QUAKE UPDATE Day 27 ++++
Domestically, things get ratcheted up and most interesting when you suddenly go from being a couple to a family of 6, the little ones enjoying no school and the big ones debating how best to react to the new national reality... Setting up plans B and C as we speak... Red pill or Blue pill... Green pill might be good...
Heard from Tatsuya up north, outside the evaluation zone, that things appear to be getting closer to normal in his vicinity, he has both water and electricity now, still no trains running though, tells of the weird thing he saw when walking back home along the coast for 7 hours through the tsunami area in the dark of that first night after the quake, no houselights no street lights suddenly saw, as best he could tell, out there in the dark dozens of clusters of people in white carrying other people in white out from a big building and setting them on the ground-- he was puzzled at first but as he walked by and heard the talk he realized it was a hospital being evacuated in the dark... the staff was moving all the patients who could be moved outside to safety from the aftershocks... those who could not be moved or needed electricity for various equipment had to be left to their fate...
Another tale I saw on the news was of an elderly energetic man who all his life had been a maker of kokeshi dolls, until his house, shop and supplies had been destroyed; he had decided to give up, he was over 80 and all was gone and that was it, but then because he was apparently well known for his dolls he started getting requests from people who wanted dolls from him for various festive occasions in their own lives, who urged him to keep on making the dolls and not be defeated, the requests kept coming so he took up doll making again, became one of the many icons of recovery that are emerging here and there...
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And now for your modern living convenience, here’s a Handy Radiation Dose Chart - Good to know the relative values of what we’re dealing with here in this radiant reality... Keep it on your fridge, but don't stand too close for too long!
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Truthiness is good for business
“Visiting General Electric Co. CEO Jeffrey Immelt said Monday that the nuclear power plants it sells worldwide are safe despite the crisis the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant [using a Mark 1] GE built more than 40 years ago is going through.”
but
“Thirty-five years ago, Dale G. Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues at General Electric resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing -- the Mark 1 -- was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident.
Questions persisted for decades about the ability of the Mark 1 to handle the immense pressures that would result if the reactor lost cooling power... ”
and
Fukushima GE-Made Reactor's Safety Doubted Since 70s
“The warnings were stark and issued repeatedly as far back as 1972:
If the cooling systems ever failed at a Mark 1 nuclear reactor — developed in the 1960s by General Electric — the primary containment vessel surrounding the reactor would probably burst as the fuel rods inside overheated. Dangerous radiation would spew into the environment.
But the type of containment vessel and pressure suppression system used in the failing reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant — and in 23 American reactors at 16 plants — is physically less robust...”
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Tepco is still wearing those short boots...
"On March 31, in the third week of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, owner TEPCO submitted a plan to add a seventh and eighth reactor at the stricken site to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. TEPCO is required to submit yearly reports, which include future development plans.
The company claims that due to the confusion brought about by earthquake and tsunami, they did not have an opportunity to revise the plan and, faced with a strict deadline, simply chose to submit it."
The Japanese people are getting angry, the decisions of career bureaucrats hanging over their heads...
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Communities Struggle to Rebuild Shattered Lives on Japan’s Coast
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Aftershock shakes Japan's ruined northeast coast
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"High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants...
Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis.
Do not build any homes below this point."
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"High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants...
Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis.
Do not build any homes below this point."
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"Always be prepared for unexpected tsunamis.
Choose life over your possessions and valuables."
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"It takes about three generations for people to forget..."
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"Aftershocks will continue for a year or so..."
"Always be prepared for unexpected tsunamis.
Choose life over your possessions and valuables."
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"It takes about three generations for people to forget..."
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"Aftershocks will continue for a year or so..."
4 comments:
Hello Robert,
Interesting post. Interesting blog.
The earth quake was 5 times more powerful than the reactor was designed for. Even with that the earthquake and the design of the reactor weren't the problem. The tsunami and the subsequent destruction of back-up power are what lead to the problems. The design in placing the generators were the start of the cascading problems. The placement have nothing to do with GE. These facts aren't as interesting and won't grab as many headlines as saying the reactor design, GE, etc., (pick one) is the problem but they are the actual facts of the situation.
Dave in Nara.
I thank you as usual. Do the kids like the blue, red, or green choices best.
I read your blog while keeping the reactors at San Onofre in mind.
Thanks for the radiation chart link. Tried to check out Dave in Nara for credibility of what he says but couldn't find his blog or confirmation elsewhere of his comment.
Am interested in list of U.S. plants with that G.E. reactor design -- especially since I'm within 51 miles of San Onofre and have friends only 18 miles away. Important even though I realize other technical factors come into play.
Yes, I noted that Dave doesn't refer to FACT of the GE experts who "resigned from their jobs after becoming increasingly convinced that the nuclear reactor design they were reviewing -- the Mark 1 -- was so flawed it could lead to a devastating accident", or to the fact "Fukushima GE-Made Reactor's Safety Doubted Since 70s," he just says that the placement had nothing to do with GE. (GE didn't cause the earthquake either.) This meltdown was the precise disaster those resignees feared, in re loss of cooling power (for whatever reason).
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