believing him....if on the other hand he was truly insane, then WE have very little hope of being prepared against such a terrible force of MOther Nature....whatever we do!!!!:(

[spidersandsnakes]

First we had the release of radioactivity and now a release of Justin Bieber to compound the tragedy.

Hehehhehehhehehehhehehehhehehhe, I truly don't know which of the 2 evils is worse:):)

[spidersandsnakes]

I can't stand how our dictionary and word meanings have changed over time.

The word conservative used to mean just that. Conservatives sure are liberal with their exploitation of things that can destroy quality of life, worldwide. Let's see, what would the word nature mean to them ?

manmade, synthesized....manipulated ?

We can't control nature, but these words above give crumbling power to those who think they can. It's about domination, OVERcoming natural phenomena, CONTROL. IT ain't gonna happen. Humility isn't a trait amongst these types.

FULL BORE ON THE PEDAL !!!

In spite....yes IN SPITE of it all !

Air, Fire, Water and Earth, all contaminated because of the boorish, power hungry conservatives who defile nature. Earth gets her's in the end and will be here long after the human race is decimated.

It's not China that's the Sleeping Giant.

OH THE TERRIBLE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME!!!!!

[spidersandsnakes]

I was hoping there'd be a response from the music community and the Brits are doing it (again):

http://news.yahoo.co...n_quake_concert

British rock stars to play Japan benefit concert

LONDON (Reuters) – British rock stars including Richard Ashcroft, Paul Weller and Liam Gallagher of Oasis fame will play a charity gig next month to raise funds for the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal.

The benefit concert will be held at the Brixton O2 Academy in south London on April 3, and the lineup includes Beady Eye, the band which Gallagher formed after Oasis broke up, Primal Scream, The Coral and Graham Coxon of Blur.

"With images beamed worldwide as they occurred, the horrific tragedy that beset Japan in recent days has affected everybody," Beady Eye said in a statement on its website.

"In response, a collection of Britain's finest rock musicians have heeded the rallying call and come together to present a very special one-off event.

"Beady Eye -- who still have fond memories of their concert in Sendai as Oasis in 2002 -- are delighted their idea for a benefit gig has come together so quickly and with such fantastic support."

The concert follows Monday's announcement that Universal Music was putting together a digital-only album featuring tracks from some of its leading artists, including Justin Bieber and U2, to raise money for victims of the Japanese disaster.

More than 9,000 people have been confirmed dead after the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami, while more than 13,500 are reported missing.

........so rock comes to the rescue again.....in the ROTTEN face of politicians and governents alike.......I AM PROUD OF BEING A WIMPLESS ROCKER :)!!!!

[planted]

First we had the release of radioactivity and now a release of Justin Bieber to compound the tragedy.

Good one.

[cryingbluerain]

I can't stand how our dictionary and word meanings have changed over time.

The word conservative used to mean just that. Conservatives sure are liberal with their exploitation of things that can destroy quality of life, worldwide. Let's see, what would the word nature mean to them ?

manmade, synthesized....manipulated ?

We can't control nature, but these words above give crumbling power to those who think they can. It's about domination, OVERcoming natural phenomena, CONTROL. IT ain't gonna happen. Humility isn't a trait amongst these types.

FULL BORE ON THE PEDAL !!!

In spite....yes IN SPITE of it all !

Air, Fire, Water and Earth, all contaminated because of the boorish, power hungry conservatives who defile nature. Earth gets her's in the end and will be here long after the human race is decimated.

It's not China that's the Sleeping Giant.

Yikes!! Guess we better go back to living in caves..

[spidersandsnakes]

Yikes!! Guess we better go back to living in caves..

That's only a MENTAL stste:):)

[Silver Rider]

Tsunami alert canceled after 6.1 Japan quake

msnbc.msn.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/honshu20110311/

A Buddhist temple is one of the few buildings left standing after the tsunami surged eight kilometres inland, to the town of Rikuzentakata.

