Unlimited Japan Tsunami and Godzilla Rising thread

[Juana]

Fucking wow.

[Da6s]

4th reactor now on fire.

Is it chernobyl yet?

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/stay-indoors-japan-pm-issues-warning-to-residents-after-blast-at-nuclear-plant-20110315-1buq7.html

Harmful radiation at levels 20 times the annual limit is spewing from Japan's quake-hit Fukushima No.1 atomic power plant after a fire broke out at its number-four reactor, authorities say.

[Juana]

[Da6s]

this is now an unending, constantly escalating, god damned greek tragedy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world/asia/15fuel.html?_r=1

Even as workers race to prevent the radioactive cores of the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan from melting down, concerns are growing that nearby pools holding spent fuel rods could pose an even greater danger.

The pools, which sit on the top level of the reactor buildings and keep spent fuel submerged in water, have lost their cooling systems and the Japanese have been unable to take emergency steps because of the multiplying crises.

Experts now fear that the pool containing those rods from the fourth reactor has run dry, allowing the rods to overheat and catch fire. That could spread radioactive materials far and wide in dangerous clouds.

The pools are a worry at the stricken reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant because at least two of the three have lost their roofs in explosions, exposing the spent fuel pools to the atmosphere. By contrast, reactors have strong containment vessels that stand a better chance of bottling up radiation from a meltdown of the fuel in the reactor core.

If any of the spent fuel rods in the pools did indeed catch fire, nuclear experts say, the high heat would loft the radiation in clouds that would spread the radioactivity.

That's fucking it.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

this is now an unending, constantly escalating, god damned greek tragedy

Yeah, it's kind of hard to believe. Earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, nuclear catastrophe in the making....what next?

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

51 Photographs:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/03/japan_-_vast_devastation.html

[Luna]

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/15/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T1

Oops.

Spent fuel rods containing radioactive material may have burned in Tuesday's fire at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant -- causing a spike in radiation levels, the plant's owner said.

Whether this is truth or coverup, no idea.

[Elder Iptuous]

4th reactor now on fire.

Is it chernobyl yet?

well, the correspondent from japan for NPR this morning used the language "probably not as bad as chernobyl"...
that raised my eyebrows.
NPR doesn't usually engage in hyperbole.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Okay, Japan, it was funny the first few times.  You have to know when to stop.  Timing is everything.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

This sounds like the run-up to a William Gibson novel.

[AFK]

4th reactor now on fire.

Is it chernobyl yet?

well, the correspondent from japan for NPR this morning used the language "probably not as bad as chernobyl"...
that raised my eyebrows.
NPR doesn't usually engage in hyperbole.

From what I've heard and understand, a major difference between these plants and Chernobyl is the construction of the facilities.  The buildings in Japan, structurally, seem to have much more integrity compared to what was in Chernobyl.  If they had been constructed in the same manner as Chernobyl, they probably would've disintegrated pretty quickly.   

[Jasper]

It shouldn't be as bad as Chernobyl, all things considered.  Japan has been preparing for this kind of event, structurally, for a long time now, and if they weren't ready for it, the death toll would already have been a magnitude higher, is what I've read.  And Chernobyl was a mess.  Rushed construction and overzealous stress testing.

[Fredfredly ⊂(◉‿◉)つ]

blaaaaaahh 

[P3nT4gR4m]

I've been against nuclear power since I first heard about it. It's not that I don't believe it's possible, in theory, to create a safe nuclear reactor, it's because I know that human beings aren't capable of doing it. What concerns me isn't Homer simpson at the controls - he may be a dumb fuck, on minimum wage but he knows what'll happen if he doesn't watch the dial. No - it's the ones who sit in offices thousands of miles away leaving no corner left uncut in the quest for maximised revenue. They're the reason there aren't enough Homers to watch all the dials. They're the reason that the walls aren't quite thick enough. They're the reason the backup systems run into disrepair.

Sooner or later pretty much all the reactors will blow up or "melt down" to put it into fluffy aint-so-bad-speak. So right now it looks like a good quarter to a third of Japan is going to be wiped off the map. The ones in charge of making sure this doesn't happen ever again are, unfortunately, highly paid homo-sapiens whose appetite for cold hard cash far exceeds their sense of doing what's right.

There is a simple solution - everyone involved in the construction and operation of a nuke plant should be forced to live within a couple of miles of the place. Might not work 100% but it may stave off the inevitable a tad longer.

[Fredfredly ⊂(◉‿◉)つ]

AHHH YOU GUYS ARE MAKING ME PARANOID THAT MY BOYFRIEND IS GOING TO TURN INTO A LUMPY RADIOACTIVE GODZILLA MAN