Japan's situation

[David12]

I don't see any thread about Japan and what's going on there...So I thought maybe I'll post one, just so we'd offer our condolences and grievance to those amazing people and the thousands of victims who fell because of the earth quakes and Tsunami...

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Agreed... :| :Salute

Tis mentioned here as well..

http://www.talk.electricianforum.co.uk/general-chat-area/14371-so-works-bit-quiet-think-yourself-lucky.html

:x :coffee

 

[Theorysparky]

What about the incompetence of the Japanese government ????

When Cheynobal (spelling?) happened there were many recommendations on how to prevent it happening again...

Japan didnt,,,,,,,we have though

and it is believed this would have prevented the radiation leakage they have now.

still sad for the loss of life though.

 

[gordy71]

Horrendous situation out there, friend of mine that i met whilst travelling, was in tokyo when the earthquakes happened and escaped with only the clothes he had on his back. He managed to get a flight to australia and is now stuck with nothing. One incident of thousands of people in dire situations.

 

[revjames]

Truly awful I find it hard to believe that it took a week to get cooling water into the reactors! True scale of the disasters yet to be known. My heart goes out to the people of Japan.

 

[Robin Spark]

My wife works for a company that does installations and maintenance on power stations worldwide including nuclear, they were bought out (before being sold on again)by the Japanese a few years ago and they were really strict on things like health & safety and they changed lots of procedures.

I am really surprised at how relaxed they can be in their own country especially with all of their technology and expertise at their fingertips!!

I hope they get themselves sorted soon, its bad enough a situation at the moment for them and I dont want it to escalate anymore for the sake of their people.

 

[steptoe]

can you really plan for an earthquake though?

I know you can do all this and all that,

BUT WTF,

no one really knows what will happen when the world decides to move a bit.!!!!!!

 

[gordy71]

Thats a good point steps, no matter how many UPS systems you have, if the cables get tugged hard enough their gonna break.

 

[Sidewinder]

As i understood it when the quake happened the reactrors shut down and the backup safety systems kicked in and all wasl fine.

Then there wasa little water involved in the form of a 10m Tsunami which was where the problem came!

From what I understood Japan is one of the best prepared countries in the world when it comes to earthquakes, a Tsunami of this magnitude obviously was not part of the plan.

As Mrs Sidewinder said the other day, one thing is sure, the Japanese are a resourceful and adaptable race, they will get through this, and, they will put things in place for this scenario in the future, and I suspect the IAEA will enforce this globally.

Also the Japanese will improve the Asia Pacific Tsunami early warning system no end I'm sure.

Still no help to them, a terrible situation, here's hoping that it is sorted as soon as possible with the best possible outcome

20%

 

[Litttle Shonet]

With the tectonic plates over to the east of Japan, surely building nuclear power stations on the east coast is upping the risk. Why not have them on the west coast if the Tsunami caused the damage. (I know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Japan is used to eathquakes and the inevitable Tsunamis that will follow)

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

The problem is how the heck can anyone know how big or where a Tsunami is going to come from?

My eldest son, (who did Geography at Uni) told me Japan has moved approx 8ft to the side!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its has 5 main islands and the largest Honshu is only approx 100mile wide at some of the fattest bits!

Map of Japan

Due to the history of ocean travel and trading the main city's are all on coastlines or by major rivers..

(As with most major city's in countries worldwide!)

and as power generation is best nearer the place where the power is needed..

It is one of those facts of life that if sea levels rise, gradually or suddenly impact on population is inevitable.

They did have flood barriers for a certain level of swell..

But how high do you keep building just in case an unknown bigger wave comes next year???

On a slight lesser scale large parts of our east cost are very vulnerable to high sea swells, if high tides, low pressure, strong winds etc.. all combine..

it is know that the risk is real and possible..

But how much money do you invest for the possibility of an unknown event that may or may not happen in the next 10.. 20.. 30.. 40.. 50.. years???

There are No easy answers..

it's just that in this Japan situation a whole bunch of events have all combined together to make it about as bad as it could be...

Big earthquake..

High sea swell..

Damage to power station..

Freezing winter conditions..

they only need a bl00dy Hurricane and they have got the whole set I think!!!

Bottom line is..

they are all still people with Mums & Dads, maybe Brothers & Sisters..

None or very few personal belongings left!

It just makes you think how you or I would cope!

:C :| :_|

 

[Robojin]

Big earthquake..

High sea swell..

Damage to power station..

Freezing winter conditions..

they only need a bl00dy Hurricane and they have got the whole set I think!!!

Bottom line is..

they are all still people with Mums & Dads, maybe Brothers & Sisters..

None or very few personal belongings left!

It just makes you think how you or I would cope!

:C :| :_|

Well it would be a Typhoon but fortunately the wrong time of year for these

As Sidewinder said it was the the Tsunami that caused the Fukushima problem not the earthquake, the media as always are spreading the doom and gloom side as they do at every opportunity (much why I don't buy papers), they would have you believe Tokyo is in chaos which is completely untrue, very much business as normal

Having worked over the years with many Japanese and spent many years learning the language I have a good insight as to how they view life.

What clearly demonstrates the Japanese mentality is the orderly queues for food, no looting even when they are in desperate need, the power workers selfless act of working close down the hazard to prevent further harm, can you imagine that being true if the event happened any western country. You will be amazed how quickly the Japanese rebuild the infrastructure, although it will be decades before some the towns and villages recover.

 

[Sidewinder]

Robojn,

The key thing I think you have said in your post is it will be some decades before some of the towns and villages recover, that is you are saying they will, which I also believe.

They will recover, they will rebuild, they will carry on, they will overcome, and come out of this with something positive, eventually perhaps but I believe they will survive this and prosper again.

 

[Robojin]

I think many people don't understand that when a populace live in a very active earthquake region they accept and deal with it, as they have for millennia, after all the Japanese have so little land (a little over 70% is mountainous) with a population of 125m (living in a habitable area the size of England) they will have no choice but to move back into these areas and start over what ever the risk. Something our TV media don't seem to grasp because they can only relate to living in geologically stable region where this never happens. Tragic yes, but this is what defines the Japanese, so very different to every other nation.

One consequent of the Fukushima incident is that the Green Mafia will use this as propaganda in an attempt to derail any further expansion of Nuclear power even though we have no credible (cost per watt) alternative to meet the real demands of the next decade