You are in Mothership 13 coverage of the Japan Nuclear Disaster. Please Rec this diary, and this diary, only. Unrec previous diaries in the series. In general, try to use the ROV's (Remote Operating Vehicles*) for discussion and commentary. This diary will serve as a reference and anchor point.
We are currently in ROV 29: Japan Nuclear Disaster. All Previous ROVs are now stored on the Japan Nuclear Incident group page. Refer to the group also for timeline of events from previous Motherships as well as Kos reporting.
Updated: Media is now reporting radiation levels at 100,000 X normal levels.
From Bloomberg
Tests found radiation levels at 100,000 times the normal level in the No. 2 reactor at the plant, and the reactor may be leaking water, Vice President Sakae Muto said at a briefing broadcast on the Internet.
This story is being reported by NHK television, Kyodo on two news banners, Al-Jazeera, AP and Reuters.
BBC News - Japan workers pulled out of reactor, as radiation soars
27 March 2011 Last updated at 01:13 ET
Workers trying to cool the reactor core to avoid a meltdown have been evacuated, Reuters news agency says.
Earlier, Japan's nuclear agency that levels of radioactive iodine in the sea near the plant have risen to 1,850 times the usual level.
The UN's nuclear agency has warned the crisis could go on for months.
It is believed the radiation at Fukushima is coming from one of the reactors, but a specific leak has not been identified.
Leaking water at reactor 2 has been measured at 1,000 millisieverts/hour - 10 million times higher than when the plant is operating normally.
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JUST IN: 1:00AM PST kbman:Fukushima Status Update 3/27 (Reactor water is in the ocean)
h/t Joanneleoan
The level of contamination is about 1,000 times that of the leaked water already found in the basements of the Number 1 and 3 reactor turbine buildings.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/....
But they are measuring in becquerels, so I am not sure how to compare that to the micro and milli sieverts they have reported before. Sieverts and becquerels measure two different things.
2.9-billion becquerels of iodine-134, 13-million becquerels of iodine-131, and 2.3-million becquerels each for cesium 134 and 137.
Here is some info on becquerels and sieverts:
Many units have been used to express different amounts of radiation. The units often used follow:
* roentgen (R)
* rad
* gray (Gy)
* rem
* sievert (Sv)
These units relate to radiation exposure, radiation dose, or radiation protection. Other units (curie, becquerel) relate to radioactivity.
http://www.radiation-scott.org/....
That link also talks about "dose equivalents" and shows how to convert units.
Radioactivity arises from the disintegration of unstable atoms and is expressed in units like the becquerel (Bq) and curie (Ci).
One becquerel (Bq) corresponds to 1 disintegration (transformation) per second.
Special dosimetric units are used in radiation protection to limit radiation exposure of nuclear workers and the public. These units include the rem and sievert (SI unit), which apply to single and mixed radiations and are measures of potential harm to humans.
* 1 sievert (Sv) = 100 rem.
One rem of alpha radiation would be expected to pose the same risk of harm as 1 rem of gamma rays or as 1 rem of combined exposure to neutrons and gamma rays.
Join us for discussion and further updates in the current ROV linked above. Visit previous ROVs and MotherShips in Group Page for previous days news.
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Coverage @ KOS:
- A database of temperature, pressure, radiation levels, etc readings over time can be found in: The Daiichi Database This is an evolving diary that will be updated regularly (h/t Siri and middleagedhousewife)
- Due to extensive coverage, the Japan Nuclear Incident Liveblogs team is now saving all ALL Coverage @ KOS to the group page. You can save any relevant diaries to the group's queue.
- Coverage from 3-25 through 3-26*:
skywalker: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists III
akmk:It's the Ecology, Stupid--Sobering News from Japan
jamess: Reactor Three -- Nobody could have foreseen ... the Dangers+
Kbman: Fukushima Status Update 3/25
rb137: Breaking: Officials fear radiation leaking from core
DemFromCt:Japan's nuclear reactor crisis looking more extensive and slower to resolve
Rei: Why Japan Cannot Use The US's Fukushima Evacuation Zone
Meteor Blades: Open thread for night owls: The future of nuclear power
Regularly Updated Data Sources
• Japanese Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF) reports, which record such key factors as conditions of core and fuel integrity, water level and containment. The Guardian DataBlog is updating analysis and publishing highly contextualized charting and graphs.
• RSOS Emergency & Disaster information Services - Japan
• Daily Telephone Media Briefings from Union of Concerned Scientists
• Energy.gov: The Situation in Japan (Updated 03/22/11)
• EPA RadNet Map View & EPA's Radiation Air Monitoring
Timeline
• NPR TIMELINE: A Nuclear Crisis Unfolds In Japan
timeline through 23 March
• Nuclear Reactor Crisis in Japan FAQs
Latest Stats & general info as of evening Saturday PM 26 March. Japan. (combined sources)
- 10,489 dead and more than 16,600 missing
- 240,000 people were still sheltering in about 1,900 evacuation centers
- Direct damage from the disaster, including destroyed homes and roads, is estimated at between 16 trillion to 25 trillion yen
- at least 18,000 houses were destroyed by the quake and tsunami, and about 140,000 homes were damaged
- 17 workers have suffered radiation of more than 100 millisieverts, the maximum level to which nuclear plant workers may be exposed per year.
Donation Suggestions
• Plubius also has a diary on aid groups needing donations.
• CS Monitor has a great list
• JapanVolunteers- - donations, materials, volunteer opportunities and needs, fundraisers, resource sharing
• Japan RedCrossasks individuals to direct funds to a bank account.
• ShelterBox on the Ground in Japan (h/t texmex)
If you want to evaluate any charity, look at Charity Navigator. (h/t DemFromCt)
IN TRANSLATION: From Japan
• Japan Earthquake 2011 Global Voices Online provides outstanding ongoing translations of articles and information from Japan, including:
• Map of Quake Centers
• Shelter locations
Media Coverage
Asahi on Facebook
Tepco's webcam operating again
Kyodo Nuclear News Feed
The Guardian
NHK Japan Live:NHK Japan Live
AJ LiveBlog
Reuters
Fukushima Wikispaces (livechat coverage)
• Geiger Counter Feeds
Twitter – Real Time Updates:
Global Voices Online Japan Twitter List
Japan Reuters
IAEA
Japan's PM
GP Japan
Twitter #earthquake
Twitter #japan:
Facebook
Crisis Mapping
Google Earth Engine (download required): Radiation Over Japan. Visit Pachube for mapping
Google Crisis Response Maps(Layers available)
Ushahidi Local Reports Color Coded for Trusted Sources (Japanese/English)
Satellite Imagery
Media Monitoring Japan's Humanity Road
Rules of the Road
Please be kind to kossacks with bandwidth issues. Please do not post images or videos. Again, many thanks for this.
Both the Mothership and the ROVs are for reporting and discussing the developing news. Neither space is for opinions or editorializing on the subject of nuclear energy.
Remember when posting to the thread: STICK TO THE FACTS. Source and link all new information. (This includes insuring authenticity of twitter sources.)
CURRENT TIME IN JAPAN
Please post news items to the ROV.
*ROV (Remote Operating Vehicle) is a term coined from the Gulf Watchers ongoing coverage of the Deep Water Horizon crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. It is used in place of the term 'child diary' and refers to a diary(s) running concurrently with the Mothership where ongoing discussion and updates to developing news stories occur.
* Please list any diary from the past two days which is not in above list in comments and we will pick it up for posting.