Massive quake hits Japan 9.0 Magnitude

[Beric]

Japan quake: 'Explosion heard' at nuclear power plant

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12720219

An explosion has been heard from a Japanese nuclear power plant hit by Friday's devastating earthquake.

Reports said smoke was seen coming from the plant at Fukushima and several workers were injured.

Japanese officials fear a meltdown at one of the plant's reactors after radioactive material was detected outside it.

OMG.

Yes.=, that map is a worst-case scenario.

Video of explosion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg4uogOEUrU&feature=player_embedded

 

[awmazz]

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[rasmasyean]

What the hell? Why doesn't the wind blow it into China instead???

Anyways, that seems kinda extreme. That looks worse than a nuclear missle strike.

 

[Beric]

What the hell? Why doesn't the wind blow it into China instead???

Anyways, that seems kinda extreme. That looks worse than a nuclear missle strike.

Again, it's a worse-case scenario. Still, get something in the gulf stream, and it's going everywhere.

 

[puma1552]

Oh cr*p. The headline is 'huge explosion'.

I think it's clearly time to start making comparisons with Chernobyl and discussing how widespread the radiation damage is now potentially gong to be rather than praising how Japanese reactors are different to Soviet ones. That huge cloud of smoke is enough to tell anyone expert or not that this is already way beyond just getting backup cooling diesel generators operational again - we're witnessing a massive disaster genuine bona fide China Syndrome meltdown.

Why is this Chernobyl?

What are the similarities?

What are the differences?

What's your background?

Do you understand why Chernobyl is uninhabitable for several hundred years, while Hiroshima and Nagasaki are thriving, gorgeous cities?

Did you freak out at the "1000x" radiation levels too, like the rest of the western media did who didn't have the remotest clue that it was still magnitudes below the hazardous level? You certainly buy into the "Huge Explosion!!!" headlines, as evidenced by your post, so it's hard to take anything you say seriously.

It's a serious situation, but you are panicking a little too much, with next to zero information.

 

[Blue Velvet]

The main island of Japan, the complete land mass, has moved sideways by eight feet (about 2.5 metres). And the earth, the entire planet, has shifted on its axis by about four inches (10cm)... according to geophysicists reported over at CNN.

 

[bartelby]

The main island of Japan, the complete land mass, has moved sideways by eight feet (about 2.5 metres). And the earth, the entire planet, has shifted on its axis by about four inches (10cm)... according to geophysicists reported over at CNN.

That's insane!

 

[mac jones]

Hey, I've been hanging out on the forum for the iPad. But frankly i'm a little confused right now about what i just saw. From appearances (I mean appearances), the nuke plant in Japan BLEW UP, and they are lying about it if they say it's a minor issue. I don't want to believe this . You can see it with your own eyes, but i'm not sure exactly what i'm seeing. Certainly it isn't a small explosion.

Until I know what's really happening I'm officially, totally, freaked out......Any takers?

 

[awmazz]

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[mac jones]

It's true. You see the video, you have doubts. And if someone says "You didn't see what you just saw",

Its not a great comfort.

 

[sushi]

I think that the key is not to get ahead of ourselves.

IMHO, it's best to rely upon information provided from a variety of news sources and government sources and then decide for ourselves. It's too easy to jump the gun right now with regards to the nuclear plants.

Again, just my opinion.

 

[OllyW]

Nuclear experts are speculating that the explosion was caused by hydrogen gas released from water that's come into contact with the overheating fuel rods.

"If nuclear fuel rods overheat and then come into contact with water, this produces a large amount of highly-flammable hydrogen gas which can then ignite,"

BBC live update

 

[awmazz]

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[mac jones]

I think that the key is not to get ahead of ourselves.

IMHO, it's best to rely upon information provided from a variety of news sources and government sources and then decide for ourselves. It's too easy to jump the gun right now with regards to the nuclear plants.

Again, just my opinion.

Yes sound advice.

But the problem is, I read that there was a minor explosion, so I thought "Fine ok, no biggie". Then I see the video, and it looks like 9-11. So then, there's now a credibility problem. Fear sets in, and doubt.

