# 2217: The Associated Press is also now citing Japanese nuclear safety agency officials as saying that radiation levels inside one of the reators at the Fukushima-Daini nuclear power plant have surged to 1,000 times their normal levels after the cooling system failed. Pressure inside the reactor has risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal.
# 2229: Chile's Interior Minister, Rodrigo Hinzpeter, has ordered the evacuation of "all people living in defined flood zones" ahead of the expected arrival of tsunami waves of up to 3m (10ft) along the country's 4,000km (2,500-mile) coastline. On Easter Island, in the South Pacific, the authorities have evacuated 1,500 residents to the airport, which is 45m (150ft) above sea level. The tsunami is expected to reach Easter Island shortly before 1800 local time on Friday (2300 GMT). Residents of the Robinson Crusoe islands, which are closer to mainland Chile, have also been told they may have to move to higher ground.
# 2233: Other islands in the South Pacific have been reporting bigger-than-normal waves as the tsunami reaches them, but no significant damage. Police in Tonga said water had surged into a number of houses on the low-lying Ha'apai islands early on Saturday morning, according to the Associated Press. Tidal surges up to 66cm (26in) high were also reported in American Samoa, Nauru, Saipan and at the far northern tip of New Zealand.
#Tokyo Electric Power Co. is reporting that they have lost control of the pressure in their No. 1 & 2 nuclear reactors with temps rising. :/
F*** i swear they had that under control.... 2252: The Tokyo Electric Power Company has said the cooling systems of three reactors at second nuclear power plant, Fukushima-Daini, are malfunctioning, according to the Kyodo news agency. The plant is 11km (7 miles) to the south of Fukushima-Daiichi, where the cooling system one of its reactors is not working and pressure is rising. from the bbc news webby
# 2239: Japanese nuclear safety officials have said the problems at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant represent "no immediate health hazard" to people living nearby. Some 45,000 people living within a 10km (6-mile) radius of the plant were told to evacuate as radiation levels rose to 1,000 times above normal in one reactor. # 2252: The Tokyo Electric Power Company has said the cooling systems of three reactors at second nuclear power plant, Fukushima-Daini, are malfunctioning, according to the Kyodo news agency. The plant is 11km (7 miles) to the south of Fukushima-Daiichi, where the cooling system one of its reactors is not working and pressure is rising.
# 2310: More from the Tokyo Electric Power Company: It says the ability to control pressure in some of the reactors at Fukushima-Daini has been lost. Pressure is stable inside the reactors, but rising in the containment vessels, a company spokesman says.
Correction: U.S. officials now say they offered to provide coolant to Japan for its nuclear plant, but nation declined ------------------------------ Japan issues state of emergency at another nuclearpower plant after cooling system failure - AP ...Fail
# 2353: Reaction to the disaster from Daisuke Tsuchiya, First Secretary at the Japanese Embassy in London: "It's an absolute shock to everyone in Japan. And the effects, including the devastating tsunami, are really unspeakable... We've been able to, I believe as a government, move quite swiftly in terms of sending out our self-defence forces, rescue and operations. But of course, the power of nature is indeed very strong. At this stage, it really is difficult to assess the actual damage."
# 0014: Japan declares a state of emergency at the Fukushima-Daini power plant, where three of its reactors failed, the Associated Press reports. It says a state of emergency is already in place at the nearby Fukushima-Daiichi plant, where two reactors failed. # 0023: People living within a 3km (two-mile) radius of the Fukushima-Daini nuclear plant are told to evacuate, the AFP news agency reports. # 0050: Reaction to events at two nuclear power plants 250km (160 miles) north east of Tokyo, where states of emergencies have been declared. Environmental group Greenpeace tells the AFP news agency "Japan is in the middle of a nuclear crisis with potentially devastating consequences". Campaigner Jan Beranek adds: "While the immediate focus is on minimising radiation release and keeping local people safe, this is yet another reminder of the inherent risks of nuclear power." # 0059: Tokyo Electric Power, which runs the two stricken nuclear power plants, confirms it has released a small amount of vapour into the atmosphere to reduce pressure on one of its reactors. It tells AFP there are no health risks. # 0143: Tokyo Electric Power releases more radioactive vapour from a second sticken reactor, AFP reports.
Huge blast hits Japan nuclear power plant Japanese TV shows footage of a huge explosion at a nuclear power plant where a meltdown is feared after Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami. **** (Not sarcastic, seriously serious. Butt hole could sharpen a pencil). Does anyone know a site that tells me the wind direction in East Asia??
Having seen that video, I do not believe that its a nuclear explosion. Granted, I'm no expert, just A-level physics, but I agree with the BBC person saying it could be hyrodgen. Also, with the type of reactors that are malfunctioning, a massive nuclear explosion like chernobyl is very unlikely. Radioactive material may get released, but I don't believe a massive explosion could result. But yeah, its not going well. This is why we need to pile money into nuclar fusion development, much safer nuclear power.
1023: Japanese authorities are extending the evacuation zone around the two Fukushima nuclear plants from 10km to 20km, according to local media.
# 1037: Sayaka Matsumoto, from the Red Cross in Tokyo, says the organisation has sent more than 60 medical teams - some 450 doctors and nurses - to the worst-hit area. Those who have arrived in Sendai have opened a tent clinic in front of the city's main government building, she tells the BBC. ( This belongs to the BBC )
Well I've also read that measuring the radiation at the gates of the facility they said if you stayed there for an hour you'd get exposed to a years worth of radiation If it's a hydrogen explosion then a quantity of it will be tritium, but at least it's a very light element and will go into the stratosphere.
Another update after watching BBC. A professor from Imperial was talking about the nuclear reactor, and has said that it looks like it may have been a steam release. And the chance of the reactor vessel being damaged is quite low. Also, as the building that exploded is still partly intact, I'd say your pretty safe for now. I don't believe there has been any major nuclear disaster yet. As the reactor was shut down yesterday, there will be only a very small amount of fuel in the reactor, and the chain reaction used to sustain nuclear fission was stopped when the control rods were lowered when the reactor was shutdown. As the cooling system is what failed, the pressure has been increasing, and that explosion was probably the cooling system exploding, like a car radiator when it overheats. I think, and hope, that the chance of any major nuclear explosion has passed by now. We'll just have to wait and see when more information on what actually happened at the reactor becomes available. I still don't know if that explosion was actually in one of the reactor buildings, everything just says "an explosion at the power plant".
