Massive 8.9 earthquake, tsunami hit Japan

[SHASH2K2]

Japan ruined: disasters cost $170 billion

Japan scrambled to avert a meltdown at a stricken nuclear reactor on Monday after a second hydrogen explosion rocked the facility, just days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 10,000 people. Roads and rail, power and ports have been crippled across much of Japan's north
east and estimates of the cost of the multiple disasters have leapt to as much as $170 billion. Analysts said that the economy could even tip back into recession. Japanese stocks closed down more than 6%, the biggest fall since the height of the global financial crisis in 2008.
Rescue workers combed the tsunami-battered region north of Tokyo for survivors and struggled to care for millions of people without power and water in what Prime Minister Naoto Kan has dubbed his country's worst crisis since World War Two.
Officials say at least 10,000 people were likely killed in the 8.9-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that followed it. Kyodo news agency reported that 2,000 bodies had been found on Monday in two coastal towns alone.
"It's a scene from hell, absolutely nightmarish," said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from the town of Otsuchi.
"The situation here is just beyond belief, almost everything has been flattened. The government is saying that 9,500 people, more than half of the population could have died and I do fear the worst."
Crucially, officials said the thick walls around the radioactive cores of the damaged reactors at the nuclear power plant appeared to be intact after the hydrogen blast, the second there since Saturday.
The big fear is of a major radiation leak from the complex in Fukushima, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, where engineers have been battling since the weekend to prevent a meltdown in three reactors.
The core container of the No 3 reactor was intact after the explosion, the government said, but it warned those still in the 20-km (13-mile) evacuation zone to stay indoors. The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) , said 11 people had been injured in the blast.
Kyodo said that 80,000 people had been evacuated from the zone, joining more than 450,000 other evacuees from quake and tsunami-hit areas in the northeast.
"Everything I've seen says that the containment structure is operating as it's designed to operate. It's keeping the radiation in and it's holding everything in, which is the good news," said Murray Jennex, of San Diego State University.
"This is nothing like a Chernobyl ... At Chernobyl (in Ukraine in 1986) you had no containment structure -- when it blew, it blew everything straight out into the atmosphere."
Officials said that on Sunday that three nuclear reactors in Fukushima were at risk of overheating, raising fears of an uncontrolled radiation leak.
Engineers worked desperately to cool the fuel rods. If they fail, the containers that house the core could melt, or even explode, releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere.
Nuclear experts said that it was probably the first time in the industry's 57-year history that sea water has been used in this way, a sign of how close Japan may be to a major accident.
"Injection of sea water into a core is an extreme measure," Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "This is not according to the book."
The nuclear accident, the worst since Chernobyl, sparked criticism that authorities were ill-prepared and the threat that could pose to the country's nuclear power industry.
A Japanese official said before the blast that 22 people were confirmed to have suffered radiation contamination and up to 190 may have been exposed. Workers in protective clothing used hand-held scanners to check people arriving at evacuation centres.
US warships and planes helping with relief efforts moved away from the coast temporarily because of low-level radiation. The US Seventh Fleet described the move as precautionary.
South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines said that they would test Japanese food imports for radiation.
No power, no water
Almost 2 million households were without power in the north, the government said. There were about 1.4 million without running water. Tens of thousands of people are missing.
The town of Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture was obliterated.
"After my long career in the Red Cross where I have seen many disasters and catastrophes, this is the worst I have ever seen. Otsuchi reminds me of Osaka and Tokyo after the Second World War when everything was destroyed and flattened," Japan Red Cross President Tadateru Konoe told Reuters during a visit to the coastal town.
Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday's wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.
"When the tsunami struck, I was trying to evacuate people. I looked back, and then it was like the computer graphics scene I've seen from the movie Armageddon. I thought it was a dream . it was really like the end of the world," said Tsutomu Sato, 46, in Rikuzantakata, a town on the northeast coast.
Enormous economic costs
Estimates of the economic impact are only now starting to emerge.
Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist for Japan at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients that the economic loss will likely be around 14-15 trillion yen ($171-183 billion) just to the region hit by the quake and tsunami.
Even that would put it above the commonly accepted cost of the 1995 Kobe quake which killed 6,000 people.
The earthquake has forced many firms to suspend production and shares in some of Japan's biggest companies tumbled on Monday, with Toyota Corp dropping almost 8 percent . Shares in Australian-listed uranium miners also dived.
"When we talk about natural disasters, we tend to see an initial sharp drop in production ... then you tend to have a V-shaped rebound. But initially everyone underestimates the damage," said Michala Marcussen, head of global economics at Societe Generale.
Risk modelling company AIR Worldwide said insured losses from the earthquake could reach nearly $35 billion.
Global companies from semiconductor makers to shipbuilders faced disruptions to operations after the quake and tsunami destroyed vital infrastructure, damaged ports and knocked out factories supplying everything from high-tech components to steel.
The Bank of Japan offered a combined 15 trillion yen ($183 billion) to the banking system earlier in the day to soothe market jitters.
Finance minister Yoshihiko Noda said authorities were closely watching the yen after the currency initially rallied on expectations of repatriations by insurers and others. The currency later reversed course in volatile trading.
The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century. It surpassed the Great Kanto quake of September 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.




