[bluesman]

This morning I thought if anyone was prepared for earthquakes or tsunamis, its the Japanese. 

Those skycrapers swaying back and forth without collapsing was some pretty good engineering in action.  It could have been worse had they not planned ahead at least for that.

Yes...most structures could be affected by this massive quake. Every structure should be inspected for structural integrity when the dust settles. This is a massive event in Japan. Those poor people. 

The world needs to come together to help support them. They will need all the help they can get.

[punatic]

The Kona Brewfest is scheduled for tomorrow and the fest site is in one of those areas.  Haven't heard if that is still on. 

I hope so.  My bro in law is entered in that with one of my recipes.  His first AG batch.

Kona Brewers Festival

[tschmidlin]

I'm glad it's still going to happen punatic.  I imagine the new venue is quite a bit smaller than the original, but with good weather it can probably be outdoors   I still like my idea best (holding it at your house).

Enjoy the beers.

[hopfenundmalz]

I don't know how much power they need to run the coolant pumps, but hopefully they're flying in every generator they can find . . .

The nuclear power standby cooling units I saw were 20 cylinder EMD locomotive diesels, probably >4000 HP back in the day (1984).  They were set to start on a electrical power outage, and were started with airmotors, and were heated so everything was at operating temp.  They would spin up in 10 seconds and be at full power with load applied.  They would power a 3000 GPS pump.  Yes that is Gallons per Second.   

[1vertical]

I don't know how much power they need to run the coolant pumps, but hopefully they're flying in every generator they can find . . .

The nuclear power standby cooling units I saw were 20 cylinder EMD locomotive diesels, probably >4000 HP back in the day (1984).  They were set to start on a electrical power outage, and were started with airmotors, and were heated so everything was at operating temp.  They would spin up in 10 seconds and be at full power with load applied.  They would power a 3000 GPS pump.  Yes that is Gallons per Second.  

We had units like this at the underground mine for back up power.  Their main function was to de-water.
Now I am watching live streaming broadcast form Japan http://www.ustream.tv/channel/annnews
 

[1vertical]

Those images of the Power Plants are eeriely familiar to Chernoble footage....
From those live streaming images, they are in a pretty bad condition. How
can that be turned around and made better....prolly have to run it's course.

[bluesman]

The Kona Brewfest is scheduled for tomorrow and the fest site is in one of those areas.  Haven't heard if that is still on. 

I hope so.  My bro in law is entered in that with one of my recipes.  His first AG batch.

Kona Brewers Festival

Glad to hear some good news punatic!

I just read a report of 9500 missing in one town in Japan. This does not sound good. They are going to need alot of help through this catastrophe.

I'm hearing that the reactor where the pumps failed was filled with sea water to help reduce the temperature. It is apparently working but the government was also preparing to distribute iodine tablets to residents.

[maxieboy]

Footage of explosion at one of the nuclear plants: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12721498

[a10t2]

It ain't over yet ...that's for sure. I am hoping they can somehow get the reactors under control. They have measured 8 times the normal radiation levels at one site. This is scary.

It's worth noting that 8 times background (or 8 times the regulatory standard - I've seen stories citing both) is a tiny amount of radiation. A meltdown in a modern reactor is still terrible and would take years to clean up, but I haven't heard anything to suggest that the pressure vessels have been breached, so any releases to the atmosphere should be negligible.

[bluesman]

It ain't over yet ...that's for sure. I am hoping they can somehow get the reactors under control. They have measured 8 times the normal radiation levels at one site. This is scary.

It's worth noting that 8 times background (or 8 times the regulatory standard - I've seen stories citing both) is a tiny amount of radiation. A meltdown in a modern reactor is still terrible and would take years to clean up, but I haven't heard anything to suggest that the pressure vessels have been breached, so any releases to the atmosphere should be negligible.

There were some other reports soon after that indicated as much as 1000x the normal level. Who know but it's still a scary situation. I hope they can get it under control.

[phillamb168]

Reactor Numbers 1 and 3 have both had explosions at Fukushima Daiichi and the coolant pumps for number 2 are supposedly starting to go. At least 1 and 3 still have containment. I used to live about 10 miles from Arkansas Nuclear One and we would have scram drills every now and then. The thing to worry about isn't the meltdown itself (this ain't a nuclear bomb) but rather the radioactive particulate that'll hover around afterwards.

[punatic]

I heard on the radio that the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group passed through a radioactive cloud enroute to providing aid to Japan.  Kind of makes you wonder about what's being reported about what's already happened at Fukushima.

[phillamb168]

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/despite-contamination-navy-copters-keep-aiding-japan/

Despite rolling through the radioactivity with each mission they're still doing them.

[tschmidlin]

The one headline we won't see out of alll of this mess is "Millions saved by engineering and government building codes". It's amazing what can be done when you combine resources with actual legal enforcement of things.

No one ever credits the engineers or regulations, they only ever get blamed.

I was wrong - I just heard a guy on the news, an American who's been in Japan for just over a week:
"I feel like I owe my life to the engineers who designed the building"

[euge]

I heard on the radio that the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group passed through a radioactive cloud enroute to providing aid to Japan.  Kind of makes you wonder about what's being reported about what's already happened at Fukushima.

Which is why I prefer BBC for my international news. We get extremely sanitized versions of what happens around the globe spoon fed to us. It's not censorship if it is just simply ommited is it?

Hopefully any "fallout" will end up in the Pacific before it blows over the US mainland or any islands. I'm more fearful of alpha and beta than gamma so would like to see that stuff in the ocean than on human skin, crops or living enviromments.

I was reviewing some vids of the one of the villages that got swept away. There were people walking away- yes walking away from the deluge approaching them. And they got swept under. I'd have my track shoes on...

Possibly they were geriatric and couldn't move very fast.