50 people left to control reactor are Heros, Let us never forget.

Its understood to me that 50 people have been left to try to control the reactor in Japan's worst atrocity. Let It be known that these people have made a selfless sacrifice to do the best they can to help everyone in Japan. These people will most likely suffer radiation poisoning, which may lead to death.

They are Heroes to us all, my we all remember their names forever.

I agree, the courage and sacrifice of these people should be admired by all.

Definitely. Though I hear that the workers just suspended operations. (unconfirmed)

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Japan's worst atrocity.

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Atrocity is probably the wrong choice of words.. Though I'm sure TEPCO will have a lot to answer for.

You know I am was pretty oblivious that Japan had so many Nuclear reactors to power their cities! It really surprises me that they chose this route for power! Especially with the inheritant risk associated with it.

I'm sure they thought the technology was mature enough to be used reliably and it met their demands for producing alot of power for their growing population.

But Nuclear power in earthquake riddled towns seems foolish.

Yes they are Heroes trying to make the best of a bad situation! I hope they seriously reconsider their power options after this.

Jeeze its that critical?

pretty bad they already had a huge radiation leak and we are looking at a meltdown

msnbc.msn.com

France is around 80% nuclear with Japan at 63%. I dont know why i thought id share that but there it is.

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Originally Posted by Linkurrra

You know I am was pretty oblivious that Japan had so many Nuclear reactors to power their cities! It really surprises me that they chose this route for power! Especially with the inheritant risk associated with it.

I'm sure they thought the technology was mature enough to be used reliably and it met their demands for producing alot of power for their growing population.

But Nuclear power in earthquake riddled towns seems foolish.

Yes they are Heroes trying to make the best of a bad situation! I hope they seriously reconsider their power options after this.

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Japan doesn't have enough natural resources to power it's cities so nuclear power is really their only option.

Agreed Stilla.

I'm genuinely frightened.

I'm very sure that they will be heroes and their name will be list in the history of Japan and the world's

accomplish or fail, survive or death, it's not matter... just do what they did now already is the best thing for being human (or above the human standard)

Yes, its pretty bad. Lets just believe these people will stop another catastrophe. I do. But anything can happen. Things went pretty much out of their control lately.

I am proud of the Japanese people. They seem to be doing a good job of handling this situation, considering all that has happened. People get mad at the Japanese people for having nuclear power but so does every other country. Obviously they keep these reactors safe because they took an enormous beating from both an earthquake and a tsunami and still the damage doesn't come close to Chernobyl. They are keeping their people safe and it seems to me that with as quick as they are reacting to this, they obviously had prepared for this a lot better than for example BP had prepared for an oil spill prior to anything actually happening.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/...20043554.shtml

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The official said that his friend, one of the Fukushima 50, told him that he was not afraid to die, that that was his job.

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:(

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12755739

At least they have a steady flow of seawater now being pumped to cool down the reactors.

I'm sorry but I find the OP just a bit funny surely you don't really mean we memorize the list of 50 names?

Besides aren't the radiation levels still relatively low? They we're called back today because of the sudden spike in radiation. They're really brave to work there either way as the whole site is unstable and 2 reactors are still expected to release steam in an explosive way if they melt down.

Chernobyl Chernobyl Chernobyl.

Chernobyl only happened because the Russians at the time were too damned cheap with their friggen equipment, and when booms happened, the containment to the core went crack, and it blew ****ing skyhigh.

Right now, the Japanese disasters are to blame on the Chemical Engineers. Every single structure of the plants, including the pumps and the tops of the damn thing, were completely intact when the ground shook.

Except the pipes, which is one of the only things the Chemical Engineers are friggen responsible for.

The pipes went KRTZ. The core then started to overheat. What did the geniuses at the friggen nuclear plant decide to do? (Note to those at home. The pipes are responsible to cool the core and keep it at 300*C. When the core melts, that's what we call an extreme problem.)

Let's vent the Oxygen, Hydrogen, and water vapor out into the air! That'll cool down the core!

