Chief Cabiet Secretary Yukio Edano says there was an explosion at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) Fukushima nuclear power plant after the quake but not at the reactor container.

To recap: with reports that the explosion was a hydrogen explosion outside the containment vessel but inside the external structure that was visibly heavily damaged, and falling radiation levels after the explosion, the one interpretation I see is that the exploding hydrogen was (in) the gas vented from the containment vessel to reduce pressure.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

The massive earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan has caused a potentially catastrophic situation at one of Japan's nuclear power plants. The situation is still evolving, but below is a preliminary assessment based on the facts as experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists currently understand them.

The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), reported that at 2:46 p.m. local time (12:46 a.m. EST) "turbines and reactors of Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Unit 1 ... and Units 2 and 3 ... automatically shut down due to the Miyagiken-oki Earthquake."

These reactors are three of the six operating reactors at the Fukushima I nuclear facility. All are boiling water reactors. Unit 1 has a rated output of 460 megawatts, and Units 2 and 3 each have a rated output of 784 megawatts.

This theory would fit with the info that radiation levels spiked after the explosion, but then fell back.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

Local Government says 9,500 people are unaccounted for in Japanese port of Minamisanriku

Propagation of the March 11, 2011 Honshu tsunami was computed with the NOAA forecast method using MOST model with the tsunami source inferred from DART® data. From the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research, located at NOAA PMEL in Seattle, WA. See http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/honshu20110311

Of 90 people from within the 10km exclusion zone around Fukushima nuclear power plant tested, three have given positive results for radiation exposure, says Japanese public broadcaster NHK. That's just over three per cent.

Some 45,000 people who live within the 10km radius were told to evacuate their homes in the early hours of this morning, when pressure inside reactors was building rapidly.

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit off the east coast of Japan early today. The quake -- one of the largest in recorded history -- triggered a 23-foot tsunami that battered Japan's coast, killing hundreds and sweeping away cars, homes, buildings, and boats. Editors note: we'll post more as the story develops -- Lloyd Young (47 photos total)

At least 1.4m homes are without water following the quake, according to government officials. 59 water trucks have been sent to the worst-hit areas. Some 3m are without power and utility companies say it will take some time to restore supplies.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) has informed the IAEA's Incident and Emergency Centre (IEC) that there has been an explosion at the Unit 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and that they are assessing the condition of the reactor core. The explosion was reported to NISA by the plant operator, TEPCO, at 0730 CET. Further details were not immediately available.

Japanese authorities have extended the evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant to a 20-kilometre radius from the previous 10 kilometres. At the nearby Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, the evacuation zone has been extended to a 10-kilometre radius from the previous three kilometres.

More than 300,000 people have now been evacuated from homes in northern Japan and that number will rise as the government increases the exclusion zone around the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Kyodo reports

The Japanese are saying that this is a hydrogen explosion. It's possible: hydrogen is used extensively throughout nuke plants to aid in corrosion control, and is even used to cool the main generator windings. There are huge quantities of it stored and piped all throughout the facilities.

But hydrogen is also produced when fuel overheats. The Zircaloy used in the fuel cladding will react with water at temps of 2000 degrees or so (way past the core damage temps) and give off massive amounts of hydrogen in a process refered to as the zircaloy-water reaction. Regardless, looking at the video the explosion seems to originate in the containment building (big, square building on the left) which is where the reactor is housed.

In any respect, "it ain't good news", as the saying goes.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/03/12/134482611/explosion-at-japanese-nuclear-plant-not-nuc lear-no-meltdown

Steff Gaulter, Al Jazeera's senior meteorologist, shows us satellite images of Japan's north-east coast, showing how the coastline has shifted significantly inland.

Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister, says the Sakhalin II project - off the eastern coast of Russia - will increase supply of Liquified Natural Gas to Japan is needed.

LNG prices have spiked since the two disasters devastated north-east Japan, as investors eye opportunities to sell energy resources to Japan as rescue and recovery efforts continue.

Today at approximately 3:36PM, a big quake occurred and there was a big
sound around the Unit 1 and white smoke.
Our two employees and two subcontract workers working for the safety of
the plant were injured and transported to the hospital.

We are presently checking on the site situation of each plant and effect
of discharged radioactive materials.