You see the pattern.

 

[puma1552]

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Common sense would tell you the reactor itself didn't explode some 4 hours ago.

Don't you think if that had been the case the headlines would be everywhere? Considering it would trigger large government response and evacuations, it wouldn't exactly be easy to hide, and given how the media jumps at any bone any source throws them just to be first rather than accurate should show that it wasn't the reactor itself because all they are reporting is an unknown explosion. These plants aren't exactly simple, "Here's the gate, there's the reactor." They are very complex, large facilities with many many parts.

Something exploded at the complex facility, but it wasn't the reactor.

Not gonna bother replying to the rest at this point being I'm on a phone.

 

[arkitect]

Thanks Olly, I was wondering how hydrogen could explode, not exactly flammable really is it?

Eh?

 

[mac jones]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Common sense would tell you the reactor itself didn't explode some 4 hours ago.

Don't you think if that had been the case the headlines would be everywhere? Considering it would trigger large government response and evacuations, it wouldn't exactly be easy to hide, and given how the media jumps at any bone any source throws them just to be first rather than accurate should show that it wasn't the reactor itself because all they are reporting is an unknown explosion. These plants aren't exactly simple, "Here's the gate, there's the reactor." They are very complex, large facilities with many many parts.

Something exploded at the complex facility, but it wasn't the reactor.

Not gonna bother replying to the rest at this point being I'm on a phone.

You sure about this? I hope your right.

 

[skunk]

Presumably this is/was the selfsame containment building which was supposed to contain the pressurised radioactive steam which was vented from the reactor. The billowing cloud is described elsewhere as "vapour", i.e. "steam". Seems difficult to reconcile the picture with public statements about a "tiny" amount of radioactive material being released.

 

[OllyW]

Thanks Olly, I was wondering how hydrogen could exlode, not exactly flammable really is it?

You had said "it was just some hydrogen tanks which exploded" and mac jones seemed concerned that the whole reactor had blown up. I was just adding some updates to the thread which seemed to make more sense of the situation based on the limited information available.

Sorry if it wasn't up to scratch.

 

[awmazz]

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[mac jones]

You had said "it was just some hydrogen tanks which exploded" and mac jones seemed concerned that the whole reactor had blown up. I was just adding some updates to the thread which seemed to make more sense of the situation based on the limited information available.

Sorry if it wasn't up to scratch.

How do you know what is was?. I don't have a clue. If you really know post it. I'd LOVE to get this sorted out as i'm a bit worried now.

 

[puma1552]

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Not once have I said anything is safe. Not once have I said there is nothing to worry about; just the opposite--it's a serious situation and could get worse.

All I've said is we don't have enough information to make much of an assessment and to not panic.

With all due respect, somebody who doesn't even realize hydrogen is explosive isn't really in a position to tell someone holding two degrees in the field and speaking a good amount of the local language that he's de facto right and I'm de facto wrong.

 

[Peterkro]

I agree it's a bit early to be speculating.However as shown by investigations into Chernobyl and Seven Mile Island in these situations small errors in design and human mistakes can all add up to unknown territory.It looks like a hydrogen explosion,super heated water = hydrogen and oxygen + ignitor = big bang.The presence of Caesium indicates some core damage.I hope those in Japan get through this with the least amount of pain possible.

 

[mac jones]

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Not once have I said anything is safe. Not once have I said there is nothing to worry about; just the opposite--it's a serious situation and could get worse.

All I've said is we don't have enough information to make much of an assessment and to not panic.

With all due respect, somebody who doesn't even realize hydrogen is explosive isn't really in a position to tell someone holding two degrees in the field and speaking a good amount of the local language that he's de facto right and I'm de facto wrong.

Are they %100 up front, or are we going to have to wait for some potentially very bad news?

Certainly panic is not an option, ever. But I have little faith in government officials at the beginnings of crisis.

 

[puma1552]

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Also FTR the 60 km radius is old news on Japanese TV, and telling us they are detecting Cesium and outright telling that it may indicate a meltdown doesn't sound like covering things up to me.