Posted on 03/15/2011 8:13:35 AM PDT by SE Mom
Latest news from Japan:
From the BBC-
1456: Tepco says it may start pouring water from a helicopter over Fukushima Daiichi's reactor four in the next few days, to cool the spent-fuel pool.
1439: A 30km (18 mile) no-fly zone is in place around Fukushima, says the IAEA.
1436: The IAEA says Monday's blast at Fukushima may have affected the integrity of the containment vessel - there are fears of more serious radioactive leaks if happen.
1435: Following earlier reports, it appears there has been more than one strong aftershock in Japan - AP reports two tremors measuring over 6.0 within three minutes of each other.
Twitter-
-US Geological Survey counts 451 aftershocks since the initial earthquake struck Japan Friday. 238 of them registered magnitude 5.0 or more.
-Despite situations in Japan & Libya, spksmn Jay Carney says Pres Obama's 5-day trip to Brazil, Chile & El Salvador starting Fri night is on.
-FLASH: More U.S. military personnel in Japan testing positive for low-levels of radiation, relief missions to continue - Navy 18 minutes ago via web
Agreed re Dust.
Generally speaking, Australia's quarantine measures are among the most stringent in the world (I believe same goes for NZ). This is especially the case for certain goods (foodstuff, plants, animal products, etc..) that are considered "high risk". So, perhaps, it is a matter of prioritisation & managing the high risk ones first & foremost. Besides, the article is referring specifically to "Australia's food safety authority" & Australia imports very little foodstuff from Japan, as is - it is a small range.
I suspect other industries affected by imports from Japan to Australia such as Cars will follow.
Our NRC yesterday stated that they believed everything was good, the japs were handling the situation well and just the way that they would have handled it.
This morning they sent a team to do an appraisal and instantly did a 180, instituting the 50 mile exclusion zone and warning very loudly that there are "extremely high levels of radiation."
Very worrisome indeed.
I think we have to go with the assumption that 3/4 of the equipment will not operate due to damage from the earthquake, tsunami, or the explosions. Still, having a strong power source will be valuable to getting the equipment that does work running, and to powering any pumps, and such that have been or will be replaced.
I think that getting circulation to the storage pools in 5 and 6 will be essential to preventing the evaporation of whatever water is left there. And, getting some water into the pool in 4 is critical. I tend to believe that there is evidence of uncovering of some of the fuel stored there. As far as I know, 5 and 6 are still salvagable units. 4, maybe. 1 through 3 are definately not.
My feeling is that no country wants to be the one admitting to contaminating a portion of the world after a nuke failure. My feeling is also that the Japanese would rank very high on a list where the number one country was the one who failed to admit it.
I am Eastern Orthodox so I have a good grasp on the poisons of nationalism. The Japanese are pretty nationalistic.
I just watched the same information, and if I were in Japan, or members of my family I’d listen to the American advisory rather than the Japanese.
It sounds very serious, without being panic inducing.
Ah yes, see it now, pulled from the NYT (comment #1069):
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/world/asia/17nuclear.html?_r=2&hp
Thanks. But I am left a bit puzzled by the internal conflict between the NRC and the State Department. Should they not be in sync? And also between the NRC and the UK’s John Beddington. Shouldn’t they also be in sync?
What to do if the US State Department says one thing and the US NRC head says a different thing?
I read some time earlier somewhere that the Japanese recognize that it is not a good idea to overstate the emergency and it is not a good idea to understate the emergency. The reason why it is not a good idea to overstate the emergency given is that excess panic is a separate source of accidents.
It's about time someone from the family spoke to the people. Nearly a week later
Yeah, had been wondering about that.. when we had the recent massive floods in Queensland/Australia (some called it 'an inland tsunami"), of course it didn't have the nuclear component, but, for us in Australia, it was a very big deal & a huge task. The Queensland Premier, particularly, was very good at providing regular updates/briefings, as well as what many here considered sound leadership.
__________________________________________________________
So Japan "invites" United States Government experts into the situation for "technical help," and a member of this team then proceeds to appoint himself spokesman, to tell the "real truth" to the media, which "truth" the Japanese then proceed to deny.
Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?
Call me cynical, but what would a "community organizer" do differently?