[spidersandsnakes]

Give them each a bowl of shark fin soup and some whale meat for a second course.

SPAMMER!!!!! TROLLING!!!!:)

[spidersandsnakes]

On a more DANGEROUSLY SERIOUS note.............................

http://news.yahoo.co...clear_blackouts

AP IMPACT: Long blackouts pose risk to US reactors

WASHINGTON Long before the nuclear emergency in Japan, U.S. regulators knew that a power failure lasting for days at an American nuclear plant, whatever the cause, could lead to a radioactive leak. Even so, they have only required the nation's 104 nuclear reactors to develop plans for dealing with much shorter blackouts on the assumption that power would be restored quickly.

In one nightmare simulation presented by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2009, it would take less than a day for radiation to escape from a reactor at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant after an earthquake, flood or fire knocked out all electrical power and there was no way to keep the reactors cool after backup battery power ran out. That plant, the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station outside Lancaster, has reactors of the same older make and model as those releasing radiation at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, which is using other means to try to cool the reactors.

And like Fukushima Dai-ichi, the Peach Bottom plant has enough battery power on site to power emergency cooling systems for eight hours. In Japan, that wasn't enough time for power to be restored. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Energy Institute trade association, three of the six reactors at the plant still can't get power to operate the emergency cooling systems. Two were shut down at the time. In the sixth, the fuel was removed completely and put in the spent fuel pool when it was shut down for maintenance at the time of the disaster. A week after the March 11 earthquake, diesel generators started supplying power to two other two reactors, Units 5 and 6, the groups said.

The risk of a blackout leading to core damage, while extremely remote, exists at all U.S. nuclear power plants, and some are more susceptible than others, according to an Associated Press investigation. While regulators say they have confidence that measures adopted in the U.S. will prevent or significantly delay a core from melting and threatening a radioactive release, the events in Japan raise questions about whether U.S. power plants are as prepared as they could and should be.

"We didn't address a tsunami and an earthquake, but clearly we have known for some time that one of the weak links that makes accidents a little more likely is losing power," said Alan Kolaczkowski, a retired nuclear engineer who worked on a federal risk analysis of Peach Bottom released in 1990 and is familiar with the updated risk analysis.

Risk analyses conducted by the plants in 1991-94 and published by the commission in 2003 show that the chances of such an event striking a U.S. power plant are remote, even at the plant where the risk is the highest, the Beaver Valley Power Station in Pennsylvania.

These long odds are among the reasons why the United States since the late 1980s has only required nuclear power plants to cope with blackouts for four or eight hours, depending on the risk. That's about how much time batteries would last. After that, it is assumed that power would be restored. And so far, that's been the case.

Equipment put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks could buy more time. Otherwise, the reactor's radioactive core could begin to melt unless alternative cooling methods were employed. In Japan, the utility has tried using portable generators and dumped tons of seawater, among other things, on the reactors in an attempt to keep them cool.

A 2003 federal analysis looking at how to estimate the risk of containment failure said that should power be knocked out by an earthquake or tornado it "would be unlikely that power will be recovered in the time frame to prevent core meltdown."

In Japan, it was a one-two punch: first the earthquake, then the tsunami.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the crippled plant, found other ways to cool the reactor core and so far avert a full-scale meltdown without electricity.

"Clearly the coping duration is an issue on the table now," said Biff Bradley, director of risk assessment for the Nuclear Energy Institute. "The industry and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will have to go back in light of what we just observed and rethink station blackout duration."

David Lochbaum, a former plant engineer and nuclear safety director at the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists, put it another way: "Japan shows what happens when you play beat-the-clock and lose."

Lochbaum plans to use the Japan disaster to press lawmakers and the nuclear power industry to do more when it comes to coping with prolonged blackouts, such as having temporary generators on site that can recharge batteries.

