Breaking:EU's Energy Commissioner: The Situation at Japanese reactor is "effectively out of control"

Reuters ^ | 11-16-01 | Reuters

[tcrlaf]

Reuter's Breaking Headline only at this time...

[tsowellfan]

Sadly there is a much bigger disaster going on in Japan right now for the people. You have elderly women in sub freezing temperatures hunting for Kerosene along with their entire missing families.

[Leep]

“Seems like it depends on who you believe.

This is a massive disaster on the nuke front

OR

This is not a big deal.

I don’t think I have ever heard so many “experts” with different opinions.”

Sounds like the Press has done its job.

[animal172]

Has Jimmy Carter been called in yet to oversee this disaster?

[americanophile]

Yes, it’s total news chaos - one minute this is equivalent to some cooling slag left on the foundry floor and the next minute it’s Chernobyl times four. Wildly irresponsible reporting going on. I think the Japanese prime minister said it best when he was quoted as declaring to TEPCO: “What the hell is going on?”

[Smogger]

3:25am
The “US nuclear chair” is being quoted by the AFP news agency as saying there is now “no water at the Fukushima reactor No.4”, and radiation levels are “extremely high”.

—Al Jazeera

[Fido969]

But there’s no clear evidence to suggest they were.

Hasn't TEPCO already said the containments were probably breached?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599205889800

[FReepaholic]

...these Japanese workers fighting the fight of their life in that enviornment. No matter the outcome of this...these guys are heros for the stamina and great courage against this...

Not only that but keep in mind that they probably live in the area and their homes and families were affected by the earthquake and possibly the tsunami.

Some of these workers may not have homes or families. They may not even know the status of their families. It's heartbreaking to think about that.

[swain_forkbeard]

“The problem is that the media appears to be using the word “containment” to describe the reactor vessel itself, not the containment vessel that is designed to hold in even a full meltdown. This leads to conflicting reports.”

Yes, inaccurate and inconsistent language is a barrier to communications. And also, there are levels of containment which can further obscure understanding.

I think at one of the reactors all levels have been breached. Probably at #4, where there has been a fire or two, an explosion which damaged the weather shell and also may have damaged the outermost container, and exposure of fuel rods to air in a storage pool when water levels dropped. Those rods were not inside the reactor vessel.

But who knows? I’m piecing this together.

[eleni121]

The media has fulfilled its worst nightmare.

Totally irrelevant and obsolete.

And they brought it on themselves.

[pabianice]

Speaking of Smith... when did CNN begin covering news better than Fox? What the hell has happened to Fox?

[servantboy777]

>>Whatever you meant to imply, I was talking about what your phraseology<<

Phraseology means “terminology / choice of words.

I did not use mushroom cloud, nor did I imply nuclear explosion nor vaporization of a good portion of Japan.

What I did imply was vapor and smoke emitted during a fire / molten metal due to fuel rod super heating.

Where did you get nuclear explosion from my comments?

By the way, I am not a nuclear physicist and I suspect you are not as well, that would make us both...arm chair scientist.

I do have a lil bit of knowledge from my time working at the South Texas Nuclear Project as part of an xray crew and a close relative of mine being employed by two separate nuke plants.

[sam_paine]

By "what would he know about it?" I meant what would he know about "the situation" more than the Japanese would, not the "it" being "the bear shlt." The title of the article is about his insight on "the situation being out of control" not the composition of the rods. Some guy in the EU doesn't know more than TEPCO about the composition of the rods TEPCO loaded into TEPCO's reactor....

[pabianice]

European Nuclear expert? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *WIPES EYES* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[skeeter]

IMO CNN always had a better capability to cover global events. Its their journalists' commentary that sucks.

But with guys like Shep & Geraldo in the field I'm not sure Fox has the edge there anymore, either.

[GonzoGOP]

“As long as the people have their bread, and their curcus’s... “

Have you looked at the price of bread lately? And who can afford live entertainment?

[randita]

Actually, I think Bush was unfairly blamed for the Katrina response. Bush was in there days before offering to assist and they basically told him “butt out” and Blanco and Nagin proceeded to stink the place up. If Bush could be blamed for anything, it would be that he should have known he was dealing with a bunch of incompetent fools down there and just barged in and taken over. Bush ended up getting blamed for the incompetence of Blanco and Nagin. If he had pushed them aside, he would have been called a bully and a racist. The DBM and Democrats were going to make sure that no matter what Bush did, he would get blamed for any screw ups that happened down there.

But a much stronger show of leadership is required re Japan than is being shown now by Obama. Japan is a world power. The likelihood is that the catastrophe there will end up costing the U.S. much more in dollars than Katrina. Japan is a world economic power. They are a major trading partner. Many U.S. businesses have a huge presence in Japan. And Obama takes in a few holes of golf, marks his brackets, and galavants off to Rio.

[darkside321]

European Nuclear expert? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *WIPES EYES* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

---

Sorry but whats so funny about that?
You do know that europeans have nuclear reactors too do you?
And since europe is the only continent that ever got massive nuclear showers (I took 3 when i was a little kid while living 1000 Km away from tchernobyl) prior to this possible Japanese meltdown, you don´t think this people know what they are talking about?

[DBeers]

There could be catastrophic events within the coming hours

LMAO!

What would these catastrophic events be that could happen? Something new or something already envisioned that is already mitigated to less than catastrophic by planning and actions already initiated.

0marxo's hope an change continues to be a catastrophic event --why not mention this?

[Churchillspirit]

When there is a major fire here in Southern California they bring in those huge Super Scooper planes from Canada.

Wonder why they can't use them to cool the reactors? The water is right there and they fly higher than helicopters.

[Churchillspirit]

I think Shep is doing a good job reporting from Japan.