Perfect! In theory! If there's enough water vapor, if you have a damned degree in Chemistry, you'll know that shit won't blow up.

But it did.

Okay, so no more venting. Okay. It caused a big explosion and now the damned plant is leaking AND the core is melting. Oh no. Well, let's not do it again right?

They vented the damned thing 2 more times. Three friggen explosions. Unforgivable.

Oh God Oh God how are we going to cool the core it's friggen melting. I know, let's pour Sea Water into it, it'll cool it.

Too late. It's now a level 5-6 problem. It's too far gone. We were too busy making unneeded explosions. Oh well, pouring sea water is still going to mitigate the damage for a long while so we can friggen get help. Think of it like this, you're holding a bolder from a ledge and if it falls off the ledge, it'll crush a bunch of people. It's a bandaid, it needs to get fixxed sooner than later.

So now the radiation that was leaked into the waters are heading to the western coast of the United States, where, by the time it reaches the coast, the radiation levels will rise by a tiny little bit.

However, if the wind changes AT ALL and goes back to Japan, Japan is completely screwed.

Those people right now are trying to stop this from becoming Chernobyl+1, because if things keep going this direction, it'll become a level 7, maybe a level 8.

For the folks at home, level 3 means the Plant shuts down, level 4 means radiation is leaking, Level 7 is Chernobyl. It only goes up to Level 9.

I salute the gentlemen staying. They really are heroic, just like those other guys who sacrificed themselves by pouring cement onto the core to prevent a catastrophic explosion in another event.

Still, the plant was completely fortified, the Earthquake didn't even phase the plant.

Except the pipes.

Stupid Chemical Engineers.

The company that manages this nuclear plant is complete and utter douchebags; they have been in violation of unsafe working conditions, out-dated emergency plans, there CEOs and former president were ran out of office by the government for covering up safety reports and covering up spillage of radioactive sludge into there ocean. WHY the hell does'nt the government run these plants something as important as a nuclear power plant should be under government control to begin with. FFS they even store there used fueling rods in the reactors........?????WTF?! Japan is in a shitload of trouble, there government officials are not responding fast enough and are in thereselves not being honest enough with there own people. They need to ask for help outside of Japan and immeadiatly seize control of the Nuclear Power Plants. Tokyo is far to close and in such urgent danger of radiation poisoning of its entire population. I went to school for radiology and i understand the situation all to well >< I have friends in Nara and Enbetsu and they are starting to see people grow uneasy.

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Originally Posted by Hikozaemon

The company that manages this nuclear plant is complete and utter douchebags; they have been in violation of unsafe working conditions, out-dated emergency plans, there CEOs and former president were ran out of office by the government for covering up safety reports and covering up spillage of radioactive sludge into there ocean. WHY the hell does'nt the government run these plants something as important as a nuclear power plant should be under government control to begin with. FFS they even store there used fueling rods in the reactors........?????WTF?! Japan is in a shitload of trouble, there government officials are not responding fast enough and are in thereselves not being honest enough with there own people. They need to ask for help outside of Japan and immeadiatly seize control of the Nuclear Power Plants. Tokyo is far to close and in such urgent danger of radiation poisoning of its entire population. I went to school for radiology and i understand the situation all to well >< I have friends in Nara and Enbetsu and they are starting to see people grow uneasy.

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It's a business, you lie to the government to make them think the risk is really really low. Preparing for low risk is profitable.

Still, this isn't cause of safety regulations and all that. This is due to the one messup by Chemical Engineers. The pipes.

Pipes pipes pipes. We got the pumps, the electricity, and everything is intact. Except the pipes. This should of been remedied years ago, considering this plant was built 40 years ago.

Covered by cement. What happens to cement when a magnitude 9 Earthquake hits?

Bye bye cement, and bye bye weak pipes. Stronger pipes would of made these problems nonexistent.

It's all in cost effectiveness and profit.

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Originally Posted by Linkurrra

You know I am was pretty oblivious that Japan had so many Nuclear reactors to power their cities! It really surprises me that they chose this route for power! Especially with the inheritant risk associated with it.