A complete loss of electrical power, generally speaking, poses a major problem for a nuclear power plant because the reactor core must be kept cool, and back-up cooling systems mostly pumps that replenish the core with water_ require massive amounts of power to work.

Without the electrical grid, or diesel generators, batteries can be used for a time, but they will not last long with the power demands. And when the batteries die, the systems that control and monitor the plant can also go dark, making it difficult to ascertain water levels and the condition of the core.

One variable not considered in the NRC risk assessments of severe blackouts was cooling water in spent fuel pools, where rods once used in the reactor are placed. With limited resources, the commission decided to focus its analysis on the reactor fuel, which has the potential to release more radiation.

An analysis of individual plant risks released in 2003 by the NRC shows that for 39 of the 104 nuclear reactors, the risk of core damage from a blackout was greater than 1 in 100,000. At 45 other plants the risk is greater than 1 in 1 million, the threshold NRC is using to determine which severe accidents should be evaluated in its latest analysis.

The Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 1, in Pennsylvania had the greatest risk of core melt 6.5 in 100,000, according to the analysis. But that risk may have been reduced in subsequent years as NRC regulations required plants to do more to cope with blackouts. Todd Schneider, a spokesman for FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., which runs Beaver Creek, told the AP that batteries on site would last less than a week.

In 1988, eight years after labeling blackouts "an unresolved safety issue," the NRC required nuclear power plants to improve the reliability of their diesel generators, have more backup generators on site, and better train personnel to restore power. These steps would allow them to keep the core cool for four to eight hours if they lost all electrical power. By contrast, the newest generation of nuclear power plant, which is still awaiting approval, can last 72 hours without taking any action, and a minimum of seven days if water is supplied by other means to cooling pools.

Despite the added safety measures, a 1997 report found that blackouts the loss of on-site and off-site electrical power remained "a dominant contributor to the risk of core melt at some plants." The events of Sept. 11, 2001, further solidified that nuclear reactors might have to keep the core cool for a longer period without power. After 9/11, the commission issued regulations requiring that plants have portable power supplies for relief valves and be able to manually operate an emergency reactor cooling system when batteries go out.

The NRC says these steps, and others, have reduced the risk of core melt from station blackouts from the current fleet of nuclear plants.

For instance, preliminary results of the latest analysis of the risks to the Peach Bottom plant show that any release caused by a blackout there would be far less rapid and would release less radiation than previously thought, even without any actions being taken. With more time, people can be evacuated. The NRC says improved computer models, coupled with up-to-date information about the plant, resulted in the rosier outlook.

"When you simplify, you always err towards the worst possible circumstance," Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said of the earlier studies. The latest work shows that "even in situations where everything is broken and you can't do anything else, these events take a long time to play out," he said. "Even when you get to releasing into environment, much less of it is released than actually thought."

Exelon Corp., the operator of the Peach Bottom plant, referred all detailed questions about its preparedness and the risk analysis back to the NRC. In a news release issued earlier this month, the company, which operates 10 nuclear power plants, said "all Exelon nuclear plants are able to safely shut down and keep the fuel cooled even without electricity from the grid."

Other people, looking at the crisis unfolding in Japan, aren't so sure.

In the worst-case scenario, the NRC's 1990 risk assessment predicted that a core melt at Peach Bottom could begin in one hour if electrical power on- and off-site were lost, the diesel generators the main back-up source of power for the pumps that keep the core cool with water failed to work and other mitigating steps weren't taken.

"It is not a question that those things are definitely effective in this kind of scenario," said Richard Denning, a professor of nuclear engineering at Ohio State University, referring to the steps NRC has taken to prevent incidents. Denning had done work as a contractor on severe accident analyses for the NRC since 1975. He retired from Battelle Memorial Institute in 1995. "They certainly could have made all the difference in this particular case," he said, referring to Japan. "That's assuming you have stored these things in a place that would not have been swept away by tsunami."