​

 

[Minghegy]

India offers naval ships, more aid to Japan

India said on Monday it was ready to send rescue teams and more aid to disaster struck Japan after the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. "We are in touch with the government of Japan to ascertain the kind of assistance they need," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Parliament, adding a shipment of 25,000 blankets was being rushed for homeless survivors.
"We are ready to send search and rescue teams and relief material," Singh said. "We stand ready to help in the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction phase and our navy is on standby to send its ships to Japan as part of such an exercise."

Naval ships can carry huge amounts of relief material and heavy lifting equipment.

"We will spare no effort in assisting the Japanese authorities in dealing with the aftermath of this disaster," Singh said.

He said there had been no reports of casualties among the 25,000 Indians in Japan.

The death toll from Friday's two disasters is certain to exceed 10,000 in one Japanese prefecture alone, its police chief has warned.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-offers-naval-ships-more-aid-to-Japan/Article1-673401.aspx

 

[Tolaha]

From what I recall, other than the Scandivanian countries, Japan has been in the forefront of helping countries all over the world providing soft loans for humanitarian needs. This is time when India needs to do its bit! Even a rich country like Japan cannot find it easy to handle a disaster of this scale. I hope India is quick in extending all possible assistance... warm clothing, tents, medicine, water pouchs...

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

The Japanese rejected the help when INDIA offered. But now they are accepting it.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

India should send a team of Doctors to help out and learn how radiation exposure is handled elsewhere.

 

[SHASH2K2]

In tragedy, Japan impresses the world​

Despite the horrific scenes of destruction, Japan may emerge from its quake-tsunami disaster with a stronger international brand-name as the nation's resilience wins wide praise. Television stations around the world have broadcast the footage of the seismic waves as they razed homes and carried away


cars as if they were toys, stranding dazed survivors on the brutalized landscape.
But coverage has also shown another side -- Japanese showing calm as they search for loved ones or wait for basic necessities. There is not a hint of looting or violence, even as residents line up at half-empty stores.

Entries on the English-language blogosphere speak of the Japanese as "stoic" and wonder the reaction in Western countries would be to a disaster of similar magnitude.

Harvard University professor Joseph Nye said that the disaster may turn out to benefit Japan's "soft power" -- a term he coined to describe how nations achieve their goals by appearing more attractive to others.

"Though the tragedy is immense, this sad event shows some of the very attractive features of Japan, and thus may help their soft power," Nye told AFP in an email exchange.

"In addition to the sympathy it will engender, it shows a stable, well-mannered society that was as prepared for such a disaster as any modern country could be, and which is responding in a calm and orderly way," he said.

Officially pacifist Japan has historically relied on aid as a key tool of foreign policy, but it is expected to reconsider at least some of the spending as it contends with a hefty reconstruction bill.

Even though Japan is one of the world's wealthiest countries, Americans along have donated more than $22 million since Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake, according to a tally compiled from aid groups.

While nearly all nations enjoy sympathy at a human level when they experience tragedy, countries' reputations rarely benefit as a result.

Pakistan received aid from the United States and other countries last year when it was submerged by major floods. But funding came slowly from individuals overseas with relief groups pointing to Pakistan's image problems.

China and Haiti also faced criticism over government handling of earthquakes in 2008 and last year.

Some experts believed the earthquake could change the narrative about Japan to one of rebirth after years in which the country was identified with feeble economic growth, an aging population and revolving-door governments.

