Japan hit by powerful earthquake

[Delta_9]

I don't think that's a real issue. China among other countries use their nuclear plants as water desalination facilities, as the steam itself is free from radiation (and salt/other pollutions) and can as such be drunk afterwards. I think the problem with using ocean water is that you get a lot of left-over salt. As this salt can't be used in food (for obvious reasons), and can't be left in the system because it'd clog it up. So unless the plant was specifically designed to work as a nuclear plant/water desalination facility, salt would eventually become a problem. Which is why I'm guessing the scientists say this is a desperate resort to cool it down, as the power plant (being 40 years old) may not be designed to work as a desalination facility.

Salt water is never used directly in the coolant system. Pumping the sea water in to the reactor is a "last resort" and will result in a a terrible mess (as far as cleaning and reusing the reactor).

It's a serious situation but a 40 year old BWR surviving a 8.9 quake being used to steer us away from nuclear power makes me facepalm.

[Omniyoji]

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...n-works-or-not

Japanese video shows the warning leading up to the quake.

By Alan Boyle

Japan has spent well more than $1 billion on earthquake prediction systems, including a network of more than 1,000 GPS-based sensors scattered around the country — and the payoff came today when Tokyo's residents were given up to a minute's warning that a Big One was on the way. That may not sound like much, but it's enough time for people to switch off their gas lines and get beneath a table or a door frame.

"The system functioned well, because warnings were seen on television across the country," Hirohito Naito, a seismic expert at the Japan Meterological Agency, told AFP.

The agency is in charge of quake preparedness as well as weather forecasting, and researchers have invested decades of effort into Japan's early-warning system. It's considered a model for the rest of the world, and U.S. researchers are adapting it for a system known as the California Integrated Seismic Network.

The system capitalizes on the fact that a seismic event sends out two types of shock waves: primary or P-waves, which move up and down; and secondary or S-waves, which shake from side to side. The P-waves travel faster but are weaker, while the S-waves are slower but do more damage. When Japan's system picks up the P-waves, it calculates how far away the source of the shaking is and issues an alarm while the S-waves are still en route. A warning can be broadcast via TV, radio, cell phones and home alarms less than 10 seconds after the P-waves are detected.

The early warning system isn't that useful for those who are close to the epicenter, because the S-waves come quickly behind the P-waves. But because Tokyo is about 230 miles away, that city's residents could have taken action as much as 80 seconds before the serious shaking began. As noted in this Technology Review report, that amount of time can give people a chance to stop a train, lower a crane, pull a car over to the side of the road, stop performing surgery in a hospital or get off an elevator in an office building.

That's assuming that you get the alarm immediately, of course. Some reports from Japan suggested that the alarms provided somewhat less advance warning, in the range of 15 to 30 seconds. This webpage from the Japan Meteorological Agency explains the early-warning system in much more depth.

Tsunami warnings worked
It takes longer to issue a tsunami warning, because that's dependent on an analysis of wave propagation from an undersea seismic source. The Japanese government issued a local warning three minutes after the quake struck. Technology Review estimates that residents in the hardest-hit coastal areas had 15 minutes of warning, and that Tokyo would have had at least 40 minutes to prepare.

Meanwhile, experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (in Hawaii) and West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (in Alaska) issued their first alerts nine minutes after the earthquake. They used computer modeling as well as readings from ocean buoys to track the waves as they sped across the Pacific at jetliner speeds. The wave-monitoring system has been beefed up significantly since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which pointed up gaps in the network.

Tsunami forecasters and emergency officials called for an evacuation of coastal areas in Hawaii, which were hit by walls of water measuring as much as 7 feet high.

"We called this right," Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, told The Associated Press. "This evacuation was necessary. There's absolutely no question, this was the right thing to do."

Longer-term predictions
Could today's quake have been predicted days in advance rather than seconds in advance? In retrospect, maybe so: A 7.4-magnitude quake that hit Japan on Wednesday is now thought to be a foreshock heralding the bigger quake to come.

Two years ago, researchers looked at the records from Japan's crustal movement sensors and determined that large quakes could be anticipated by analyzing the "pre-signals" in the seismic data.

Then again, it's always easier to predict an event in retrospect. Five years ago, The Washington Post's Joel Achenbach wrote that Japanese geologists were sure the next Big One would take place southwest of Tokyo. Today's quake certainly qualifies as that Big One ... but it happened to the northeast, not the southwest.

My apologies if this has been posted.