[sweetredwine]

On a more DANGEROUSLY SERIOUS note.............................

http://news.yahoo.co...clear_blackouts

"For instance, preliminary results of the latest analysis of the risks to the Peach Bottom plant show that any release caused by a blackout there would be far less rapid and would release less radiation than previously thought, even without any actions being taken. With more time, people can be evacuated. The NRC says improved computer models, coupled with up-to-date information about the plant, resulted in the rosier outlook."

But ... Should we believe "... the rosier (Peachbottom) outlook" ?

Remember, appearances can be deceiving ... http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/101044834/Hip_Butt_Pushup_Enhancing_Panty/showimage.html

[spidersandsnakes]

But ... Should we believe "... the rosier (Peachbottom) outlook" ?

Remember, appearances can be deceiving ... http://www.alibaba.c.../showimage.html

Proverbs NEVER lie......"where there is smoke, there is bound to be fire..."...and in this case, the SMOKE is TOO dangerous to play around with words like "rosier" or "conspiracy theory"....ehm???!:)

[spidersandsnakes]

OH THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME.......in the face of those who think the Japan event is all "conspiracy theory"........MORONS:)!!!!!

More radioactive water spills at Japan nuke plant

TOKYO – Workers have discovered new pools of radioactive water leaking from Japan's crippled nuclear complex that officials believe are behind soaring levels of radiation spreading to soil and seawater.

Crews also detected plutonium — a key ingredient in nuclear weapons — in the soil outside the complex, though officials insisted Monday the finding posed no threat to public health.

Plutonium is present in the fuel at the complex, which has been leaking radiation for more than two weeks, so experts had expected to find traces once crews began searching for evidence of it this week.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant was crippled March 11 when a tsunami spawned by a powerful earthquake slammed into Japan's northeastern coast. The huge wave destroyed the power systems needed to cool the nuclear fuel rods in the complex, 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

Since then, three of the complex's six reactors are believed to have partially melted down, and emergency crews have struggled with everything from malfunctioning pumps to dangerous spikes in radiation that have forced temporary evacuations.

Confusion at the plant has intensified fears that the nuclear crisis will continue for months or even years amid alarms over radiation making its way into produce, raw milk and even tap water as far away as Tokyo.

The troubles have eclipsed Pennsylvania's 1979 crisis at Three Mile Island, when a partial meltdown raised fears of widespread radiation release. But it is still well short of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which killed at least 31 people with radiation sickness, raised long-term cancer rates and spewed radiation across much of the northern hemisphere.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the complex, said plutonium was found in soil at five locations at the nuclear plant, but that only two samples appeared to be plutonium from the leaking reactors. The rest came from years of nuclear tests that left trace amounts of plutonium in many places around the world.

Plutonium is a heavy element that doesn't readily combine with other elements, so it is less likely to spread than some of the lighter, more volatile radioactive materials detected around the site, such as the radioactive forms of cesium and iodine.

"The relative toxicity of plutonium is much higher than that of iodine or cesium but the chance of people getting a dose of it is much lower," says Robert Henkin, professor emeritus of radiology at Loyola University's Stritch School of Medicine. "Plutonium just sits there and is a nasty actor."

The trouble comes if plutonium finds a way into the human body. The fear in Japan is that water containing plutonium at the station turns to steam and is breathed in, or that the contaminated water from the station migrates into drinking water.

When plutonium decays it emits what is known as an alpha particle, a relatively big particle that carries a lot of energy. When an alpha particle hits body tissue, it can damage the DNA of a cell and lead to a cancer-causing mutation.

Plutonium also breaks down very slowly, so it remains dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years.

"If you inhale it, it's there and it stays there forever," said Alan Lockwood, a professor of Neurology and Nuclear Medicine at the University at Buffalo and a member of the board of directors of Physicians for Social Responsibility, an advocacy group.

While parts of the Japanese plant have been reconnected to the power grid, the contaminated water — which has now been found in numerous places around the complex, including the basements of several buildings — must be pumped out before electricity can be restored to the cooling system.

