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PierreVandevenne

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Japan
« on: March 11, 2011, 06:24:43 pm »

Are our regular contributors from Japan safe?
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Kumar

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Re: Japan
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2011, 06:57:51 pm »

Thanks for your concern, Pierre.

I am in Kobe, which hasn't been affected. I hope Bernard is too. He's in Tokyo.

Kumar

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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Japan
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2011, 07:30:19 pm »

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Japan
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2011, 07:54:53 pm »

I hope Bernard is somewhere in the mountains, high above it all.

Eric
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: Japan
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2011, 10:41:16 pm »

Hello my friends,

Thanks for your concern. My wife and I were both at work in tokyo when it happened. Both of us managed to walk back home last night and are safe. No apparent damage at our building also besides a few fallen CDs and books. The only communication medium that kept working reliably was internet.

However the situation is very bad in Northern Japan.

Some have expressed the desire to help. One possible option is linked to below:

http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_FrontPagePanel

Cheers,
Bernard

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Japan
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2011, 11:59:46 pm »

I'm glad you're both OK, and that Red Cross has a focused donation option.

Eric
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Steve Weldon

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Re: Japan
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2011, 01:27:06 am »

As a former resident of Japan (6 years in Okinawa, Kyoto, Tokyo) my heart goes out to the Japanese.

They live in a country where the knowledge of an imminent major earthquake and the subsequent disaster, could happen at any time, and probably will happen during their lifetimes.  Yet, they make the very best of what they have though technology and preparedness.  Admirable.

I hope we're able to help with their reactors and advert the most serious longest lasting damage.
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Rob C

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Re: Japan
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2011, 03:59:23 am »

Bet your boots that The Colonel sees it as a blessing and can now get on with politics, privately, in his own way!

Funny how short the attention span of the media.

Rob C

BernardLanguillier

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Re: Japan
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2011, 07:25:24 am »

Bet your boots that The Colonel sees it as a blessing and can now get on with politics, privately, in his own way!

Funny how short the attention span of the media.

Are you saying that Kadhafi did it? :)

Cheers,
Bernard

Justinr

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Re: Japan
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2011, 10:51:38 am »

If nothing else the media coverage of this dreadful event has shown up the inadequacies of Sky and the strengths of the BBC. Sky has predictably presented the whole thing as a disaster movie with endless repeats and dramatic sound accompaniment, the egos of interviewers are placed before the knowledge of invited experts  and the juxtaposition of the vision of total and utter destruction of the landscape alongside a fellow whinging that bit of concrete fell on his car bonnet simply underlines how shallow is their approach.  The only light relief came from the voiceover on a clip showing a beach at Hawaii. The tsunami's arrival was eagerly anticipated as another great bit of destruction footage for the excitable children at Sky and it was only a half hour or so after the due time that we were sadly informed that "A mildly larger wave lapped up the beach at about the time the tsunami was expected to hit" You could taste the disappointment in the voice.

Whilst not being a fan of the BBC generally their coverage has been a lot more intelligent and there is a genuine sense of shock at the events as they have unfolded. They even let the experts finish their sentences, a concept that is totally lost on the Sky people.

Poor old RTE here in Ireland had an advert accompanying their coverage on the web that urged viewers to "Learn Surfing. An experience you'll never forget" Quite.

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Mark D Segal

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Re: Japan
« Reply #10 on: March 12, 2011, 04:53:20 pm »

Hello my friends,

Thanks for your concern. My wife and I were both at work in tokyo when it happened. Both of us managed to walk back home last night and are safe. No apparent damage at our building also besides a few fallen CDs and books. The only communication medium that kept working reliably was internet.

However the situation is very bad in Northern Japan.

Some have expressed the desire to help. One possible option is linked to below:

http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_FrontPagePanel

Cheers,
Bernard



Hello Bernard,

I'm really pleased to hear that you and Kumar are OK. My thoughts were with some family members who live around Tsukuba and yourselves when I heard the news. My family is OK as well, though there is some concern about the sustainability of power, water and supplies where they live.

Apart from the horrendous images we are getting of the massive destruction caused up North by the tsunami, one of the most pressing consequential dangers must be the nuclear plant at Fukushima. In one of my former incarnations I was involved with policy development for nuclear-based electricity supply and I seem to recall design practices for plant sites to have large Diesel generators on dormant standby, which could be activated for handling station service in the event of a grid outage. I'm wondering what the arrangements and situation were at Fukushima and how this terrible misfortune developed. Sure hope there will be no melt-down. It must be unbearably nerve-racking for millions of people.
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: Japan
« Reply #11 on: March 12, 2011, 05:28:08 pm »

Apart from the horrendous images we are getting of the massive destruction caused up North by the tsunami, one of the most pressing consequential dangers must be the nuclear plant at Fukushima. In one of my former incarnations I was involved with policy development for nuclear-based electricity supply and I seem to recall design practices for plant sites to have large Diesel generators on dormant standby, which could be activated for handling station service in the event of a grid outage. I'm wondering what the arrangements and situation were at Fukushima and how this terrible misfortune developed. Sure hope there will be no melt-down. It must be unbearably nerve-racking for millions of people.

Hy Mark,

Thanks for your concern.

Yes, the Nuclear situation is very worrisome indeed. It appears that the back up diesel generators were damaged as well by the tsunami. An explosion in the reactor building yesterday spread wide concern that one of the reactors had been compromised, but authorities claim it is not the case. That was the status 8 hours ago, the morning news I am now watching are not super clear about the details.

