Enervation Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 The normalization isn't a result of the explosion. They have been pumping water in from the sea to cool the reactor since yesterday. That's a pretty ingenious design measure. I have to honestly say I wouldn't have ever thought about using seawater as nuclear coolant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteer01 Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 (edited) I hope they are right about their assessment. I just dislike the language of "very unlikely" and such. It makes me question how sure they are. http://morgsatlarge.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/why-i-am-not-worried-about-japans-nuclear-reactors/ Like that read, which I read last night when I could not fall asleep. It actually helped me be a bit less stressed, even though I'm far enough away that the reactors are low on the list of things I'm worried about affecting my family. Interested bike ride to and from a Shibuya meeting today. Was not affected by the first day of blackouts, as they only targeted part of group 5. We're group 4 or 5, but the Kawasaki part of group 5 wasn't blacked out, so we still don't know if we're 4 or 5. (Our street is split between two parts of the grid, so my building was blacked out for several hours on the quake day, while the building on the same street next to us wasn't...one's group 4, one's group 5) Edit: Just saw this in the Newsfeed: http://www.vg247.com/2011/03/13/ffxi-ffxiv-metal-gear-online-servers-offline/ FFXI, FFXIV, Metal Gear Online servers offline Japan-hosted multiplayer servers are being shut down to conserve power in the wake of the earthquake and associated nuclear power plant damage. Edited March 14, 2011 by peteer01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 Emergency lamps can help a lot at night. Generally when I used to live in India during flood and landslide season the powercuts could last for between 6-24 hours. Most emergency lamps (Does National still exist as a brand or has it changed to Panasonic. It's the best one) Needs about an hour to charge and gives pretty strong light for 4-10 hours at a stretch. (Think it's 4 if you use both tubes). It's bright and helps quite a bit and doesn't take a lot of electricity to charge up. As for the reactor, the guy on the link peeter linked to pretty much confirms what I'd thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 The normalization isn't a result of the explosion. They have been pumping water in from the sea to cool the reactor since yesterday. That's a pretty ingenious design measure. I have to honestly say I wouldn't have ever thought about using seawater as nuclear coolant. Water is a very good heat absorber. Not ideal for nuclear reactors but it works in a pinch like this. As for using sea water, that is the last thing they wanted to use since after all this stuff is over, they most likely will have to scrap all nuclear reactors that was cooled with seawater. Big pluses for them deciding so quickly to use sea water though. Their hearts are in the right place. Also, peteer, thanks for the link. As for helping nominally, I think the bank I go to once a week for my boss has a portion of their history as a Japanese bank. So they'll be running a Red Cross donation thing in all their branches. I think I will give what I can in the next 10+ weeks until I hit Benjamin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enervation Posted March 14, 2011 Report Share Posted March 14, 2011 Well my (probably misinformed) belief about using seawater as coolant is that the radiation might spread back through the coolant out into the ocean. If it can do that. I don't want to end up contaminating the ocean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 Reactor 2 exploded and it seem to have damage the core. Also, there seems to be a fire as well. This is all from what I heard on the radio... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 16, 2011 Report Share Posted March 16, 2011 Holy... remember when the United States can build stuff that fast? Yeah, me either.1 If it wasn't for the nuclear thing, I like to think Japan would/could rebuild pretty damn fast. As for the nuclear reactors, I heard that they will try to get the generators back online or something kind of fix to end all of this. 1- I'm only half kidding... and this applies to most people nowadays. To be fair, its only a road and that it will take a new pave job later but for now it will work to get from point A to B. "Only" italicized because we all know how long they can take for road improvement projects... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Okay minor update on that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Haha, you had to do it in picture too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Haha, you had to do it in picture too. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Nothing, misread and stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enervation Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Okay minor update on that. I don't see how it makes any difference. In America all they would probably do is seal it off and then wait several weeks to get notification from a repair company that they will need several weeks to fill out the paper work to make sure that in several weeks the repair equipment will be ready in several weeks that they'll be ready to make repairs with in ten years. And to anyone that says otherwise: Go drive on a freeway, one of the older ones, and count how many potholes you run through. Some of them are as big as a freaking tire. One of the junctions at one of my freeway intersections has been under construction for over a year. And all they've been doing is moving around dirt, ffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enervation Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 I see your point. I think it mostly lies in work ethic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 What state do you live in Enervation? In Kansas we have great roads. Even the minor highways are kept in great shape. I don't think it has anything to do with work ethic (and I actually find that assertion vaguely racist), I think it has everything to do with how much money the government is willing to spend on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enervation Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 What state do you live in Enervation? In Kansas we have great roads. Even the minor highways are kept in great shape. I don't think it has anything to do with work ethic (and I actually find that assertion vaguely racist), I think it has everything to do with how much money the government is willing to spend on it. I live in California. I'm not sure how it is in other parts, but my region is severely in need of repairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Ah yeah, I've heard California has bad roads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MottZilla Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Might have something to do with CA having no money and a population overworking the roads. But lots of places in the US are suffering due to funding being cut to maintaining infrastructure. I really hope they manage to get a handle on their nuclear plant. If they suffer a meltdown or an actual fission reaction resulting in an explosion that would be terrible for everyone. Even this is terrible for everyone but it could still get worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enervation Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 They got a no-fly zone around the reactor now. If they can fix it, it'll be a marvel for everyone to celebrate for. And maybe we can use that experience to better prepare ourselves for future quakes! I think it might be partially because the reactor was 40-odd years old, but people say that it still held together fairly well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 (edited) The reactors themselves held up really well. Its all the other things like the pumps and engines that failed.* Not to say that we don't need new reactors. Imagine how much better they could of done if they were 40 years newer. :\ Man, I have enough of the nuclear talk. I'm going to put my bets on them securing it. I have faith in them. When it ends in a success or, heaven forbid, a failure, then I'll come back to talk more about nuclear stuff. Folks in Japan, fight on. *Its like how old cars survives crashes but the person and stuff inside not. Edited March 18, 2011 by MaliciousH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 Nuclear reactors in quake zones should be built on giant shock absorbers like the command center at NORAD is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 http://www.itworld.com/business/140626/legacy-1800s-leaves-tokyo-facing-blackouts I guess this may give them a chance to fix this issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 18, 2011 Report Share Posted March 18, 2011 "Passengers in some stations are being asked to take the stairs instead of the escalator." Can't you just turn off the escalator, thus turning it in to stairs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pirandello Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 No way, man! See those serrated edges? Somebody could, like, fall, and, like, hurt or kill themselves on those! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Supposedly there's a quake due to hit along the San Andreas fault "soonish" but that's "soon" on a planet scale, so could be days could be months. But in general these' supposedly come in pairs over the past year or so and san andreas is the only side of the tectonic plate the last years of earthquakes have been on, Japan included, yet to be affected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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