That has left officials struggling with two sometimes-contradictory efforts: pumping in water to keep the fuel rods cool and pumping out — and then safely storing — contaminated water.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, called that balance "very delicate work."

He also said workers were still looking for safe ways to store the radioactive water. "We are exploring all means," he said.

Meanwhile, new readings showed ocean contamination had spread about a mile (1.6 kilometers) farther north of the nuclear site than before, but was still within the 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius of the evacuation zone. Radioactive iodine-131 was discovered offshore at a level 1,150 times higher than normal, Nishiyama told reporters.

Closer to the plant, radioactivity in seawater tested about 1,250 times higher than normal last week and climbed to 1,850 times normal over the weekend. Nishiyama said the increase was a concern, but also said the area is not a source of seafood and that the contamination posed no immediate threat to human health.

The buildup of radioactive water in the nuclear complex first became a problem last week, when it splashed over the boots of two workers, burning them and prompting a temporary suspension of work.

Then on Monday, Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials said workers had found more radioactive water in deep trenches used for pipes and electrical wiring outside three units.

The contaminated water has been emitting radiation exposures more than four times the amount the government considers safe for workers.

The five workers in the area at the time were not hurt, said TEPCO spokesman Takashi Kurita.

Exactly where the water is coming from remains unclear, though many suspect it is cooling water that has leaked from one of the disabled reactors.

It could take weeks to pump out the radioactive water, said Gary Was, a nuclear engineering professor at the University of Michigan.

"Battling the contamination so workers can work there is going to be an ongoing problem," he said.

Amid reports that people had been sneaking back into the mandatory evacuation zone around the nuclear complex, the chief government spokesman again urged residents to stay out. Yukio Edano said contaminants posed a "big" health risk in that area.

Gregory Jaczko, head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, arrived in Tokyo on Monday to meet with Japanese officials and discuss the situation.

"The unprecedented challenge before us remains serious, and our best experts remain fully engaged to help Japan," Jaczko was quoted as saying in a U.S. Embassy statement.

Early Monday, a strong earthquake shook the northeastern coast and prompted a brief tsunami alert. The quake was measured at magnitude 6.5, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. No damage or injuries were reported.

Scores of earthquakes have rattled the country over the past two weeks, adding to the sense of unease across Japan, where the final death toll is expected to top 18,000 people, with hundreds of thousands still homeless.

TEPCO officials said Sunday that radiation in leaking water in Unit 2 was 10 million times above normal — a report that sent employees fleeing. But the day ended with officials saying that figure had been miscalculated and the level was actually 100,000 times above normal, still very high but far better than the earlier results.

"This sort of mistake is not something that can be forgiven," Edano said sternly Monday.

___ Associated Press writers Jonathan Fahey in New York and Tomoko A. Hosaka, Mayumi Saito, Mari Yamaguchi and Jeff Donn in Tokyo contributed to this report.

[planted]

If you haven't you NEED to watch this...

Hope you are well, Steve...

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/witness-disaster-in-japan-6666/Overview

[Anjin-san]

Hi all,

If you haven't you NEED to watch this...

Hope you are well, Steve...

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/witness-disaster-in-japan-6666/Overview

Agreed,you OK,Mr Jones?

KB

[hecube]

I saw the thread title and at first, I thought "not again"...

[Anjin-san]

Hi all,

Good,I can only give moral support,....

KB

[spidersandsnakes]

Yep, the ancients were right after all........"BEWARE FIRE AND WATER!!"......and I add RADIOACTIVITY.....let's NOT forget it's only the start!!!:(

[planted]

Oh, I'm fine, more or less. I appreciate the concern.

[Cecil.]

Has anyone got any thoughts on the media coverage ....

[spidersandsnakes]

Has anyone got any thoughts on the media coverage ....

The "media" has a lot to answer for in terms of NON information or MISinformation on the whole damn nuke thing!!:)....ponder people ponder:)