The value of radioactive material (iodine, etc) is increasing according
to the monitoring car at the site (outside of the site). One of the
monitoring posts is also indicating higher than normal level.
* Since the amount of radiation at the boundary of the site exceeds the
limits, we decide at 4:17PM and we have reported and/or noticed the
government agencies concerned to apply the clause 1 of the Article 15 of
the Radiation Disaster Measure at 5PM.
* In addition, a vertical earthquake hit the site and big explosion has
happened near the Unit 1 and smoke breaks out around 3:36PM.
Our two employees and two cooperation workers who had been working for
the foundation of safety are suffered and they are all sent to the
hospital.

[Blackout in TEPCO's Service Area]
Total of about 0.54 million households are out of power.
Tokyo: 0
Kanagawa Pref.: 0
Tochigi Pref.: 12,204
Chiba Pref.: 18,080
Saitama Pref: 534
Gunma Pref.: 0
Ibaraki Pref: 505,072

(US Geological Service)

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

Tokyo, 12 March, 2011 - Reacting to reports that radioactive materials including the isotope Cesium-137 have been released from the Fukushima power plant, and that increased levels of radiation have been detected in the immediate vicinity, Jan Beranek, Head of Greenpeace International Nuclear Campaign said:

"Our thoughts continue to be with the Japanese people as they face the threat of a nuclear disaster, following already devastating earthquake and tsunami. The authorities must focus on keeping people safe, and avoiding any further releases of radioactivity".

"The evolving situation at Fukushima remains far from clear, but what we do know is that contamination from the release of Cesium-137 poses a significant health risk to anyone exposed. Cesium-137 has been one if the isotopes causing the greatest health impacts following the Chernobyl disaster, because it can remain in the environment and food chain for 300 years."

taying with energy markets, Ecuador's state oil company Petroecuador says it is lifting a precautionary force majeure it had declared on oil exports, after a tsunami warning on its west coast.

Yesterday, shares in Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas jumped - as speculators invested heavily with hopes of boosted exports as Japan looks to rebuild its shattered infrastructure.

After one steel mill owned by Sumitomo Metal caught fire, traders expect Sumitomo majority shaeholder Nippon Steel to import Usiminas products. Gustavo Brunetto, a trader with Solidus Corretora, said:

The event could leverage Usiminas' sales to Japan.

Up to 10,000 people are missing in the town of Minamisanriku, as rescue efforts continue along the devastated eastern coast of Japan

Oh wait.  This is just like the effect of tailpipe breathing, or living downwind from a coal plant. Of course if you can't find it on television it doesn't exist.

Reminds me that as a 14 yr old i was trained in using current meteorological conditions to estimate radiation doses from plant accidents, or then current megaton explosion. I used to make cool maps. At 15 i was asked to join some kind of Civil Defense team which would calculate how long emergency workers could be outside.

Thinking about what aaiiigh! was working on probably made me what i am today, crazy. at least about civilization and energy.

somebody look up Diablo Canyon, and the fault it's on. and the effect of building the piping backwards. Wheeeeeeeee! Let's build a nuke on Devil's Canyon with a fault.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

The Bank of Japan aims to "ease financial jitters" with a huge cash injection into the money markets - supplying 2trillion yen (US$24.4billion) a day, for two consecutive days.

The BoJ said it would "do its utmost to ensure financial market stability", smoothing the settlement of funds and providing liquidity.

The TV views are misleading. Close up it's obvious that while the roof blew off, at least two walls are still standing.

There wasn't a view from the other side, so there was no way to check the state of the other two walls.

Also, plenty of jaw-dropping footage showing entire towns washed away.

Some 300 homes have been destroyed in the Peruvian port town of Pisco, when an ocean surge caused by tsunami waves flooded into the town's central square. About 400 people are spending tonight in tents after the destruction, the town's mayor said.

In the north of the country, the ocean withdrew as much as 200m, before returning in force and destroying several beachfront homes in Pueblo Nuevo de Colan.

Incredible Satellite Photos Of Earthquake Damage In Japan

The timing of the near nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi could not have been more appropriate. In only a few weeks the world will mark the 25th anniversary of the worst nuclear plant disaster ever to affect our planet - at Chernobyl in Ukraine. A major core meltdown released a deadly cloud of radioactive material over Europe and gave the name Chernobyl a terrible resonance.