It is seems that a second reactor on the same site is now facing cooling issues as well.

Accurate information is scarce as the authorities understandably try to prevent panic among the population.

Cheers,
Bernard

Mark D Segal

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Re: Japan
« Reply #12 on: March 12, 2011, 06:17:56 pm »

Hy Mark,

Thanks for your concern.

Yes, the Nuclear situation is very worrisome indeed. It appears that the back up diesel generators were damaged as well by the tsunami. An explosion in the reactor building yesterday spread wide concern that one of the reactors had been compromised, but authorities claim it is not the case. That was the status 8 hours ago, the morning news I am now watching are not super clear about the details.

It is seems that a second reactor on the same site is now facing cooling issues as well.

Accurate information is scarce as the authorities understandably try to prevent panic among the population.

Cheers,
Bernard


Thanks for those insights Bernard.

I see on the news that they have expanded the perimeter of evacuation. Very wise under the circumstances, but you may be interested to know there is concern even here in Canada that if one of those reactor cores experiences a melt-down, depending on the wind conditions, radio-active contamination could reach British Columbia. Let's hope it all gets somehow controlled before that happens. They were very unfortunate to lose the Diesel sets, because that would have been their best protection.

Cheers,

Mark
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Josh-H

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Re: Japan
« Reply #13 on: March 12, 2011, 07:05:49 pm »

Forbes are now reporting a 'report' of a meltdown a the reactor...This is not going well....
http://blogs.forbes.com/christopherhelman/2011/03/12/reports-claim-meltdown-at-japanese-reactor/

Bernard - Very glad to hear you escaped unscathed and hope you and your family are ok.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Japan
« Reply #14 on: March 12, 2011, 08:25:09 pm »

Forbes are now reporting a 'report' of a meltdown a the reactor...This is not going well....
http://blogs.forbes.com/christopherhelman/2011/03/12/reports-claim-meltdown-at-japanese-reactor/

Bernard - Very glad to hear you escaped unscathed and hope you and your family are ok.

Latest from the BBC World Service:

"The authorities said the reactor itself was intact inside its steel container."

Also:

"It appears that the reactor was shut down well before any melting occurred, which should reduce considerably the risk of radioactive materials entering the environment.
However, the detection of caesium isotopes outside the power station buildings could imply that the core has been exposed to the air.
Although Japan has a long and largely successful nuclear power programme, officials have been less than honest about some incidents in the past, meaning that official reassurances are unlikely to convince everyone this time round."

NPPs usually have multiple containment structures designed to prevent large-scale radiation leakage outside the reactor container even in the event of a meltdown, but none of this is 100% certain to work in all circumstances, so for us who know little of the facts first hand, we can only wait and see what actually happens and hope for the best.

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David Sutton

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Re: Japan
« Reply #15 on: March 12, 2011, 09:25:27 pm »

Our thoughts and prayers are with our neighbours to the north, and with all who have friends and relations there.
David
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Chairman Bill

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Re: Japan
« Reply #16 on: March 13, 2011, 10:39:32 am »

How long before some purveyor of supernaturalist mumbo-jumbo blames all this on a deity's rage at <insert minority group here> or some practice allegedly outlawed in some collection of Bronze Age or Medieval myths?

Steve Weldon

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Re: Japan
« Reply #17 on: March 13, 2011, 12:54:28 pm »

How long before some purveyor of supernaturalist mumbo-jumbo blames all this on a deity's rage at <insert minority group here> or some practice allegedly outlawed in some collection of Bronze Age or Medieval myths?
With possibly 10,000+ dead, several nuclear cores in the process of melting down, and a country - an ally, experiencing their worst natural disaster in over a hundred years.. and I say this with all due respect.  Who cares?  This is not the time, nor the appropriate place, to lend credence in any way to such agendas.. Not by acknowledging them, not by giving them credit through discussion.  That's all I have to say about that..
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Justinr

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Re: Japan
« Reply #18 on: March 13, 2011, 02:06:16 pm »

I fear that 10,000 dead will prove to be something of a conservative estimate with the final figure being somewhat vague and many months from being ascertained. What is clear though is that the enormity of it has taken some time to for Japan itself to grasp especially since the obvious billions they have spent on preparation were casually tossed aside by the sheer force of the event. Having made the financial and emotional investment in the infrastructure erected to protect the communities their belief in their invincibility  takes time to overcome, two to three days in this case, and in the long run this disaster must deal one hell of a blow to the self confidence any population must maintain if it is to prosper.

Obviously there will be a range of nutters jumping up and down insisting that the Japanese have been rewarded for their sins of the past but I doubt that they will be taken seriously by any great number of people and I trust that the world will respond with compassion whether they consider Japan an ally or not.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Japan
« Reply #19 on: March 13, 2011, 03:21:36 pm »

What is clear though is that the enormity of it has taken some time to for Japan itself to grasp especially since the obvious billions they have spent on preparation were casually tossed aside by the sheer force of the event.

You don't have a friggin clue what would have happened there had they NOT spent all those billions preparing the infrastructure for such an event. As bad as it looks now, without all they've done it would certainly have been many times worse - at least for the earthquake damage. The tsunami damage is another matter altogether. I don't know how any country would protect itself from a wall of water weighing a metric tonne per cubic meter and over 20 feet high traveling in at the cruising speed of a 747 - just think about it, and that is what caused most of the damage.
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