"The question was whether Japan was going to be able to deal with what's necessary, to innovate and revive its economy," said Nicholas Szechenyi, deputy director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"It's way too early to make any predictions, but I think so far, viewed from afar, it seems like the Japanese people are demonstrating resilience at a time of crisis. I think that could say a lot about Japan in the days and weeks ahead," he said.

Japan, however, has come under scrutiny for the safety of its nuclear industry after explosions rocked overheating reactors at the Fukushima plant.

Critics of nuclear power have pointed to the crisis as a reason to freeze moves for nuclear power, while lukewarm supporters of atomic energy in the United States have now called for a safety review.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel put off a plan to postpone the date when Europe's largest economy abandons nuclear power.

However, in the United States, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the number two Republican in the chamber and advocate of nuclear energy, spoke of being "very impressed" with earthquake preparations by Japan.

"It may well turn out here that the Japanese did a phenomenal job of avoiding a catastrophe," Kyl told reporters.

Leaving aside the nuclear issue, newspapers saluted the Japanese response.

Canada's National Post said that Japan's foresight saved "untold tens of thousands of lives."

"Unlike in Haiti (2010), Pakistan (2005) or Sichuan (2008), the rolls of the dead were not needlessly extended by acres of ramshackle tenements that collapsed immediately upon the heads of their occupants," it said.

The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial: "After a once-in-300-years earthquake, the Japanese have been keeping cool amid the chaos, organizing an enormous relief and rescue operation, and generally earning the world's admiration."

 

[SHASH2K2]

Japan on brink of N-Catastrophe as 3rd reactor explodes in 3 days​

TOKYO: A small crew of technicians braved radiation and fire through the day on Tuesday as they fought to prevent three nuclear reactors in northeastern Japan from melting down and stop storage ponds loaded with spent uranium fuel pods from bursting into flames.

Tokyo Electric Power Company officials announced on Tuesday evening that they would consider using helicopters in an attempt to douse with cold water a boiling rooftop storage pond for spent uranium fuel rods.

The rods are still radioactive and potentially as hot and dangerous as the fuel rods inside the reactors if not kept submerged in water.

"The only ideas we have right now are using a helicopter to spray water from above, or inject water from below," a power company official said.

"We believe action must be taken by tomorrow or the day after."Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned in a TV address Tuesday of rising radiation. "There is a risk of high radiation near the plant and citizens in 30-km radius should stay indoors."

Hydrogen gas bubbling up from chemical reactions set off by the hot fuel rods produced a powerful explosion on Tuesday that blew a 26-foot hole in the side of reactor No. 4 at the Fukushima Daiichi N-plant. A fire there may have been caused by machine oil in a nearby facility, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors said.

Concern remained high about the storage ponds at that reactor and at reactors 5 and 6. The reactors at the plant, near Tokyo, were not operating on Friday when an offshore 9.0 earthquake shook the site. A tsunami with waves up to 30 feet high rolled into the northeast coastline minutes later, swamping the plant.

 

[swag5]

Japan: how the nuclear plant crisis happened??

