This is BAD BAD! Building exploded at Japan nuke

  • wallgeye
    Richfield, MN
    Posts: 157
    #1271243

    So I work in a power plant, not a nuke but understand how they work and the need to keep things from over heating. I am sucked into this Japan coverage and around 3am I read of an explosion at one of the plants in Japan. I pop on the tv and CNN is the only station still covering it.

    Holy friggin crap, wait till you see the explosion! You can see the pressure wave come off the top of a building that just ceased to exist. The camera looked like it was 10 miles away and the explosion was huge! This is a nuclear power plant and I think I just saw Chernobyl 2 happen before my eyes and the talking heads are calmly talking about which way the wind is blowing. They are calmly talking about the explosion like any normal car accident with no mention of what was in the building that just exploded. They are evacuating people from within a 20-25 KM area around the plant now at last check. Was that a containment building?? Not alot else at a nuke site I can think of that could explode like that except the containment building at a nuclear plant that has suffered catastrophic failure if its cooling system.

    I understand it is like 5am but…… I cannot believe that the news sites are not on this like moths to a flame.

    Hoping I am getting my panties in a bunch over a shed full of fertilizer and some diesel fuel that got mixed in the earthquake and lit off when power came back on and caused a short and not because a reactor building just exploded.

    I pray it was not the reactor containment building that went up, I cannot see how anything inside it could still be intact. Japan has a much higher population density then the area of Russia when Chernobyl went up.

    mossydan
    Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    Posts: 7727
    #946454

    Just heard on CNN that the explosion was from hydrogen and not the main core. Japanese officials say that a small amount of Cesium has exscaped but didn’t say how much. An American engineer said that the temperatures can reach 5000 degrees and that temperature can creat conditions where the fuel rods can spontaniously combust. The motors that run the cooling systems pumps have evidently failed because of the sunami and it sounds like thier haveing a problem keeping the core cooled, thats probably why Americas jumping in to help with thier shimpments and help.

    grumpy
    Iowa, Clinton
    Posts: 489
    #946460

    I’m with you, they really are down playing this explosion, trying to avoid panic? How long before this cloud makes it to US soil? Or future FOOD production in that region, that includes the Entire area, crops, animals, air, you get the idea!:( Hydrogen that’s better

    weldon
    Rochester, Mn
    Posts: 304
    #946474

    I just arrived home yesterday from Tokyo/Yokohama. Our plane just got boarded and ready to push back from the gate when the earthquake shook…

    We sat at the gate for 6 hours waiting to see whether we would be allowed to leave or deplaned. In the end, they allowed the 5 planes that were boarded at the time of the earthquake to take off.

    When the earthquake struck, it felt like we were being pushed back from the gate, but we quickly realized what was happening. The wings were flapping as though we had encountered turbulence in flight and one could see the movement of other planes and the reflections off the windows of the air terminal.

    We had previously had two earthquakes of around magnitude 7 on the previous days, so referencing that motion, it was clear that this was much bigger as it seemed to last minutes. Then, the captain announced that the airport would need to do runway inspections before we could depart. During the next hour, we had a couple more large tremors and the airport was shut down and evacuated to the tarmac. Of course, that’s about the time that a light misting of rain occurred…

    Within about a half hour of our wait, the captain came on the speaker system and told us that the Sendai airport had been hit by a tsunami and wiped out. He indicated that what little they knew of what was going on was coming from the TVs located within the terminal.

    We attempted to contact our families and work during the ensuing wait, but the cell phone systems would not put calls through. A reservist sitting next to me had a Kindle with 3G service and was able to get a note off to his wife. I was able to pick up internet connections of the airport, but due to these being password protected, I was not able to contact anyone. At this time, word got around that surrounding area and west coast of US ware expecting tsunamis as a few folks were able to make contacts via cell phone and we got some idea of the situation developing, but were largely ignorant due to no communications being available.