[richardd]

good thing by the time my generation is running the country, i'll be living in europe lol

seriously, trolling or not. those are some of the most ignorant statements i ever seen.

[Insanecyclone]

http://i54.tinypic.com/2u9sne8.gif
http://youropenbook.org/?q=pearl+harbor&gender=any

[Aevis]

Salt water is never used directly in the coolant system. Pumping the sea water in to the reactor is a "last resort" and will result in a a terrible mess (as far as cleaning and reusing the reactor).

It's a serious situation but a 40 year old BWR surviving a 8.9 quake being used to steer us away from nuclear power makes me facepalm.

there is currently a special broadcast on swiss national tv about jp and an atomic engineering expert just explained the scenario of flooding, because he was asked why they didn't flood it earlier: flooding does exactly what it implicates. the whole reactor is set under water and won't be working anymore at all. that's why it's always the last solution (and titled desperate by the jps earlier) in a plants emergency scenarios. "destroying" the entire reactor for the sake of keeping the nuclear fuel rods stabilized.

[Meresgi]

I liked this post

Alejla Santiago Y ARE ALL THE SUPER SUPER BAD EARTH-QUAKES ALWAYS HAPPENEING IN JAPAN???...IS IT B-CUZ THEY TREATED N SHAKED ALL THE AMERICAN'S YEARS AGO IN PEARL HARBOR N DATS WHY THE BIG CITIES HARDLY GET THEM???...DN'T GET MY WORDS TWISTED..I PRAYED FOR THEM LAST NITE B4 I WENT TO BED CUZ THAT SHIT IS SAD AS HELL...BUT ALWAYS REMEMBER ...KARMA IS A MO'FUKKER!!!....I WILL STILL PRAY FOR JAPAN TONIGHT AGAIN!!!

[Delta_9]

Didn't really mean to imply that they will be reusing it in this case. Might be some scenario where a reactor is exposed to salt water and can be salvaged but yeah, not in this case.

[Chun Liroy]

So god (see what I did) help me if someone says that to me in real life. I will slap them so fucking hard.

[Draggy]

Exactly, that is just... I don't quite know how to describe the feeling it is like 60% rage 30% shame 10% pity. I am not American but I live here, and it is just... embarrassing that people can really think like that.

[Chun Liroy]

Protip: there are stupid people everywhere, just seems like US is full of more.

[6souls]

made a dude rage after messaging him about his post.

Before

Chancey Lovell
I feel bad for the women and children in japan but I also remember what happened at PEARL HARBOR so forgive me if I think we shouldn't help out the japs one bit. I love my country and I've never forgotten what they did to it. They gonna recover from it without our help. Our country needs to worry about our own people and fix our country before we can even start to think about helping others out.

After

Chancey Lovell
IF U HAVE A PROBLEM WIth SOMETHING I POSTED MAN UP AND TELL ME TO MY FACE. I'll let u k ow where I live I promise. I stated my opinion. Period. We have problems of our own and really can't afford to help ourselves much less anyone else.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...3952382&v=wall

[Cream Soda]

More pearl harbor fags

Spoiler: show

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e6...57473816-1.jpg

[Kuya]

SAY THAT TO MY FACE NOT ONLINE SEE WHAT HAPPENS

[Airget]

Wow, are people really that fucking retarded, I"m sorry but I think we all need to go back to social studies and learn about the facts that lead to everything. Are these americans thinking that we never did anything wrong, yes pearl harbor was an awful occurrence but the fact is America instigated the situation.


Basically..
Back before we entered the war we put a trade embargo on Japan, this Embargo in a sense instigated japan to attack us and by doing so gave us a reason to enter the war. And let's not forget what we ended up doing to them to end the war, Hiroshima and Nagasaki ring a bell to these retarded americans?

Seriously how stupid can people be nowadays, why not look into all the facts instead of thinking of your own country, zomg pearl harbor, americans are saints we ain't never done nothing wrong to hurt people, load of bullshit and you know it.

Just google "America Trade Embargo Japan" since I can't post links yet but ya, those responses are just so damn retarded.

[Counterfeit]

Hurricane Katrina must have been payback for killing the Native Americans.

[Talint]

remember pearl harbor

There is not enough momentum in the universe for the fucking facepalm statements like this deserve.

[fren.]

760 705 8230 or 877 832 4730 if you cant afford to call me

He really wants to meet me.

[Cream Soda]

Spoiler: show

http://i56.tinypic.com/2wdrrdv.png

[Counterfeit]

"Fuck off homo". Ouch man.

[Chun Liroy]

I spy a poof.