Possible Full Scale Meltdown In Japan – Live Updates

Commentary by Intel Hub Commentator John King:

In these times of uncertainty we must conduct ourselves with reserve and resolve. Fear mongering and scare tactics should not be tolerated. However I find myself having a hard time in swallowing the main stream story pertaining to Radiation leaks.

Prepare and educate yourselves NOW so that when the time comes you will have the knowledge you need to react calmly and logically to knowing how to handle the situation and what must be done. This will better enable you and your loved to be prepared to survive.

Panic = disaster. Staying calm, using your head and knowing what to do = survival.

The Intel Hub
March 14th, 2011

Update: The IAEA has stated that radiation has been released into the atmosphere.

• Radiation fears spark panic buying, evacuations in Tokyo
• Japanese ordered indoors in radiation leak crisis
• Special On Japan: Live Report from Japan and Breaking News On Japan Nuclear Disaster
• Potassium Iodide Runs Low as Americans Seek It Out
• In Stricken Fuel-Cooling Pools, a Danger for the Longer Term
• World’s Top Radiation Expert, Dr. Chris Busby, Disagrees Fukushima Risks
• Image of radiation levels as of 10AM this morning and distances from Fukushima: twitpic.com
• RADIATION SURGES AFTER WORST EXPLOSION YET

Radiation Levels and distances from Fukushima - TwitPic

Update: 9:08pm PST – From the BBC - Higher than normal radiation levels are detected in Tokyo, the AFP is quoting the city government as saying.

Update: 7:51pm PST - BREAKING NEWS: Radiation 400 times annual legal limit measured near No. 3 reactor – KYODO The Prime Minister of Japan was quoted as saying that there was a high risk of radiation coming out of the plant in the future.

Update: 7:39pm PST -The French Embassy in Tokyo has reportedly said that weak radioactive material could reach Tokyo in 10 hrs.

Update: 7:24pm PST – The Prime Minister has admitted that the containment chamber was damaged. On going fire at reactor 4. NBC is reporting that this is the 2nd worst nuclear disaster in history. All people in a 20km radius are being asked to evacuate if they have not already.

Update: 6:20pm PST -Kyodo reporting “No. 2 reactor container damaged” France is also reporting that the disaster is a 5 or 6 on a nuclear disaster scale of 1 to 7

Update: 5:30pm PST – Japan’s chief Cabinet secretary was quoted as saying that he could NOT rule out the possibility of meltdowns at all three plants!

Update: 5:22pm PST -The radioactive fuel rods at the No. 2 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 power station were fully exposed at one point Monday, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said, raising the possibility that it suffered a partial core meltdown according to the Japan Times.

Update: 5:08pm PST – There is a high possibility that radioactive substances are being released. Kyodo has reported that radioactive materials are being released!

Update: 4:37pm PST – The explosion is thought to have damaged the reactors pressure suppression system. Radiation now tops legal limits.

Update: 4:25pm PST - Kyodo has reported that the suppression pool may have been damaged which would increase the risks of radiation greatly. The containment vessel could have also been damaged! Operators of the plant have been told to evacuate. 50% of the length of the fuel rods exposed.

• Japanese agency: Explosion heard at nuclear plant

Update: 4:14pm PST – Explosion heard at Unit 2 of Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, nuclear safety agency says – AP – Live Press Conference – During the first part of the conference it was reported that this explosion could be the worse by far.

Update: 4:08pm PST – Reuters flash says explosion heard at reactor #2!

Update: 3:05pm PST – CBC Report

Technicians are racing to prevent a meltdown after uranium rods were fully exposed twice Monday on a third nuclear reactor at a northern Japan power plant that was reeling from explosions at two other reactors.

The fuel rods were exposed after the reactor in Unit 2 at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant because a steam vent wouldn’t open, the utility said.

Water levels were restored after they first dropped at the reactor, but the rods remained exposed Monday night after the second episode, officials said.

Update: 2:55pm PST - The Guardian reports that independent experts in the field cannot get reliable data from the Japanese government and that there is a history of info doctoring and cover-ups related to Japan’s nuclear facilities. Link

Update: 2:49pm PST – Russia Today is reporting that radiation levels near the Fukushima nuclear plant are RISING.

It is very important to understand that this situation is changing every minute and that no one knows for sure if deadly radiation will make it to the U.S. west coast.

Fukushima On Saturday (GeoEye/Associated Press)

BBC Update 1:53pm PST

“The New Scientist’s Short Sharp Science blog has been asking nuclear scientists about the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. It says: “The real fear is that harmful radioactive material will escape from the reactor core.”

Fox News is reporting that the fuel rods in ALL three damaged reactors are set to meltdown. This is not fear mongering this is simple fact. The BBC is also reporting that Japanese Officials are in full scale panic mode. Moscow officials have not ruled out the fact that Japan may be covering up the extent of the damage.