Gregory Jaczko holds a PhD in particle physics from the University of Wisconsin (Madison). According to his Wikipedia page, he "sees the nuclear power industry critically."
Here's a little more about Dr. Jaczko:
Jaczko was a Congressional Science Fellow in the office of U.S. Representative Edward Markey, in Washington, D.C., on the basis of an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. He also worked as an adjunct professor for science and policy at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Later on, he advised the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on issues regarding nuclear power, and served as appropriations director for U.S. Senator Harry Reid and as Reid's science policy advisor
Those poor 180 people. They gotta be the walking dead. ;(
heh. There are some threads here on the stock market crashes.
I think that may explain some of the differing things being said. Just my two cents.
The remainder of the world is fortunate that the prevailing winds blow mostly into the Pacific from Japan.
I am not convinced that national shame was driving the Japanese to be secretive. I think of it (rightly or otherwise, and it may be otherwise) as a kind of feudal thing. Think of TEPCO as a fiefdom, MITI as another fiefdom, the Japanese regulatory agency as yet another fiefdom. All of them are competing for the title of being the most authoritative and deserving of respect. The bosses are, anyway. The workers in this model would be mostly afraid of doing something to offend their respective bosses. Their job is their life career, and if they get fired they and their family will be economically hurt (Japanese cost of living is expensive too). So a large part of their job is running around checking everything twice and then twice more. If they make a mistake, they get fired, they get shamed, and their boss gets shamed. Usually the bureaucratically correct answer is the job-security safest answer. And so on. Maybe.
Not to engage in ad hominem, but Gregory Jaczko is an admitted nuclear critic (he says so on his web page). He was Harry Reid's science advisor. Harry Reid is responsible for killing the Yucca Mountain spent fuel repository, and that is why used fuel is still stored at plant sites in this country today. So if there is an incident involving a storage pool in this country, Reid will be responsible for the consequences. But no one in the media or politics will have the guts or integrity to say so.
Japanese Old School would have the responsible parties commit ritual disembowling (seppuku) without being asked.
This is essentially what he's saying. And while it's not the best resource, CNN said that he did have some kind of team in the area of the reactor to have a look-see.
I hope you're right. I fear he's right.
The tops have been blown off those buildings. I think it is safe to assume that the US has a satellite parked overhead, and is peering in through roof with Hubble-esque resolution.
Mmm...
According to his Wikipedia page, he "sees the nuclear power industry critically."
Yikes. (Frankfurt School critical??)
Jaczko was a Congressional Science Fellow in the office of U.S. Representative Edward Markey, in Washington, D.C., on the basis of an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. He also worked as an adjunct professor for science and policy at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Not sure about Georgetown, but I had always thought of it as a place where people who want to be politicians and lawyers go to school. Not sure what their tech expertise and rep is in the nuclear industry. Generally, you want techies, not BSers at the controls and regulating (I would imagine).
Later on, he advised the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on issues regarding nuclear power, and served as appropriations director for U.S. Senator Harry Reid and as Reid's science policy advisor
Yikes yikes yikes.
OK, I think it was not a good idea for Obama to have left DC for South America at this time.
CNN (I know), reported that the U.S. made a turn around today, because we have our own people on the ground as of this morning.
Everyone can choose who to believe, but think if your family member were there. Then who would you choose to believe.
He, Gregory Jaczko, seems to have become a union organizer in grad school, got his PhD and went right to DC under various political-academic NGO fellowships, always working with “public policy” and never as a scientist. No private sector background. A Madison socialist policy wonk not a scientist.
If I got any of that wrong please correct. It was all of five minutes googling.
Boy has he f-ed up big time with his big mouth. The Japs now can not afford to trust us, and we do have some really important tech resources that could help them understand what’s going on in the reactor and fuel pits. Not friggin good.
The evil of Obama, the elite and academia continues.
Jacko works for the wacko Ed Markey, who is ANTI-NUCLEAR.
We are an extra-stupid bunch here in the US.
Let’s chuck nuclear. By all means. I’m going to go gobble a handful of potassium iodide, since my thyroid is the only possible risk to being irradiated.
It’s likely few trust him, even in the US. That is also not good.
The delusions of academic and elite Marxists kill many even when they don’t try directly to do so.
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