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8.9 Earthquake Hits Japan


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8.9 Earthquake Hits Japan
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drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2011-03-11, 02:35

Tune into the news.
Tsunami wiping out lots and lots of highly populated areas.
Video of a wall of water tearing through homes and washing cars off roads.
BIG disaster.
Around Sendai.

Tsunami warning for Hawaii.



More coming.



...

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
  quote
PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2011-03-11, 02:37

My post from the daily news thread:


Quote:
Originally Posted by PKIDelirium View Post
Yeah, this needs its own thread. Holy crap. Watching the news on CNN, they've got video from NHK and Reuters of the tsunami waves hitting the Sendai region. Totally wiping out everything in its path, fortunately the worst of it seems to have stopped at least in that area.

Not sure now long before it gets to the Tokyo area.
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2011-03-11, 02:38

BBC News Story

Video from a different BBC story.

3am warning for Hawaii.


...
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SpecMode
Wait what
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: El Dorado County, California
 
2011-03-11, 02:45

The base I was working at up until last year (Fleet Activities Yokosuka) is probably under a few feet of water right now - it's near the mouth of Tokyo Bay, which was expecting a tsunami of about 2 meters. Definitely glad I'm not still over there, though I certainly feel for my former co-workers.
  quote
Eugene
careful with axes
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2011-03-11, 02:48

Best live footage I've seen so far: http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/
  quote
Eugene
careful with axes
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2011-03-11, 02:51

80 miles off the coast of Sendai. My house got aesthetic cracks from Loma Prieta, which was a M6.9 50 miles away. This quake is 1000x more powerful...
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2011-03-11, 02:53

Holy shit.
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2011-03-11, 02:57

So portions of Tokyo are out of power?
I can't seem to pull up several Japanese western-oriented sites.
Here's one report saying that coastal California won't be affected.

...

Steve Jobs ate my cat's watermelon.
Captain Drew on Twitter
  quote
SpecMode
Wait what
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: El Dorado County, California
 
2011-03-11, 03:04

A tsunami watch just went out for Oregon, though.
  quote
drewprops
Space Pirate
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta
 
2011-03-11, 03:07

Also Hawaii.

Quote:
BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 2

NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
844 PM HST THU MAR 10 2011

TO – CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII
SUBJECT – TSUNAMI WATCH SUPPLEMENTA TSUNAMI WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME – 0746 PM HST 10 MAR 2011
COORDINATES – 38.2 NORTH 142.5 EAST
LOCATION – NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU JAPAN
MAGNITUDE – 8.8 MOMENT

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY
GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL PER
DART 21418 38.7N 148.7E 0619Z 1.08M / 3.5FT 06MIN
LAT – LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)
LON – LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)
TIME – TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)
AMPL – TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.
IT IS …NOT… CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.
VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).
PER – PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.
NOTE – DART MEASUREMENTS ARE FROM THE DEEP OCEAN AND THEY
ARE GENERALLY MUCH SMALLER THAN WOULD BE COASTAL
MEASUREMENTS AT SIMILAR LOCATIONS.

EVALUATION
BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A TSUNAMI MAY HAVE BEEN GENERATED BY THIS EARTHQUAKE THAT COULD BE DESTRUCTIVE ON COASTAL AREAS EVEN FAR FROM THE EPICENTER. AN INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY TO DETERMINE IF THERE IS A TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.

IF TSUNAMI WAVES IMPACT HAWAII THE ESTIMATED EARLIEST ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS
0259 AM HST FRI 11 MAR 2011
MESSAGES WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS WARRANT.
Time for bed.
Will check in later.


...
  quote
PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2011-03-11, 03:33

CNN video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/wor...pan.cnn?hpt=T1

Edit: Off to bed now myself. Will be interesting to see if Hawaii still exists when I wake up.

Last edited by PKIDelirium : 2011-03-11 at 03:44. Reason: Bed time.
  quote
SpecMode
Wait what
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: El Dorado County, California
 
2011-03-11, 03:50

Al Jazeera just said that the Japanese government is warning that another large quake, possibly as powerful as the 8.9 mainshock, is imminent. Can't imagine how much more damage that would cause.