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/article1537456.ece?service=mobile
The crisis at the three Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power stations came not from the buildings collapsing after the March 11 earthquake of magnitude 9 and the tsunami that followed the quake, but from a different source — power failure.
The Fukushima nuclear reactor 1 went critical on March 1971 and is 460 MW reactor. Unite-2 and Unit-3 are 784 MW each and went critical in July 1974 and March 1976 respectively.
All the three are Boiling Water Reactors (BWR) and use demineralised water fo cooling the nuclear fuel. The fuel in the form of pellets is filled inside a metal rod called cladding. The cladding is made of zirconium alloy, and it completely seals the fuel. Fuel pins in the form bundles are kept in the reactor core. Several hundred fuel pins that are assembled in the core starts the chain reaction through fission process and heat is generated. The fuel bundles have gaps through which the coolant flows. The coolant never comes in direct contact with the fuel as it is kept sealed inside the zirconium alloy cladding.
The coolant changes into steam as it cools the hot fuel. It is this steam that generates electricity by driving the turbines. All the heat that is produced by nuclear fission is not used for producing electricity.
The efficiency of power plant, including nuclear, is not 100 percent. In the case of nuclear power plant the efficiency is 30-35 per cent. "About 3 MW thermal energy is required to produce 1 MW of electrical energy. Hence for the 460 MW Unit-1, 1,380 MW thermal energy is produced," said Dr. K.S. Parthasarathy, Former Secretary, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Mumbai.
"This heat has to be removed continuously." In the case of Fukushima units, demineralised water is used as a coolant. Uranium-235 is used as fuel in Unit-1 and Unit-2 and Plutonium-239 is used as fuel in Unit-3. Since very high amount of heat is generated, the flow of the coolant should never be disrupted. But on March 11, pumping of the coolant failed as even the diesel generator failed after an hour's operation. Though the power producing fission process was stopped by using control rods that absorb the neutrons, the fuel contains radioactive elements including radionuclides like iodine, and caesium. These elements are produced during the uranium fission process.
"These radionuclides decay at different timescales, and they continue to produce heat during the decay period," Dr. Parthasarathy said.
The heat produced by radioactive decay of the fission products is called "decay heat." "Just prior to shut down of the reactor the decay heat is 7 per cent. It reduces exponentially, about 2 per cent in the first hour. After one day, the decay heat is 1 per cent. Then it reduces very slowly," he said. While the uranium fission process can be stopped and heat generationcan be halted, there is no way of stopping the radioactive decay of the fission products. Hence the original heat as well as the heat produced continuously by the fission products, including iodine, and caesium, has to be removed even after the uranium fission process has been stopped. Inability to remove this heat led to a rise in coolant temperature. According the Nature journal, when temperature reached around 1,000degree C, the zirconium alloy that encases the fuel (cladding) probablybegan to melt or split apart. "In the process it reacted with the steam and created hydrogen gas, which is highly volatile," Nature notes. Though the pressure created by hydrogen gas was reduced by controlled release, the massive build-up of hydrogen led to the explosion that blew the roof of the fuel hall in Unit-1 [and subsequently Unit-3]. But the real danger arises from fuel melting. This would happen following the rupture of the zirconium casing. "If the heat is not removed, the zirconium cladding along with the fuel would melt and become liquid," he explained. Melted fuel is called "corium." Since melted fuel is at a very high temperature it can even "burn through the concrete containment vessel." According to Nature , if enough melted fuel gathers outside the fuel assembly it can "restart the power-producing reactions, and in a completely uncontrolled way." What may result is a "full-scale nuclear meltdown." Pumping of sea-water is one way to reduce the heat and avoid such catastrophic consequences. The use of boronic acid, which is an excellent neutron absorber, would reduce the chances of nuclear reactions restarting even if the fuel is found loose inside the reactor core. Both these measures have been resorted to in Unit-1 and Unit-3. While the use of sea-water can prevent fuel melt, it makes the reactorcore completely useless as it results in corrosion.

 

[LETHALFORCE]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...have-safer-design-nsa/articleshow/7723990.cms


Indian N-plants have safer design: NSA


NEW DELHI: As radiation leaks in tsunami-hit Japan spawn concerns over the safety of nuclear reactors in India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday met with the heads of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) to review the design and safety features of atomic power plants in the country.

The AEC and AERB told Singh that the kind of radiation scare facing Japan was "most unlikely" here, as the design of Indian nuclear plants were not similar and spent fuel was stored differently.

According to PMO sources, AEC and AERB chiefs briefed the prime minister about the technical safety systems in place in existing power plants in India.

"What (AEC and department of atomic energy) they tell us is that here the designs are different, the storage of spent fuel is different," National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon told mediapersons during an interaction at the Indian Women's Press Corps .

He added DAE officials were monitoring the events in Japan and as they learn more, they would continue the review and come up with conclusive answers to strengthen India's nuclear safety.

The prime minister had earlier this week assured Parliament that Indian nuclear power plants would undertake an immediate technical review of all safety systems to ensure that they are able to withstand large natural disasters.

India has 20 nuclear power reactors, out of which only two at Tarapur are boiling water reactors of the type at the Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, where three of its six reactors were hit by explosions and a fourth caught fire after the tsunami led to power failure and damage of generators that closed the plant cooling system.

After the explosions took place, there have been apprehensions also about the integrity of the stored spent fuel rods damaged by fire.

Indian officials said there was not much worry of a similar situation arising in India, given the different designs of its nuclear reactors and dissimilar storage of spent fuel. Not only are most nuclear reactors here not boiling water reactors but also the boiling water reactor plants like Tarapur have passive cooling features built in, given the erratic power supply situation of the country.

A close monitoring of the events in Japan has found that the blasts at the Fukushima Daiichi plant happened after hydrogen and steam were separated and chemically reacted with the metal. With the metal oxidised, hydrogen was released as part of the chemical reaction, causing explosions. Some fuel elements lost integrity and released radioactive products.