I'm sure they thought the technology was mature enough to be used reliably and it met their demands for producing alot of power for their growing population.

But Nuclear power in earthquake riddled towns seems foolish.

Yes they are Heroes trying to make the best of a bad situation! I hope they seriously reconsider their power options after this.

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Most structures here in Japan are design to withstand earthquakes to a degree, with critical buildings being built to greater strength. However, this M9.0 earthquake was the largest in Japan's history, and exceeded a lot of preparatory measures.

TEPCO will definitely have a lot to answer for, but this doesn't seem to be a case of human error as was the situation with Tokai-mura incident of 1999. Future scrutiny may prove otherwise, but this time it appears that there were just a series of really bad circumstances that have led up to the current situation.

I'm not an expert at all, but I've been reading a lot about this and watching the news constantly since I live in Tokyo and want to know the minute they decide if we should evacuate. ><

- Magnitude 9.0 earthquake hits off the northeastern shore of Japan. Largest quake in Japan's history.
- The nuclear power reactors shut down automatically within seconds of the earthquake.
- Residual heat continues after the main reaction stops (normal situation), and this heat needs to be carried away to prevent damage to the reactor.
- The earthquake itself destroyed the external generators which power the cooling system.
- The backup generators kicked in, but were then destroyed by the tsunami.
- Battery power takes over, but was exhausted 8 hours later.
- With loss of cooling, pressure was rising in the reactor building and they began controlled venting.
- Excessive amounts of hydrogen in the gas mixture causes explosion of external structure (which serves to keep weather out but has no purpose for reactor containment).
- Primary containment structure remains intact.
- Chance of full meltdown is nil since the reactor cores are all completely shut down.
- Chance of radioactive material escaping into the environment and subsequent health risks are still very real.

Japan has been steadily moving towards clean energy like solar and wind, and hybrid vehicles. But we are still a very electricity hungry society and nuclear has been the only way to meet those needs without burning fossil fuels.

In hind sight, I guess it was foolish to think that human-built structures could withstand anything that nature could throw at it.

I hope they are able to control the situation soon.

I think that anyone involved in the earthquake and tsunami recovery, and the Fukushima nuclear response is a hero.

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Originally Posted by Mikita

Most structures here in Japan are design to withstand earthquakes to a degree, with critical buildings being built to greater strength. However, this M9.0 earthquake was the largest in Japan's history, and exceeded a lot of preparatory measures.

TEPCO will definitely have a lot to answer for, but this doesn't seem to be a case of human error as was the situation with Tokai-mura incident of 1999. Future scrutiny may prove otherwise, but this time it appears that there were just a series of really bad circumstances that have led up to the current situation.

I'm not an expert at all, but I've been reading a lot about this and watching the news constantly since I live in Tokyo and want to know the minute they decide if we should evacuate. ><

- Magnitude 9.0 earthquake hits off the northeastern shore of Japan. Largest quake in Japan's history.
- The nuclear power reactors shut down automatically within seconds of the earthquake.
- Residual heat continues after the main reaction stops (normal situation), and this heat needs to be carried away to prevent damage to the reactor.
- The earthquake itself destroyed the external generators which power the cooling system.
- The backup generators kicked in, but were then destroyed by the tsunami.
- Battery power takes over, but was exhausted 8 hours later.
- With loss of cooling, pressure was rising in the reactor building and they began controlled venting.
- Excessive amounts of hydrogen in the gas mixture causes explosion of external structure (which serves to keep weather out but has no purpose for reactor containment).
- Primary containment structure remains intact.
- Chance of full meltdown is nil since the reactor cores are all completely shut down.
- Chance of radioactive material escaping into the environment and subsequent health risks are still very real.

Japan has been steadily moving towards clean energy like solar and wind, and hybrid vehicles. But we are still a very electricity hungry society and nuclear has been the only way to meet those needs without burning fossil fuels.

In hind sight, I guess it was foolish to think that human-built structures could withstand anything that nature could throw at it.

I hope they are able to control the situation soon.

