Japanese Quake and tsunami

Is there any word that evacuations were possible before the wave hit?
It is very troubling to see that so many houses were effected.

 

Japanese nuke plant on fire, overheating and leaking due to

power failure in cooling pumps.

Shouldn't a nuke plant be:

1)300% earthquake proof....it really ain't that hard to make something totally quake-proof, just a little extra steel.

2)300% power failure proof, just have a portable generator on a trailer in a parking lot away from any tall trees or buildings, with a few lengths of extra cable.


Shouldn't there be totally redundant truck mounted backup cooling pump apparatus parked nearby, but not too nearby, to if a meteorite, airplane crash, or riot breaks the main pump they can haul in a backup system with enough of whatever to keep the plant from destroying itself?

 

gonna be lot of boat repair work in Santa Cruz, CA.

They're saying the surging may last for hours. The harbors are long and narrow river inlets/sloughs.

I guess the smart move would've been to speed down there and get your boat out to sea.

 

Many had no opportunity to be warned. There is an entire passenger train full of passengers missing. It was running down the coast when it was hit by the wave.

 

When I was watching as it was happening, there was a helicopter flying around filming things. I saw a few cars driving like crazy to get away, and all too many farms where nobody was moving. The reporter said that many of the farms were taken by surprise, if they weren't watching TV or listening to a radio when it happened then their first clue would be when the wave hit the building they were in.

 

I heard a cruise ship is missing, too.

 

Crescent City, California Harbour has been destroyed by the tsunami according to one city councilman.

 

Correct, and that answer was already given, however, there is no "conversion" from the Richter Scale as it only applies to California. There could of course be comparison, but lets not confuse the two.

-Tom

 

Right were I live on Lake Ontario, next to a power plant, I am told the plant was not built to the 100 year standard, since the life of a plant is far less, at least so long as they don't continually re-up them past their expiry date. Not a notorious earthquake zone, we nonetheless do get them.

Any word on cruisers?

 

Nice to know Ad Hoc is OK.
Can someone tell me what is the condition other people in Japan who are involved in Marine Industry like ClassNK,Tokyo University and other universities?

There may be some more poeple in this forum who are in Japan. How are you all?

We all should pray for Japanese people. May God protect every people of the earth...

 

Point 1 was ok in these plants. Point 2 was not. It's pretty much like in the nuke
plants in the USA.. "in god we trust"
There are several occasions when international inspections have brought this issue up but...

 

Meltdown a strong possibility according to news reports, looking very ugly.

 

The power plant in question is over 40 years old (broke ground in 1966), so considerations after Three Mile Island, Kiev and other safety concerns have been retro fitted, which often isn't the best engineering route, but unfortunately also is the only path.

My current understanding is they've lost generator backup power for cooling pumps and are now on battery power. They've detected cesium, meaning the core has been exposed (not good). The Japanese military are rushing generators and batteries up to the plant now. The last I heard the plant was venting reactor building (I don't know if it has a containment building) pressure, which is going to release radiation (likely steam) into the atmosphere. This isn't as bad as it sounds and it'll hopefully blow toward the east. The alternative is to not vent, which will eventually let the temperature rise within the reactor or containment building and eventually it will breach (not good).

In the next few hours the worst or best will be known. I'm waiting for the PM to make his speech. I suspect that only a little cesium rod was exposed and that cooling has kept things in check. If there's one common thing about these folks, it is how anal they are about safety, which is an unusually reassuring thing at times like this.

Also glad you're okay John . . .

 

Explosion just reported at Fukushima nuclear plant.

 

very sad... one of my friend is there and he is ok now... Pray for them too..