None of the nuclear reactors in India fall in Zone 5, the most dangerous level of seismic activity. Barring Narora, which is in seismic Zone 4 and therefore has much higher safety standards, most reactors are in Zone 2.

Jaitapur, the site of a proposed nuclear power plant in India, is in Zone 3, and not prone to any major seismic activity. Japan virtually sits on the Sumatran fault, making it highly prone to powerful quakes. The epicentre of the quake in Japan was barely 130 km away from the affected areas.

 

[sesha_maruthi27]

Now the fourth reactor is also under seige. RUSSIA is already experiencing the heat of the radiation coming from FUKUSHIMA.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Japan ignored IAEA warning on quake risk to reactors: WikiLeaks​

The Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster could have been averted had Japan heeded to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warning about two years ago, WikiLeaks has revealed.

The website cited a December 2008 US diplomatic cable which quotes an IAEA expert who had expressed concerns that the Japanese reactors were only designed to withstand magnitude 7.0 earthquakes on the Richter scale.

The wire states that the IAEA official told a meeting of the G8's Nuclear Safety and Security Group in Tokyo in 2008 that Japan's safety guidelines were outdated. Japan, however, ignored the warning.

A previous cable sent in March 2006 showed that the Japanese government had opposed a court order to close a plant over doubts about its ability to withstand an earthquake. Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency had then insisted that the reactor was safe.

 

[Nonynon]

I heard something on the news about how because of the lack of nuclear energy Japan is having right now they will need to import supplies worth of 500$ million every day. This alone would probably make a huge impact on the Japan on the long term.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Greater Danger Lies in Spent Fuel Than in Reactors​

Years of procrastination in deciding on long-term disposal of highly radioactive fuel rods from nuclear reactors are now coming back to haunt Japanese authorities as they try to control fires and explosions at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Some countries have tried to limit the number of spent fuel rods that accumulate at nuclear power plants: Germany stores them in costly casks, for example, while China sends them to a desert storage compound in the western province of Gansu. But Japan, like the United States, has kept ever-larger numbers of spent fuel rods in temporary storage pools at the power plants, where they can be guarded with the same security provided for the plants.

Figures provided by Tokyo Electric Power on Thursday show that most of the dangerous uranium at the power plant is actually in the spent fuel rods, not the reactor cores themselves.

The electric utility said that a total of 11,125 spent fuel rod assemblies were stored at the site. That is about four times as much radioactive material as in the reactor cores combined.

Now those temporary pools are proving the power plant's Achilles' heel, with the water in the pools either boiling away or leaking out of their containments, and efforts to add more water having gone awry. While spent fuel rods generate significantly less heat than newer ones do, there are strong indications that some fuel rods have begun to melt and release extremely high levels of radiation. Japanese workers struggled on Thursday to add more water to the storage pool at Reactor No. 3.

Helicopters dropped water, only to have it scattered by strong breezes. Water cannons mounted on police trucks — equipment designed to disperse rioters — were then deployed to spray water on the pools. It is unclear if that effort worked.

Richard T. Lahey Jr., a retired nuclear engineer who oversaw General Electric's safety research in the early 1970s for the kind of nuclear reactors used in Fukushima, said that the zirconium cladding on the fuel rods could burst into flames if exposed to air for hours when a storage pool lost its water.

Zirconium, once ignited, burns extremely hot and is difficult to extinguish, added Mr. Lahey, who helped write a classified report for the United States government several years ago on the vulnerabilities of storage pools at American nuclear reactors.

Very high levels of radiation above the storage pools suggest that the water has drained in the 39-foot-deep pools to the point that the 13-foot-high fuel rod assemblies have been exposed to air for hours and are starting to melt, said Robert Albrecht, a longtime nuclear engineer who worked as a consultant to the Japanese nuclear reactor manufacturing industry in the 1980s. Under normal conditions, the rods are kept covered with 26 feet of water that is circulated to prevent it from growing too warm.

Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, made the startling assertion on Wednesday that there was little or no water left in another storage pool, the one on top of Reactor No. 4, and expressed grave concern about the radiation that would be released as a result.

The 1,479 spent fuel rod assemblies there include 548 that were removed from the reactor only in November and December to prepare the reactor for maintenance, and these may be emitting more heat than the older assemblies in other storage pools.