EDIT: Also, there is now a tsunami warning in effect for the California and Oregon coasts.
  quote
Kickaha
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2011-03-11, 06:00

Looks like 1-5' surge expected on US West Coast, 3-5' from WA/OR border (the mouth of the Columbia River), to Mexico.

WA coast is evacuating as well.

Heard from my friends in HI, they live on the beach... but on the 9th floor, and are expecting to be able to ride it out. Bottom three floors of their building are evac'd though.
  quote
Chinney
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2011-03-11, 08:09

An evacuation has been ordered for areas around a nuclear plant affected by the quake.
  quote
Brave Ulysses
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
 
2011-03-11, 08:14

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chinney View Post
An evacuation has been ordered for areas around a nuclear plant affected by the quake.
I'm sure its just precautionary. The chance of leakage occurring is very very low and the plant has been shut down as deigned.
  quote
Ryan
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Promise Land of Trustafarians
 
2011-03-11, 08:15

I'm in Tokyo right now but I'm fine. I was in a fairly new building when the quake struck so for me it definitely didn't feel like an 8.9, I was shocked to hear that. I was actually having a beer at the time, at first I just thought I was drunk.

Other than being stuck on the opposite side of Tokyo from my hostel, I made it out with nothing more than sore feet from walking from Shibuya to Asakusa...

I hope everyone else is as lucky as I was.
  quote
ronmexico
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
 
2011-03-11, 14:01

It will be interesting to see how China handles the relief efforts.
  quote
thegeriatric
geri to my friends
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Heaven
 
2011-03-11, 14:10

Never under estimate mother nature.
My thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones.
  quote
Dorian Gray
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Paris, France
 
2011-03-11, 15:07

The people fleeing at top speed in their cars at 2:20 of this video really drive home the terror of the tsunami. Imagine having a split-second to decide: drive blindly or climb a building in the hope it stays upright? Damn. Make the wrong choice and you're dead. Make the best choice and you might still end up dead.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709850
  quote
Chinney
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2011-03-11, 15:07

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan View Post
I'm in Tokyo right now but I'm fine. I was in a fairly new building when the quake struck so for me it definitely didn't feel like an 8.9, I was shocked to hear that. I was actually having a beer at the time, at first I just thought I was drunk.

Other than being stuck on the opposite side of Tokyo from my hostel, I made it out with nothing more than sore feet from walking from Shibuya to Asakusa...

I hope everyone else is as lucky as I was.
Let us know how things are there. My understanding is that although Tokyo was pretty far from the epicentre, it has still been affected at least to the degree of paralyzing the transportation system.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
  quote
AWR
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: State of Flux
 
2011-03-11, 15:16

And I think one of those massive fires is in Chiba Prefecture, which neighbors Tokyo. Glad to hear you are well, Ryan.
  quote
PKIDelirium
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
 
2011-03-11, 18:51

TV news just said they're losing control of two nuclear reactors damaged by the quake, trying to get them cooled down before they overheat any more.

CNN's got this: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapc...ex.html?hpt=T1

Quote:
Tokyo (CNN) -- A mammoth earthquake and subsequent tsunami may have caused radioactive material to leak from an atomic power plant in northeast Japan, a major electric company said Saturday, according to a news agency report.
Citing the Tokyo Electric Power Co., Japan's Kyodo News Agency said that radioactive substances may have seeped out of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) north of Tokyo. Earlier, the agency had reported that authorities may purposefully release radioactive vapor to alleviate pressure at the power plant.
Radiation levels measured at a monitoring post near the plant's main gate are more than eight times above normal, Japan's nuclear safety agency said, according to Kyodo.
  quote
Chinney
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2011-03-11, 21:12

Here is a pretty thorough assessment of the situation, which indicates cause for some concern, and cause to be reassured. Things are out of control, in a sense, but even the worst case of realistic scenarios for this particular out of control situation does not include a Chernobyl-style meltdown.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1938199/

What strikes me about the story is how crude nuclear energy systems are in some ways - or at least the Japanese version of them.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
  quote
SpecMode
Wait what
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: El Dorado County, California
 
2011-03-11, 21:18

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chinney View Post
What strikes me about the story is how crude nuclear energy systems are in some ways - or at least the Japanese version of them.
How so? I mean, it's true that we haven't quite gotten to the point that we can just convert nuclear reactions directly to electricity or somesuch, but from what I can tell, their reactors are fundamentally the same as the BWRs we run here in the States.
  quote
Chinney
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Ottawa, ON
 
2011-03-11, 22:10

As you suggest, the way it converts the energy is conceptually crude, by using the nuclear reaction to create high-intensity heat to boil water. At this level it is really not more advanced than old-fashioned coal-fired plants.