This weekend it is clear that the name Fukushima came perilously close to achieving a similar notoriety. However, the real embarrassment for the Japanese government is not so much the nature of the accident but the fact it was warned long ago about the risks it faced in building nuclear plants in areas of intense seismic activity. Several years ago, the seismologist Ishibashi Katsuhiko stated, specifically, that such an accident was highly likely to occur. Nuclear power plants in Japan have a "fundamental vulnerability" to major earthquakes, Katsuhiko said in 2007. The government, the power industry and the academic community had seriously underestimated the potential risks posed by major quakes.

1. IAEA says also told by #Japan radiation levels near #nuclear plant have lessened; sea water injection procedure underway, from Reuters 4 minutes ago via TweetDeck
2. IAEA told by #Japan that #nuclear plant explosion happened outside primary containment vessel which remains intact, from Reuters

IAEA says also told by #Japan radiation levels near #nuclear plant have lessened; sea water injection procedure underway, from Reuters

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Fukushima nuclear plant - where a huge explosion yesterday blew the outer walls and roof off the No.1 reactor building - faces a new problem.

The emergency cooling system of No.3 reactor has now also stopped working, the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has announced.

Sea water is being pumped into the No.1 reactor chamber to cool its fuel rods - and officials are scrambling to secure a means of of supplying water to the No.3 reactor.

Fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe are high in northern Japan today, where an explosion has been reported at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The emergency at the plant comes on top of the devastation caused by an 8.9 earthquake and a 33-foot tsunami.

Details are still emerging about what's happening at the plant. There was a blast on the site on Saturday afternoon, and the New York Times is reporting that Japanese officials have said it occurred in a turbine facility, not in the actual reactor container. But the International Atomic Energy Agency--the United Nation's arm that serves as watchdog on nuclear energy issues around the world--said on Saturday that Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency informed them that the explosion occurred at the Unit 1 reactor.

They are also saying that they've had  contact with an official from the compay who says that one of the  reactors with cooling problems may be melting down.

They have also had the Japanese ambassador get in touch to say categorically that there is not a meltdown occurring.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said March 12 that the explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of the reactor core, Japanese daily Nikkei reported. This statement seemed somewhat at odds with Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano's comments earlier March 12, in which he said "the walls of the building containing the reactor were destroyed, meaning that the metal container encasing the reactor did not explode."

NISA's statement is significant because it is the government agency that reports to the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy within the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. NISA works in conjunction with the Atomic Energy Commission. Its role is to provide oversight to the industry and is responsible for signing off construction of new plants, among other things. It has been criticized for approving nuclear plants on geological fault lines and for an alleged conflict of interest in regulating the nuclear sector. It was NISA that issued the order for the opening of the valve to release pressure -- and thus allegedly some radiation -- from the Fukushima power plant.

The Fukushima nuclear power station has been rocked by a huge explosion in one of its six reactor units. Amid growing concerns about radioactive material spreading into the surrounding environment, BBC News looks at the events that led to the blast.

including one thing i think id missed, either one of the controll rods had jammed, or an alarm was going off incorrectly for over two hours prior to the explosion.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

0235 CET, 12 March 2011 Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that Units 1, 2, and 4 at the Fukushima Daini retain off-site power but are experiencing increased pressure in each reactor. Plant operators have vented the containment at each of the three units and are considering further venting to alleviate the increase in pressure.

Daini Unit 3 is in a safe, cold shutdown, according to Japanese officials.

Japanese authorities have reported some casualties to nuclear plant workers. At Fukushima Daichi, four workers were injured by the explosion at the Unit 1 reactor, and there are three other reported injuries in other incidents. In addition, one worker was exposed to higher-than-normal radiation levels that fall below the IAEA guidance for emergency situations. At Fukushima Daini, one worker has died in a crane operation accident and four others have been injured

• Another reactor reported loss of coolant on Sunday morning. They claim it is under control, Anyway 2 reactors are close to core meltdown.

• Stores in Tokyo are running out of food stocks but things are calm.

• They just revised the Richter scale upward to 9.0 Sunday afternoon.

• A few towns have been completely wiped out. No reliable figure on loss of lives. Maybe tens of thousands.

• Thank you everyone for thinking about us.

In response to the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan, we've worked with our satellite imagery providers to get the latest available data of the areas affected most.