Even without recirculating water, it should take many days for the water in a storage pool to evaporate, nuclear engineers said. So the rapid evaporation and even boiling of water in the storage pools now is a mystery, raising the question of whether the pools may also be leaking.

Michael Friedlander, a former senior nuclear power plant operator who worked 13 years at three American reactors, said that storage pools typically had a liner of stainless steel three-eighths of an inch thick, and that they rested on reinforced concrete bases. So even if the liner ruptured, "unless the concrete was torn apart, there's no place for the water to go," he said.Mr. Lahey said that much of the water may have sloshed out during the earthquake. Much smaller earthquakes in California have produced heavy water losses from sloshing at storage pools there, partly because the pools are located high in reactor buildings.
"It's like being at the top of a flagpole, and once you start ground motion, you can easily slosh it," he said.

When the water in a storage pool disappears, the fuel rods' uranium continues to heat the rods' zirconium cladding. This causes the zirconium to oxidize, or rust, and even catch fire. The spent fuel rods have little radioactive iodine, which has a half-life of eight days and has mostly disappeared through radioactive decay once fission stopped when the rods left the reactor cores. But the spent fuel rods are still loaded with cesium and strontium that can start to escape if the fuel rods burn.

One factor that might determine how serious the situation becomes is whether the uranium oxide pellets in the rods stay vertical even if the cladding burns off. This is possible because pellets sometimes become fused together while in the reactor. If the pellets stay standing up, then even with the water and zirconium gone, nuclear fission will not take place, Mr. Albrecht said.

But Tokyo Electric said this week that there was a chance of "recriticality" in the storage pools — that is, the uranium in the fuel rods could resume the fission that previously took place inside the reactor, spewing out radioactive byproducts.

Mr. Albrecht said this was very unlikely, but could happen if the stacks of pellets slumped over and became jumbled together on the floor of the storage pool.

Plant workers would then need to add water with lots of boron because the boron absorbs neutrons and interrupts nuclear chain reactions.

If a lot of fission occurs, which may happen only in an extreme case, the uranium would melt through anything underneath it. If it encounters water as it descends, a steam explosion could then scatter the molten uranium.

At Daiichi, each assembly has either 64 large fuel rods or 81 slightly smaller fuel rods. A typical fuel rod assembly has roughly 380 pounds of uranium.

One big worry for Japanese officials is that Reactor No. 3, the main target of the helicopters and water cannons on Thursday, uses a new and different fuel. It uses mixed oxides, or mox, which contains a mixture of uranium and plutonium, and can produce a more dangerous radioactive plume if scattered by fire or explosions. According to Tokyo Electric, 32 of the 514 fuel rod assemblies in the storage pond at Reactor No. 3 contain mox.

Japan had hoped to solve the spent fuel buildup with a large-scale plan to recycle the rods into fuel that would go back into its nuclear program. But even before Friday's quake, that plan had hit setbacks.

Central to Japan's plans is a $28 billion reprocessing facility in Rokkasho village, north of the quake zone, which would extract uranium and plutonium from the rods for use in making mox fuel. After countless construction delays, test runs began in 2006, and the plant's operator, Japan Nuclear Fuel, said operations would begin in 2010. But in late 2010, its opening was delayed by two years.

To close the nuclear fuel recycling process, Japan also built the Monju, a fast breeder reactor, which started running in full in 1994. But a year later, a fire caused by a sodium leak shut down the plant.

Despite revelations that the operator, the quasi-governmental Japan Atomic Energy Agency, had covered up the seriousness of the accident, Monju again started operating at a reduced capacity.

Another nuclear reprocessing facility in Tokaimura has been shut down since 1999, when an accident at an experimental fast breeder showered hundreds in the vicinity with radiation, and two workers were killed.

Many of these facilities were hit by Friday's earthquake. A spent fuel pool at Rokkasho spilled over, and power at the plant was lost, triggering backup generators, Japan Nuclear Fuel said.

According to the Citizens Nuclear Information Center, an anti-nuclear group, about 3,000 tons of fuel are stored at Rokkasho. But the plant, about 180 feet above sea level, escaped the tsunami. Grid power was restored on Monday, the company said.