I think that anyone involved in the earthquake and tsunami recovery, and the Fukushima nuclear response is a hero.

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Yeah, you live in an Earthquake paradise. Every single nuclear plant is capable of withstanding a magnitude 9 Earthquake, it didn't phase them which is why there wasn't any immediate booms.

However, when the electricity and pumps were destroyed, the nuclear power plants always have backups, and they did. The pumps are responsible for cooling the core, this is also true.

However, when the pipes connecting the core to the pumps are completely destroyed, the electricity and the pumps are completely useless and the core goes into overheating.

The pipes need to be replaced, and that's not possible at the moment because, well, it takes friggen time to get 3' pipes and install them.

The vented explosions would of done about 1/3 of the damage if it wasn't done thrice.

PIPES. IT'S A SERIES OF TUBES.

The radiation is at sea now since the radiation escaped, and heading to the west coast of the US. If the wind changes to bring the radiation to Japan, there will need to be a mass evacuation.

It won't affect the US that much because the radioactivity will dissipate as it nears us, the ocean will take a hit.

All in all, where are those Chemical Engineers?

the reason the Fukushima plant is going through all this is because the backup generators were damaged beond repair by the tsunami. The power plant can withstand almost anything, they are designed to shut down if there is an earthquake, then the generators take over to power the cooling systems which prevents this however because they were damaged by the tsunami they could not power the cooling systems which is why the reactors have been close to meltdown

Please explain to me what a Chemical Engineer has to do with Design and implementation. The Design Engineer is responsible for the layout and fundamental stability of the plants the chemical engineers would be responsible for the chemical makeup, im not even sure the plant would employ a chemical engineer, nuclear engineers yes chemical no.

Man....If only I could do something.


Only thing I can do is have faith in the Japanees. If I "HAD" to choose (god forbid I must) in which country such a disater had to happen I would pick Japan. I know they can handle it. They have overcome many disasters, they will overcome this one as well.

I dont have faith in God or any other surreal power. I have faith in Japan.


Lots of respect from Holland

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Originally Posted by Elkwood

Please explain to me what a Chemical Engineer has to do with Design and implementation. The Design Engineer is responsible for the layout and fundamental stability of the plants the chemical engineers would be responsible for the chemical makeup, im not even sure the plant would employ a chemical engineer, nuclear engineers yes chemical no.

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Chemical Engineers are glorified plumbers(in nuclear power plants anyway). They're completely in charge of pipes, designing the pipes, and what the hell it can withstand, considering what's being pumped in is, lo and behold, full of chemicals to cool the core. They're not the ones installing it manually.

Chemical Engineers DO DESIGN the damned things. Engineers design and create. Nuclear Power Plants: Pipes.

Pipes brokededed

Their damned fault.

Please guys stop.

This is not the time.

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Originally Posted by Linkurrra

You know I am was pretty oblivious that Japan had so many Nuclear reactors to power their cities! It really surprises me that they chose this route for power! Especially with the inheritant risk associated with it.

I'm sure they thought the technology was mature enough to be used reliably and it met their demands for producing alot of power for their growing population.

But Nuclear power in earthquake riddled towns seems foolish.

Yes they are Heroes trying to make the best of a bad situation! I hope they seriously reconsider their power options after this.

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The power plants have been stable for decades now, it was only after a magnitude 9 earthquake and a tsunami that they took sufficient damage. Those two natural disasters alone don't come along often and certainly not of that magnitude. The power plants are pretty safe considering.

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Originally Posted by Arcell

The power plants have been stable for decades now, it was only after a magnitude 9 earthquake and a tsunami that they took sufficient damage. Those two natural disasters alone don't come along often and certainly not of that magnitude. The power plants are pretty safe considering.

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Pipes.

It was the pipes.

It's hard to call technology from the 70's "safe"

Much of the plant was one big design flaw to begin with.

