You are in Mothership 1 for Japan Nuclear Disaster. Please UNRec this diary, and and Rec Mothership 2. Unrec previous diaries in the series. In general, try to use the ROV's for discussion and commentary. This diary will serve as a reference and anchor point.
ROV 6 is the current liveblog and is published by Middleagedhousewife. Rov 5 was published by Julia Grey. ROV 4 was published by Marcus Tullius.
Please provide links to all information you provide in comments to ensure sourcing and authenticity.
HOTSPOTS @ KOS:
• Pluto's UPDATES: Chernobyl expert smacks Japan and mocks IAEA - GE reactor design flaw? Germany shuts down 7+ ... most recent info and ongoing discussion as of 2:37 pst.
• TomTech's Community Progressive Radio Schedule
Background:
Read Richard Cranium: What the Fukushima? 2.0 - Big 2X Update w/photos (UPDATED 2X)+(Richard is an "Institute for Nuclear Power Operations-certified systems engineer in GE Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs), and worked for over 20 years in the industry with a large architect engineering (A/E) firm and an electric company with a nuclear portfolio. I've worked directly at four BWR plants, including one similar to the Fukushima plants."
FishoutofWater Breaking: Spent fuel fire at reactor 4, hydrogen explosion & radiation release
The number 4 reactor was not operating at the time of the earthquake according to NHK. However, the loss of power that occurred when the tsunami wiped out the diesel generators caused the spent fuel pools to lose water circulation. Heat from the spent fuel would have eventually boiled off the water once circulation was lost. When spent fuel is uncovered it can heat up to such high temperatures that its zirconium alloy cladding catches fire. That appears to have taken place. Moreover these conditions apparently led to hydrogen generation which caused an explosion that destroyed the roof of the reactor 4 building.
Radiation levels of 400 milliseverts (reporting was previously in microseverts, one thousand times less) have been reported between reactors 3 and 4. The live NHK report stated that the hydrogen explosion and fire at reactor 4 may have been caused by burning of the zircalloy cladding of spent fuel rods in the damaged pool. Neutrons have been measured outside of the reactor indicating that water levels are low or the spent fuel has become uncovered. Neutrons are stopped rapidly by hydrogen in water, but will pass through heavier nuclei. Neutrons have a long path length in air.
Currently on Rec list by Pluto: UPDATES: Chernobyl expert smacks Japan and mocks IAEA - GE reactor design flaw? Germany shuts down
Russian nuclear accident specialist, Iouli Andreev, who directed the Chernobyl disaster clean-up, has published a scathing critique of Japan's nuclear power plant set-up, against the Japanese handcling of the disaster, and against the corporations that build nuclear power plants, and against the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
In a recent Reuters interview Andreev insists that the IAEA and all regulatory parties have wilfully ignored the lessons from the world's worst nuclear accident 25 years ago in order to protect the industry's expansion and massive profitibility.
"Greed in the nuclear industry and corporate influence over the U.N. watchdog for atomic energy may doom Japan to a spreading nuclear disaster," says Andreev -- one of the men brought in to clean up Chernobyl .
IN TRANSLATION ... from Japanese to English
Map of Quake Centers
Tomomi Sasaki translation from Japanese to English: Infographic of Radiation & Effects on Human body translated from Japanese
How can I help
Media Coverage
Japan Tsunami – Live Streaming:
NHK Japan Live:NHK Japan Live
Al Jazeera Japan Live: Al Jazeera Japan Live
Guardian UK:Updated every minute
France24 Live: France24 Live
Global Voice Online(Japan/English translation
Twitter – Real Time Updates:
Twitter:IAEA
Twitter: WFP
Twitter #earthquake: Twitter #earthquake
Twitter #japan: Twitter #japan:
Twitter #tsunami: Twitter #tsunami
#EQJP #japanearthquake, #JPQuake, #japaneq, #japantsunami, #ynwa, #japaneq
Media Monitoring Japan's Humanity Road
If you want to help you can donate through this link. Plubius also has a diary on aid groups needing donations.
OpenStreetMap Foundation Japan is using Ushahidi to map crisis information. Volunteers can submit reports through a form or by tweeting location information along with the hashtags #jishin (earthquake), #j_j_helpme (call for help), #hinan (evacuation), #anpi (safety status), or #311care (medical support). The hashtag for people working on the service is #osmjp.
A Japan Nuclear Disaster liveblog group has been created. Click on the heart to follow the group.
Volunteers are needed to publish and queue up for subsequent diaries. To volunteer to host an ROV or the next mothership, please email to join the group. We will be able to queue diaries for publication throughout this crisis.
ROV 4 Marcus Tullius
ROV 5 - Julia Grey
ROV 6 (slot open)
ROV 7 (slot open)
Please be kind to kossacks with bandwidth issues. Please do not post images or videos. Again, many thanks for this.
Updated by boatsie at Tue Mar 15, 2011 at 11:25 PM PDT
PLEASE UNREC. The 2nd Mothership has been published http://www.dailykos.com/...