 

[Minghegy]

Russia ready to provide jobs for Japanese in Far East - Medvedev

18:00 18/03/2011
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110318/163080689.html

Russia is ready to provide employment in Siberia and Russia's Far East for Japanese left homeless by last week's earthquake and tsunami, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday.
A 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami devastated northeastern Japan last Friday, leaving some 6,405 dead and 10,259 missing, according to most recent updates.
"We should consider using part of the labor potential of our neighbor, especially in sparsely populated areas of Siberia and the Far East," Medvedev said.
So far, 165 Russian specialists are involved in rescue efforts in Japan. Medvedev said Russia was ready to send more aid and accommodate victims in Russian sanatoriums.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday that Russia was ready to help Japan extinguish fires at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, were a nuclear meltdown is feared following a series of blasts.

 

[Minghegy]

Russia is nice, they have plenty lands and resources, some Japanese permanently move to there is a good help for Japanese.

 

[redragon]

Russia is nice, they have plenty lands and resources, some Japanese permanently move to there is a good help for Japanese.

KICKOK won't agree with you, he would like to see Japanese to move to China,

 

[Minghegy]

KICKOK won't agree with you, he would like to see Japanese to move to China,

Leave he alone, he only has a smiling face, nothing more.

If millions Japanese move to Far East, it's good for both of China and Japan and maybe the Korea in long-term, the complex problems among the CJK will be solved in the best way, the very true and very real "大东亚共荣" will be very realistic.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Japan continues nuclear struggle, fixes key power cable


TOKYO: Exhausted engineers attached a power cable to the outside of Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plant on Saturday in a desperate attempt to get water pumps going that would cool down overheated fuel rods and prevent the deadly spread of radiation.

Hopes were dashed of miracle survivors when it turned out that a story was wrong that a young man had being pulled alive from the rubble eight days after the quake and tsunami ripped through northeast Japan, triggering the nuclear crisis.


(Read: Japan mulls Chernobyl-like burial)

It said he had been in an evacuation centre and had just returned to his ruined home, where he lay down in a blanket.

Beleaguered Prime Minister Naoto Kan sounded out the opposition, which only hours before the quake struck had been trying to oust him from office, about establishing a government of national unity to deal with a crisis that has shattered Japan and sent a shock through global financial markets, with major economies joining forces to calm the Japanese yen.

It has also stirred unhappy memories of Japan's past nuclear nightmare -- the US atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Japan is the only country to have been hit by an atomic bomb.

Further cabling was under way before an attempt to restart water pumps needed to cool overheated nuclear fuel rods at the six-reactor Fukushima plant in northeastern Japan, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

Officials expect to have power from outside drawn to No. 2 reactor first. Then they will test the pump and systems to see if they can be started.

Working inside a 20 km (12 miles) evacuation zone at Fukushima, nearly 300 engineers got a second diesel generator attached to No. 6 working just after 4am, the nuclear safety agency said. They then used that power to restart cooling pumps on No. 5. Reactor No. 6 is drawing power from a second diesel generator.

"TEPCO has connected the external transmission line with the receiving point of the plant and confirmed that electricity can be supplied," the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, said in a statement. Another 1,480 metres (5,000 feet) of cable are being laid before engineers try to crank up the coolers at reactor No.2, followed by numbers 1, 3 and 4 this weekend, company officials said.

"If they are successful in getting the cooling infrastructure up and running, that will be a significant step forward in establishing stability," said Eric Moore, a nuclear power expert at US-based FocalPoint Consulting Group.

If that fails, one option under consideration is to bury the sprawling 40-year-old plant in sand and concrete to prevent a catastrophic radiation release.

That method was used to seal huge leakages from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the world's worst nuclear reactor disaster.

Underlining authorities' desperation, fire trucks sprayed water overnight in a crude tactic to cool reactor No.3, considered the most critical because of its use of mixed oxides, or mox, containing both uranium and highly toxic plutonium.

"I humbly apologise to the public for causing such trouble. Although it was due to natural disaster, I am extremely regretful," the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper quoted TEPCO CEO Masataka Shimizu as saying in a statement.

Japan has raised the severity rating of the nuclear crisis to level 5 from 4 on the seven-level INES international scale, putting it on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, although some experts say it is more serious.

Chernobyl, in Ukraine, was a 7 on that scale.

Humanitarian effort

The operation to avert large-scale radiation has overshadowed the humanitarian aftermath of the 9.0-magnitude quake and 10-metre (33-foot) tsunami that struck on March 11.

Nearly 7,000 people have been confirmed killed in the double natural disaster, which turned whole towns into waterlogged and debris-shrouded wastelands.

