http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7JvuUwp … re=related

"chernobyl on steroids"...??

IceCream wrote:

loooooool!!!

that ^^, and the sun article posted earlier are the best laughs i've had all week.

(i've gotta start reading the sun, i never realised it was so funny!!!)

...which link are you laughing at, exactly?

hereticalrants wrote:

...which link are you laughing at, exactly?

The one right above her post.  It's hilariously stupid.

The scary thing is, as he himself says, Arnold Gundersen was an expert witness after Thee Mile Island.  He seems like a massive idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about, so how the hell did that happen?  My guess, based on the silly website for his 'organization' that is really just him and his wife, is that he wants to promote non-nuclear alternative sources of energy, so he's playing this up.  If that's what's going on, and he KNOWS that he's being dishonest, he's pretty much a massive douchebag--rather than a massive idiot.

It would seem there having trouble spraying reactor three because of problems with the battery of the water supply vehicle.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/2011031 … 81000.html

I'm a little confused though since this story only appeared on the main NHK news site briefly and I can only see it through the link.

Edit
Oops, I found it under 社会, my bad

Last edited by dat5h (2011 March 19, 12:42 am)

Its my opinion that the crisis has been averted. There really hasn't been any new press conferences as far as I can tell, based on Asahi's articles. Additionally all the articles have recently just been about restoring power to the facility and the fire trucks spraying. In a recent article they said they had visual confirmation that there was water in the pool at #4 as well, #3 should only have a few hicups to get past but I don't expect much. The other reactors are in a stable, but in a "never-can-be-used-again" state.  #4 was really in the most worrisome state since it had lots of material in a pool, not contained. #3, while having plutonium in the fuel, was still encased in 2 layers of steel, so ya...

The radiation levels are only fluctuating a ton at the plants. The only way this situation could get worse is if there was another sudden massive earthquake in the ocean and a tsunami was caused forcing people to evacuate and leave the reactors unattended again. Honestly, I read the news in Japan and then look at what all I hear in the states and on the Wiki and the feeling I get between just makes no sense. The west and everyone else is still acting like there is some huge crisis but reading in Japan I just feel like the situation is fine. It is no longer like it was those first 2-3 days after the tsunami where I would come home from work/wake up and read the news and hear that "#X plant has exploded" "#x plant is overheating and rods might be melting" etc.
I wouldn't be entirely surprised though if they restore power and find the emergency cooling systems are completely inoperable due to the explosions and massive amount of heat. I am somewhat curious as to how they plan to get into the reactors if they can't bring radiation levels down, so they can repair stuff. Use the robots?

Regardless, I told a friend of mine "All these people fleeing the country will get back to their home country or where ever, just in time to hear the news that "Everything is back under control!" and then they'll have to fly back.

Last edited by vix86 (2011 March 19, 1:05 am)

'Prematurely'? Maybe. "How long to keep water on the fuel?" if it isn't disappearing now then I don't see the problem getting worse. Main thing is, crack or no crack, damaged containment or not. 1-3 are toast, they are not being used again, period. So it really doesn't matter what state the containment is in for the long term. The reason is because they pumped seawater in which will have corroded the entire system making it not worth their time to repair and use again. All they need do is lower the temperature to a point where they can remove the rods (assuming they even can, might have to just remove the entire assembly if it melted down). Additionally, I find it hard to believe anyone can say "Oh ya, it can STILL totally get a ton worse!" when they will have power to most of the plant today. Not only that they have diesel generators running at 5 and 6 again and cooling that so no problem there. This on top of god knows how many fire trucks out there now. The threat of a full reactor meltdown is gone for the foreseeable future, unless they screw something up badly.

The dog story made it to NPR News:

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/19/134679845 … s-humanity

Today I finally begun to calm down, as the situation becomes more stable and control over nuclear plant slowly, but surely returns to human hands.

bodhisamaya wrote:

Seamoby wrote:

The dog story made it to NPR News:

A Tale Of Two Dogs Is Testament To Japan's Humanity
Uggghh!!!! 

Japanese humans are not dogs!!!  The actual humanity Japanese people show during times of crisis is being by overshadowed by the pack leader instinctual behavior of dogs?  People, if you love animals, stop eating them, otherwise don't encourage hypocrites.

NPR wrote:

When I covered Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, it seemed that the commonest reason people who stayed through the storm gave for refusing to evacuate was, "I couldn't leave my pet."

I remember reading that too, and the first thing that came into my mind is, "Well, the dumbest  people in Louisiana seemed to be the ones who died".

My bad.  Here it is in all it's glory.  Ta-daaaa!

bodhisamaya wrote:

They are not animal lovers, just mostly people haters.

That's so bizzare, when you think about that they are people themselves and they depend on the human society.
Not to mention that other people are the animals who have the greatest similarity to themselves.

jettyke,
It is really strange.  Even recently I spent some time debating with the Kauai Humane society in Hawaii.  The woman who runs it has enormous influence in political decisions.   There are no homeless shelters in Kauai despite the hundreds of mentally challenged people who live on the beaches.  The animal shelter is located on one of the most beautiful parts of the island, fully equipped with exercise facilities and air conditioning (as if they were needed in Hawaii). Tax payers give $500,000 per year to it; especially disconcerting given there are only 60,000 residents on the island.  Dog bites are a huge problem and the Humane Society recently won a decision allowing unleashed dogs on bicycle/jogging trails despite the fact I have personally been bitten three times on one.

Last edited by bodhisamaya (2011 March 19, 9:14 am)

It's pretty crazy to see the amount of money spent on pets. One website has the amount of money spent on pets in America at 34 billions.

Last edited by Eikyu (2011 March 19, 9:22 am)

Science News has an interesting article about what scientists think has happended to cause the earthquake.

Also the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam has published the research results on the quake so far together with some informative animations and pictures.

Last edited by Biene (2011 March 19, 9:58 am)