    I’m fortunate to have been on 1 of 5 flights that were allowed to leave Japan after this. Tokyo/Narita is back in operation and train & bus travel back in service. My coworkers are still working out flights and connections to get home.

    thegun
    mn
    Posts: 1009
    #946475

    well this might be the start of the mayans prediction of earth coming to an end in 2012~~~~~~~~

    walleyewacker18
    Rice Lake, WI
    Posts: 620
    #946477

    Quote:


    well this might be the start of the mayans prediction of earth coming to an end in 2012~~~~~~~~


    Sure makes a person think a little bit

    deerdragger
    Posts: 346
    #946563

    Concerning the Myan calendar…

    I had an interesting conversation a year or two back with my brother in-law. He’s a Ph.D. and teaches (among other things) Pre-Columbian History. I asked him for his take on the world ending in 2012.

    To paraphrase his response, he went on to explain how the Myan calendar was cyclical comprise of years/epochs (or something)and WORLDS. Every so many centuries, the WORLD ends and a new one begins.

    According to their system and lore, in the last WORLD, all of the beings were made entirely of wood. Yes, wood.

    Kinda puts things into perspective for me.

    Randy Wieland
    Lebanon. WI
    Posts: 13407
    #946565

    Scary to think of what the actual damages are. I watched a while of the CNN coverage today to find out what happened. In the report, they stated ocean water was used to cool a reactor. What impact is that going to have on the world? They also reported random testing at a hospital for radiation had people testing positive

    mossydan
    Cedar Rapids, Iowa
    Posts: 7727
    #946612

    I hear ya Randy and this late morning they said radiation levels were higher earlier but later were within acceptable levels, all this befort noon our time. Theres a name for the radiation equilivent but forgot it, but ealier it was above 1000, hours later it was 70, stabelizng or packing the truth? The way I see it is the amount of hydrogen in the immediate containment system that detonated had to been of an extreme because of its volitility. I’m sure hydrogen isn’t wanted because of its explosive nature and then when it blows the top off the reactor roof, things aren’t going so well. I’m not sure if were getting the right accurate information on how stable things really are when hydrogen blows a roof off when the only way its created is from extreme heating, too me things don’t sound as stable as maybe were led to believe. The way it sounds is hydrogen is a very unwanted gas in a situation where things are’nt going good and produced by a bad situation and only hopefully won’t get worse. Maybe they just reached the peak of a bad situation but was able to turn it around, hopefully so and did. It sure makes people wonder.

    suzuki
    Woodbury, Mn
    Posts: 18533
    #946896

    Quote:


    well this might be the start of the mayans prediction of earth coming to an end in 2012~~~~~~~~



    The future cannot be predicted. Self fullfilling prophecies is another story….Waaaay too many people seem to believe this nonsense and it really needs to stop.

    cat dude
    Arlington, MN
    Posts: 1389
    #946898

    Very sad for Japan. One never knows how destructive Mother nature can be.

    Hopefully the power plants will be ok or they will have an even great disater.

    Randy Wieland
    Lebanon. WI
    Posts: 13407
    #946909

    I don’t want to live in fear and buy into the doom/gloom. But I have a concern to the radiation flumes that will be traveling the jet streams and the water that is returned to the ocean. Today, I heard a report on the Today show that the winds will be switching there and traveling inland. Well, what, where, how,… if a major explosion of a reactor takes place will it effect the rest of the world. Just looking at the volcano ash that was spread accross Europe was a good visual of how wide spread this could travel. I know that no one wants to spread fear in this manor. What do we do here if…….

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    #946911

    Quote:


    What do we do here if……


    That’s easy Randy. Get your family and go fishing.

    mplspug
    Palmetto, Florida
    Posts: 25026
    #946929

    Quote:


    According to their system and lore, in the last WORLD, all of the beings were made entirely of wood. Yes, wood.



    This should help you feel better.

    I have a feeling this will end up much like the Gulf spill. I actually think the opposite of most people (Don’t say a word Brian). I think it is a testament to how safe they make these plants. This is a catastrophe testament to how safe they are. We shall see.

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