To view this high-resolution imagery, courtesy of our partners at GeoEye, download this KML file and explore it in Google Earth. You can also explore the imagery with Google Maps, or have a look at this Picasa album of before-and-after shots. Here's a sample

Justin McCurry in Tokyo reports that Japan's meteorological agency on Sunday upgraded last Friday's earthquake from magnitude 8.8 to 9.0, although it is still referring to this estimate as an "interim value". It occurred 130km off the Pacific coast of Tokoku region at a depth of 24km. It is advising people to be vigilant for further tsunamis, landslides and further building collapses.

It is also warning that there is a 70% chance of a magnitude-7 aftershock striking the country in the next three days.There will be a 50% risk over the three subsequent days.

Slightly perplexing comments from Yukio Edano. He said that sea water is being pumped into the container of reactor No.3 to help lower the core temperature, but that the water gauge doesn't show the water level going up. He said that they don't know what to make of that. It could be a broken gauge.

No. 3 reactor at #Fukushima "partial meltdown possible" says #japan cab sec. More serious than 1. No. 3 uses MOX fuel with plutonium in it.

Japan Earthquake Shifted Coastline Maximum Of 8 Feet, Scientists Say

NEW YORK -- The massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that shook Japan and triggered a powerful tsunami on Friday has had a profound effect on both the surrounding terrain and the planet as a whole.

Dr. Daniel McNamara, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, told The Huffington Post that the disaster left a gigantic rupture in the sea floor, 217-miles long and 50 miles wide. It also shifted Japan's coast by eight feet in some parts, though McNamara was quick to explain much of the coast likely didn't move as far.

McNamara found the way in which the quake actually sunk the elevation of the country's terrain to be more troublesome than coastal shifting. "You see cities still underwater; the reason is subsidence," he said. "The land actually dropped, so when the tsunami came in, it's just staying.

The thermometer is broken, we're in uncharted territory. Conventional means have failed, we are now trying to cool the reactor with a direct injection of liquidity amounting to several trillion yen.

This is an innovative move, not sanctioned by the IEA, but is seen as the best hope of avoiding a catastrophic meltdown.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

I know this is a fairly full on statement from someone posting his very first blog. It will also be far and away the most well written, intelligent post I ever make (I hope!) It also means I am not responsible for its content.

This post is by Dr Josef Oehmen, a research scientist at MIT, in Boston.

He is a PhD Scientist, whose father has extensive experience in Germany's nuclear industry. I asked him to write this information to my family in Australia, who were being made sick with worry by the media reports coming from Japan. I am republishing it with his permission.

It is a few hours old, so if any information is out of date, blame me for the delay in getting it published.

If you would like to contact Josef, please email me at morgsatlarge@yahoo.com.au

This is his text in full and unedited. It is very long, so get comfy.

Spent day in worst damaged tsunami town 97% obliyterated - just gone
It looks like Hiroshima frankly - in the sense oif all gone. Bar odd concrete buildings
Silence. Buzzards wheeling o verhead. Teams quiewtly pulling out the. Bodies
English teacher says wqe looked down from school on high ground and watched our friends, our town disappear
They say 10,000 missing in a town of just 17000
You can see the height of the tsunami on the one b building still intact. - 4a floors - forty feet high
You walk through it all one,m two, three miles to the wrecked port - the sheer scale is vast
Cars, cranes, boats . Houses flung around. Har bours, rivers, canalsa completly relandscaped into silent chaos

(Reuters) - More than 2,500 people living near a volcano that has been spewing ash in southern Japan were advised to evacuate their homes Thursday after heavy rain threatened mudslides of accumulated ash, a local official said.

Shinmoedake began erupting in late January, in its biggest activity in some 300 years. The volcanic activity has disrupted airline flights and blanketed nearby vegetable farms with ash, but there have been no reports of serious injury or deaths.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

TOKYO -- Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were bracing for a second explosion, even as they faced serious cooling problems at four more reactors.

The emergency appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. The developments at two separate nuclear plants prompted the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. Japanese officials said they had also ordered up the largest mobilization of their Self-Defense Forces since World War II to assist in the relief effort.

On Saturday, Japanese officials took the extraordinary step of flooding the crippled No. 1 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 170 miles north of Tokyo, with seawater in a last-ditch effort to avoid a nuclear meltdown. That came after an explosion caused by hydrogen that tore the outer wall and roof off the building housing the reactor, although the steel containment of the reactor remained in place.

