[Brenda]

Scape Scape:

I keep thinking this is Japan, where are the robots and drones???

Exactly.

[DrCaleb]

Brenda Brenda:

Are you saying that your nuclear reactor was not build to withstand one?
We are not talking about a power outage that is only annoying and defrosts your freezer. We are talking about a nuclear facility that fucked up.

Nothing is built to withstand tsunamis. As we saw in so many videos, tsunami walls everywhere were swamped.

The power plants work exactly as designed. They withstood the earthquake as designed. They shut down immediately on sensing the earthquake. The cooling was compromised when their main power, backup power and backup backup power were destroyed by the tsunami. Something that couldn't be predicted.

[andyt]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Nothing is built to withstand tsunamis. As we saw in so many videos, tsunami walls everywhere were swamped.

The power plants work exactly as designed. They withstood the earthquake as designed. They shut down immediately on sensing the earthquake. The cooling was compromised when their main power, backup power and backup backup power were destroyed by the tsunami. Something that couldn't be predicted.

Really? Couldn't predict that Japan was subject to tsunamis? Apparently they put those generators in the basement. Might it not have been better to put them on higher floors?

[DrCaleb]

andyt andyt:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Nothing is built to withstand tsunamis. As we saw in so many videos, tsunami walls everywhere were swamped.

The power plants work exactly as designed. They withstood the earthquake as designed. They shut down immediately on sensing the earthquake. The cooling was compromised when their main power, backup power and backup backup power were destroyed by the tsunami. Something that couldn't be predicted.

Really? Couldn't predict that Japan was subject to tsunamis? Apparently they put those generators in the basement. Might it not have been better to put them on higher floors?

Yes, this can't be predicted. Did anyone predict that Japan would face a 4 metre tsunami this year? This decade? This century?

The plant is 40 years old, the generators IIRC were added 10 years ago. Was the building structurally designed to hold them? You can't just plop heavy gensets anywhere without design considerations. You can't risk the structural stress on a nuclear reactor! This isn't nuclear sci.... oh, wait - yes it is.

[andyt]

It seems to me, even 40 years ago, it would have been very easy to set those generators up so they don't get harmed by a tsunami. The reactors didn't wash away, did they? And Japan is well aware of tsunami danger, (and was 40 years ago) so I'm very surprised if they're going to build reactors by the shore, they didn't think about what a wave could do. It's this kind of limited thinking that sinks the nuclear industry, gives them a black eye just as they were starting to recover. And we need that nuke power now more than ever. But not if they don't design the plants to withstand perfectly foreseeable events. Heck, even if they only figured out those generators were vulnerable 2 years ago, it would have been nothing to upgrade them then.

[DrCaleb]

andyt andyt:

Heck, even if they only figured out those generators were vulnerable 2 years ago, it would have been nothing to upgrade them then.

The plants were due to be decommissioned in a matter of months. Why bother?

[andyt]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

andyt andyt:

Heck, even if they only figured out those generators were vulnerable 2 years ago, it would have been nothing to upgrade them then.

The plants were due to be decommissioned in a matter of months. Why bother?

Did not know that. Unfortunate timing then.

[BartSimpson]

Brenda Brenda:

I have been wondering WHY those generators were not ON THE ROOF???

Had they been on the roof then when the roof exploded you'd be wondering why they weren't in the basement.

Bottom line is these reactors were simply overwhelmed by events and there's no one to blame for this.

[Newsbot]

Title: U.S. military team to advise Japan on nuke hazards
Category: World
Posted By: martin14
Date: 2011-03-17 10:06:46

[martin14]

uh oh, Pentagon getting involved.. we're fucked now.


just kidding.



Other news.


British Search and Rescue teams are due to pull out of Japan tomorrow, along with their American counterparts, it has been announced.

Germany to move embassy functions from Tokyo to Osaka over nuke crisis.
Austrian already moved.


The US military will start moving civilians out of Japan,
the UK and France sending planes to help get their people out.


I believe we sent 2 buses to move people out of Tokyo if they want.


Passengers arriving in Europe from Japan are now being tested for signs of radioactive contamination.

Goods arriving in Singapore are being scanned for radiation.

[andyt]

Bring in Jimmy Carter. I believe he was involved when we had a problem in Ontario, lo those many years ago.

[Brenda]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Brenda Brenda:

I have been wondering WHY those generators were not ON THE ROOF???

Had they been on the roof then when the roof exploded you'd be wondering why they weren't in the basement.

Bottom line is these reactors were simply overwhelmed by events and there's no one to blame for this.

Maybe they should have been in/on both? It's not that expensive to not do it, which means no one thought about it. So yes, people are to blame for not being able to back their shit up they way they should.

If there would have been enough back ups in the right places, the reactors would not have the problems they have now.

[DrCaleb]

Brenda Brenda:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Brenda Brenda:

I have been wondering WHY those generators were not ON THE ROOF???

Had they been on the roof then when the roof exploded you'd be wondering why they weren't in the basement.

Bottom line is these reactors were simply overwhelmed by events and there's no one to blame for this.

Maybe they should have been in/on both? It's not that expensive to not do it, which means no one thought about it. So yes, people are to blame for not being able to back their shit up they way they should.

If there would have been enough back ups in the right places, the reactors would not have the problems they have now.

Hindsight is 20/20. They had backups for the backups. What more could they do? Backups for the backups for the backups? And would they make that beeping noise when backing up?

[DrCaleb]

andyt andyt:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

andyt andyt:

Heck, even if they only figured out those generators were vulnerable 2 years ago, it would have been nothing to upgrade them then.

The plants were due to be decommissioned in a matter of months. Why bother?

Did not know that. Unfortunate timing then.

Extremely. I recall reading that the plants were designed for 30 years and magnitude 8 earthquakes, but given an extra 10 years if some improvements were made to the structure, and adding generators to hopefully let them endure a magnitude 8.6. They survived a 9.0. Like Bart says, it's no one's fault. They did their best, and probably averted a really big catastrophe with their preparations.

If they can repair the incoming power lines in time, they should be able to get the cooling back online and the people still manning their posts can take the time to recover in hospital or spend a couple months with their families before they die.

[BartSimpson]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Extremely. I recall reading that the plants were designed for 30 years and magnitude 8 earthquakes, but given an extra 10 years if some improvements were made to the structure, and adding generators to hopefully let them endure a magnitude 8.6. They survived a 9.0. Like Bart says, it's no one's fault. They did their best, and probably averted a really big catastrophe with their preparations.

If they can repair the incoming power lines in time, they should be able to get the cooling back online and the people still manning their posts can take the time to recover in hospital or spend a couple months with their families before they die.

I don't know if you saw CNN last night, but they were showing people being scanned with a Geiger counter and this one fellow - late 20' to mid 30's - had hair falling off his head in patches and the stupid twits from CNN didn't even know what they were looking at.

That poor git is going to be gone in a week or two at most.