But apparently, with nuclear energy you have the added problem that in an emergency where you have to shut down the reaction (and thank goodness that worked - we hope that it always does) the thing will keep super heating for quite some time, requiring also that your cooling system keeps working despite the emergency. I find this to be a crude conceptual design for a safety system, given what is at stake.

At the minimum in such a system, you would think that you would have fully-capable double or triple redundancy backup cooling systems, that are designed to withstand the very circumstances that may cause the emergency and are scrupulously maintained. That does not seem to have been the case here. They seem to have had a single backup system in the diesel generators for which questions are being asked about their readiness and robustness. The additional backup beyond that seems to have been batteries which do not seem to even have been designed be capable of fully doing the task required even when they operate properly.

When there's an eel in the lake that's as long as a snake that's a moray.
  quote
Maciej
M AH - ch ain saw
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2011-03-11, 22:15

The CNN video I saw says that the cooling system is running on the batteries right now but if they can't get the diesels back online the batteries are not capable of maintaining the system in the long run.

User formally known as Sh0eWax
  quote
SpecMode
Wait what
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: El Dorado County, California
 
2011-03-11, 22:35

Personally, I'm not much of a fan of the boiling-water design, since by design the entire plant ends up with low-level contamination during routine operation through neutron activation of stuff in the water because the same water is used both as coolant and as the steam that drives the turbines.

I much prefer the pressurized-water type of plant since it keeps the coolant and steam systems separate, so that any radioactivity in the coolant (from neutron activation or fuel damage) stays in the coolant system, and doesn't spread throughout the entire plant. Much cleaner that way, and it generally makes the cleanup process after this sort of incident much simpler.

As far as the backup systems in place to prevent this sort of situation...well, I'd imagine these plants have a similar setup to what plants in the U.S. and elsewhere use: multiple offsite power sources, emergency diesel generators, and (in this case) even batteries. The sheer size and reach of the tsunami, though, was what screwed them, since it got water into the diesels. With that and the lack of offsite power (which, in Japan, is generally pretty darned reliable), all that was left was battery backups, which is probably more than some plants over Stateside have.

Worst case here, they may end up with partial meltdowns in one or more reactors, possibly spreading significant contamination within the plant buildings (as well as any gases vented from the containment structures). Cleanup will be an absolute nightmare, and will likely take several years as it did after the Three Mile Island incident, which bears some similarities to this scenario.
  quote
Ryan
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Join Date: May 2004
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2011-03-12, 00:45

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chinney View Post
Let us know how things are there. My understanding is that although Tokyo was pretty far from the epicentre, it has still been affected at least to the degree of paralyzing the transportation system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AWR View Post
And I think one of those massive fires is in Chiba Prefecture, which neighbors Tokyo. Glad to hear you are well, Ryan.
Everything was shut down yesterday and a few lines look like they're still down. Store shelves are a little emptier than normal but every store I've been in has been restocking so it looks like that's temporary. I think I'm pretty safe in Tokyo, but on Monday I was planning on going to the Izu Peninsula on the Pacific coast, may have to abort that and just spend an extra day in Tokyo or go to Kyoto early.

My parents are urging me to come home as soon as I can, but that sounds overkill. Although apparently the state department told Americans to get out and my dad's employer is evacuating all their japanese personnel. :/
  quote
turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2011-03-12, 01:20

Seems like it might be in your best interest to head home or your next destination where ever that might be.
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Ryan
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2011-03-12, 01:25

Quote:
Originally Posted by turtle View Post
Seems like it might be in your best interest to head home or your next destination where ever that might be.
Narita was badly hit so I'm not sure I could get out if I wanted to. I think I'm going to finish out my trip minus the pacific coast. Tokyo is getting back to normal.
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