Then on Sunday, cooling failed at a second reactor -- No. 3 -- and core melting was presumed at both, said the top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. An explosion could also rock the No. 3 reactor, Mr. Edano warned, because of a buildup of hydrogen within the reactor.

"The possibility that hydrogen is building up in the upper parts of the reactor building cannot be denied. There is a possibility of a hydrogen explosion," Mr. Edano said. He stressed that as in the No. 1 unit, the reactor's steel containment would withstand the explosion.

IAEA: Japan declares state of emergency at second nuclear power facility after excessive radiation levels were detected at Onagawa plant.

AP: French Embassy advises citizens to leave Tokyo in case a cloud of radiation reaches the area.

(Reuters) - This week's earthquake in Japan could lead to insured losses of nearly $35 billion, risk modeling company AIR Worldwide said, making it one of the most expensive catastrophes in history.

That figure is nearly as much as the entire worldwide catastrophe loss to the global insurance industry in 2010, and could be the triggering event that forces higher prices in the insurance market after years of declines.

A former nuclear power plant designer has said Japan is facing an extremely grave crisis and called on the government to release more information, which he said was being suppressed. Masashi Goto told a news conference in Tokyo that one of the reactors at the Fukushima-Daiichi plant was "highly unstable", and that if there was a meltdown the "consequences would be tremendous". He said such an event might be very likely indeed.

Quake damaged the very top of Tokyo Tower.

Currently showing 12.7cpm, which - guessing from the Japanese underneath it - is normal background.

Kyodo News Agency: Cooling system pump has stopped at Tokai no.2 nuclear plant in Japan.

"Fukushima, 12 March 2011, 15:36: The End of the Nuclear Age"

The chief editor re-shuffle really does seem to bring some change: I doubt Merkel et al are amused. Then again, it's way too early to declare the end just because an INES-4 or -5 was televised...

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

The headline you won't be reading: "Millions saved in Japan by good engineering and government building codes". Buts it's the truth.

One person was measured to have an exposure of 18,000 counts per minute (cpm); another had a measurement of between 30,000 and 36,000 cpm; while a third evacuee had an exposure of 40,000 cpm. A fourth person initially gave a reading of over 100,000 cpm, but a second measurement taken after the person had removed their shoes was just under 40,000 cpm. Another five people were said to have "very small counts".

In Sendai, a city close to the epicenter, residents were charging their cellphones on a generator set up by the municipality for traffic lights.

"We're stealing just a little electricity," said Sutomo Goto, 38. "Just enough for the cellphones. People were going crazy without phones. There is no information since we don't have TV. But we're OK here. Everything within five kilometers of the coast has been washed away."

A former adviser on radiation to the UK government, Dr Christopher Busby, has told the BBC the situation at the nuclear plants is extremely serious. "Particularly concerning is the [Fukushima] number three reactor which I understand is in trouble now, because... it runs on a different sort of fuel; it doesn't run on uranium, it runs on a mixed uranium plutonium fuel, and plutonium is an extremely serious hazard so if this stuff comes out then it's going to make what's happened so far, in terms of the tsunami damage, look a little bit like an entrée to the real course."

NASA's Terra satellite's first view of northeastern Japan in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami reveal extensive flooding along the coast. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) acquired the top image of the Sendai region on March 12, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. The lower image, taken by Terra MODIS on February 26, 2011, is provided as a point of reference.

Winds in the area of the Fukushima nuclear plants were set to turn westerly on Sunday night, Japan's meteorological agency said according to Reuters. "The wind direction is right for people in Japan," it quotes Lennart Carlsson, director of the Nuclear Power Plant Safety in Sweden, as saying. "It'

UPDATED 11:22 PM EST -- A second explosion has been reported at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, this time at the building containing unit 3. 

Per Reuters:

"A fresh explosion that rocked Japan's quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex on Monday has not damaged the plant's No.3 reactor vessel, news agency Jiji said, quoting the plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co ."

Earlier on Sunday, officials warned such an explosion might occur as Tepco flooded the reactor with seawater and boric acid. Experts believe the unit 1 explosion likely was caused by vented hydrogen that formed when water contacted damaged fuel cladding in the core.

---------------

The Kyodo News Agency Sunday reported coolant issues at a third Japanese nuclear plant, bringing the total number of reactors with electrical or cooling problems following Friday's earthquake to seven.