Another 10,700 people are missing with many feared dead. Some 390,000 people, including many among Japan's ageing population, are homeless and battling near-freezing temperatures in shelters in northeastern coastal areas.

Food, water, medicine and heating fuel are in short supply and a Worm Moon, when the full moon is at its closest to Earth, may bring floods to devastated areas where the geography has changed.

"Everything is gone, including money," said Tsukasa Sato, a 74-year-old barber with a heart condition, as he warmed his hands in front of a stove at a shelter for the homeless.

Health officials and the U.N. atomic watchdog have said radiation levels in the capital Tokyo were not harmful. But the city has seen an exodus of tourists, expatriates and many Japanese, who fear a blast of radioactive material.

"I'm leaving because my parents are terrified. I personally think this will turn out to be the biggest paper tiger the world has ever seen," said Luke Ridley, 23, from London as he sat at Narita international airport using his laptop.

All Japanese prefectures have begun radiation monitoring. The highest reading outside Fukushima came from Mito to the south. That was 1,726 microsieverts per annum. By comparison, the global average from natural sources is 2,400.

Officials asked people in the 20 km "take cover" zone to follow some directives when going outside: Drive, don't walk. Wear a mask. Wear long sleeves. Don't go out in the rain.

Though there has been alarm around the world, experts have been warning there is little risk of radiation at dangerous levels spreading to other nations.

The U.S. government said "minuscule" amounts of radiation were detected in California consistent with a release from Japan's damaged facility, but there were no levels of concern.

Amid their distress, Japanese were proud of the 279 nuclear plant workers toiling in the wreckage, wearing masks, goggles and protective suits sealed by duct tape.

"My eyes well with tears at the thought of the work they are doing," Kazuya Aoki, a safety official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told Reuters.

G7 intervention for yen

The Group of Seven rich nations succeeded in calming global financial markets in rare concerted intervention to restrain a soaring yen.

The dollar surged to 81.98 yen on Friday after the G7 moved to pour billions into markets buying dollars, euros and pounds -- the first such joint intervention since the group came to the aid of the newly launched euro in 2000.

The dollar later dropped back to under 81 yen, but it was still far from the record low of 76.25 yen hit on Thursday.

"The only type of intervention that actually works is coordinated intervention, and it shows the solidarity of all central banks in terms of the severity of the situation in Japan," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT in New York.

Japan's Nikkei share index ended up 2.7 percent, recouping some of the week's stinging losses. It lost 10.2 percent for the week, wiping $350 billion off market capitalisation.

The plight of the homeless worsened following a cold snap that brought heavy snow to the worst-affected areas.

Nearly 290,000 households in the north were still without electricity, officials said, and the government said about 940,000 households lacked running water.

Aid groups say most victims are getting help, but there are pockets of acute suffering.

"We've seen children suffering with the cold, and lacking really basic items like food and clean water," Stephen McDonald of Save the Children said in a statement.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Japan nuke plant says 2 of 6 units under control


The operator of Japan's crippled, leaking nuclear plant says two of the six reactor units are now safely under control after their fuel storage pools cooled down.
Tokyo Electric Power Company declared Units 5 and 6 safe on Sunday night after days of pumping water into the reactors pool brought temperatures down.
Bringing the two units under control marks a minor advance in the efforts to stop the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex from leaking radiation. The two units are the least problematic of the six reactor units at the plant, which began overheating after the earthquake-triggered tsunami disrupted the plant's cooling systems.
Radiation fears prompt Swiss to move embassy
Switzerland is moving its embassy in Japan to Osaka because of fears that radiation levels in the capital Tokyo could increase.
The Foreign Ministry says Swiss experts judge developments at the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant to be "very uncertain."
The ministry said Sunday that an imminent change in wind direction is also forecast and could increase radiation levels in Tokyo.
The Swiss government had offered to fly its citizens home for free after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit northeast Japan on March 11. It says a charter flight Sunday was canceled due to lack of demand.

 

[plugwater]

I love Japan!!

These two photos show a road devastated by March 11 massive earthquake (left) and the same road after restoration in Naka, Japan. The highway company restored the 150-meter section of the highway linking Tokyo and the quake-damaged Ibaraki prefecture in six days. The photos were taken on March 11, 2011, left, and on March 17, 2011, right

More pictures : http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/03/japan-earthquake-two-weeks-later/100034/