Well you are somewhat correct, I just did a bunch of research on engineering requirements for plants and it appears that the design engineers actually do have a partial chemical background. However you cannot blame what is happening on any 1 person, this 8.9 Earthquake is the 5th strongest on record, the plants were sadly only tested to a 7.9 Mag Quake, which at the time they were built was thought to be the worst quake they could get. So it is not as if these guys were incompetent, I am also sure they did not exactly test to see if a Tsunami would wipe the plant out.

What I would like to know is how all 13 backup Diesel generators died, I have seen nothing out of the TEC giving any explanation in depth as to how the primary backup system completely failed. While I do not blame this on any 1 individual or set of individuals, this especially so close to the last major Tsunami in 2004, was an entirely unforeseen event.

I heard about these 50 poeple and I could hardly believe their sacrifice. Could you imagine the scene there? Working deperately to mitigate the disaster, knowing that you may die for staying?

These people are hereos. Let's hope the situation stabalizes and these people can be treated and returned to their families.

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Originally Posted by Mikita

Most structures here in Japan are design to withstand earthquakes to a degree, with critical buildings being built to greater strength. However, this M9.0 earthquake was the largest in Japan's history, and exceeded a lot of preparatory measures.

.... Edited for Brevity....

Japan has been steadily moving towards clean energy like solar and wind, and hybrid vehicles. But we are still a very electricity hungry society and nuclear has been the only way to meet those needs without burning fossil fuels.

In hind sight, I guess it was foolish to think that human-built structures could withstand anything that nature could throw at it.

I hope they are able to control the situation soon.

I think that anyone involved in the earthquake and tsunami recovery, and the Fukushima nuclear response is a hero.

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Yeah, I wasn't trying to be critical of your culture. Just nuclear energy as a whole. After all, a Nuclear reactor is just a huge steam generator.

Not living in Japan I was unaware of your situation. But it's good to hear that efforts are being made to wean off of dirty power to clean power. Always kind of knew Japanese were power hungry. hell, You guys started the cellphone craze! lol But there is more power pumping from all your cities than a Las Vegas strip! The technology that you guys cycle through is crazy and I admire your culture for it lol.

Which is probably why your have a necessity for such huge power demands.

Regardless though, I think they are doing a good job of handling the situation. Keep up the good work and stay safe!

I feel that people are doing their best to deal with the situation, all man created objects are made with a known potential failure, weather it be .001% or 50% failure. We understand that Nature rules this planet, thus we are ruled by nature, but we at least understand that in most situations that probability explains to us that nature will win. We have needs (power/energy,) and we take a risk doing our best to address progress. Today that progress is filled with poisonous gas, radiation and environmental/ community hazards. Everything we create, will have a negative effect.

These workers woke up on day and their employer said, "We have a problem! The CEOs have no clue how to fix our problem, but they kinda created it. At the moment the CEO's are living a hazard free life somewhere safe, but our society and our CEOs are looking for people to possibility sacrifice their lives as they work without rest, a lot of stress, and unknown tasks, to possibility save thousands to hundreds of millions. Its fked up that these people even are asked/demanded to resolve this problem although its not of their creation.

So there they are, they are doing something which is not their fault and not their job. The risk of death is real but they accepted what was coming. The are living heroes. Let us tell them we acknowledge what they have done while they are alive, not as a after thought.

Thanks you, people who have risked everything to do what might be best for so many. I cry at night knowing you have made this decision. Good luck! And, if you feel as if you failed, you didn't, you are everyone's hero and I/we will not forget.

All I can bring myself to say on subjects like this is:

Japan, my prayers are with you; your people. To even attempt to empathize with your ordeal brings tears to my eyes, which only serve to exhibit the magnitude of the tragedy and the selfless sacrifice made by those who shall forever be known as Samurai.

never forgot them

follow by Suteki Da Ne, orchestral version

their name need to be known or written down, but as we talk now, we only know 50 people, but not their names.

I have extraordinary respect for these people. I mean that. This situation is horrific, and to risk absolutely everything to save everyone else, and to potentially die in (in my opinion) one of the worst ways imaginable (radiation poisoning) is nothing less than heroic.

If they survive, I don't think there's any way they could be repaid. Their actions, even if they fail, are priceless.