Aaron Dykes, writing for Inforwars.com has reported that Japanese officials fear a third explosion.

“A fresh report out of Russia Today reveals heightened concerns that a third explosion may be imminent, following the news that the Unit 2 cooling system at Fukushima Dai-Ichi is fully down. Further the fuel rods are known to be partially exposed, making the system more vulnerable, according to Kyoto News:

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said a steam vent of the pressure container of the reactor that houses the rods was closed for some reason, raising fears that its core will melt at a faster pace.

“The fuel rods in all three of the most troubled Japanese nuclear reactors — each of which lost its cooling system in Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami — appear to be melting, the nation’s chief government spokesman said Monday,” reported Fox News.

Officials are now worried that a 3rd reactor may explode, raising fears of a full scale nuclear meltdown. At the same time multiple news agencies including CBC are reporting that fallout for the west coast is NOT a risk.

Japan quake: Radiation rises at Fukushima nuclear plant

Watch: Residents are checked for radiation exposure in Koriyama

Continue reading the main story

Japan Earthquake

• Japan quake Live
• Markets fall
• In pictures
• Q&A: Fukushima explained

Radiation from Japan's quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has reached harmful levels, the government says.

The warning comes after the plant was rocked by a third blast, which appears to have damaged one of the reactors' containment systems for the first time.

If it is breached, there are fears of more serious radioactive leaks.

Officials have extended the danger zone, warning residents within 30km (18 miles) to evacuate or stay indoors.

The government later said that radiation levels at the plant's main gate had fallen sharply.

The crisis has been prompted by last Friday's 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami in north-eastern Japan.

On Tuesday morning, reactor 2 became the third to explode in four days at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

A fire also briefly broke out at reactor 4, and is believed to have caused radioactive leaks.

Reactor 4 had been shut down before the quake for maintenance, but its spent nuclear fuel rods are still stored on the site.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said they were closely watching the remaining two reactors at the plant, 5 and 6, as they had begun overheating slightly.

He said cooling seawater was being pumped into reactors 1 and 3 - which were returning to normal - and into reactor 2, which remained unstable.

There was a hydrogen blast in reactor 3 on Monday, following another in reactor 1 on Saturday.

Radiation levels in the Japanese capital - 250km (155 miles) away - were reported to be higher than normal, but officials said there were no health dangers.

Flights cancelled

Tokyo residents have been stocking up on supplies, with some stores selling out of items such as food, water, face masks and candles.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Do not go outside”

End Quote Yukio Edano Chief Cabinet Secretary

• Living with blackouts
• In pictures
• 'People are worried'

Housewife Mariko Kawase, 34, told AFP news agency: "I am shopping now because we may not be able to go out due to the radiation."

Radiation levels in Chiba prefecture, next to Tokyo, were 10 times above normal levels, Kyodo News reports.

In other developments:

• A 70-year-old woman has been rescued alive from rubble in the coastal town of Otsuchi, five days after the disaster
• Airlines from Asia and Europe - including Germany's Lufthansa, Air China and Taiwan's EVA Airways - halted flights to Tokyo
• The Nikkei share index tumbled again, ending 10.55% lower, as the central bank pumped almost $100bn (£62bn) more cash into the financial system, a day after its record $183bn intervention
• Ninety-one countries have offered aid to Japan, ranging from blankets to search dogs and military transport aircraft

In a televised address, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said: "There is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out."

Homes sealed

He said that 140,000 people living within between 20km (12 mile) and 30km of the plant were at risk and should not leave their homes.

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BBC Weather's wind-direction forecasts for Japan over coming days

Some 70,000 residents within 20km have already been evacuated, and the premier urged anyone left in that exclusion zone to leave.

"Now we are talking about levels that can impact human health," said the chief cabinet secretary.

He told residents: "Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight.

"Don't turn on ventilators. Please hang your laundry indoors."

The government also announced a 30-km no-fly zone above the plant to prevent planes spreading the radiation further afield.

Rolling blackouts

After Tuesday's blast, radiation dosages of up to 400 millisieverts per hour were recorded at the site.

A single dose of 1,000 millisieverts causes temporary radiation sickness such as nausea and vomiting.

Rolling blackouts would affect five million households on Tuesday, said Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which runs the 40-year-old plant.

Japan's nuclear safety agency said earlier it suspected the latest blast may have damaged reactor 2's suppression chamber.

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says that would make it a more serious incident than the previous explosions, which were thought just to have damaged the buildings housing the reactors.

The latest official death toll from the quake and tsunami stands at about 2,400 - but some estimates suggest at least 10,000 may have been killed.

Thousands are still unaccounted for - including hundreds of tourists - while many remote towns and villages have not been reached.

More than 500,000 people have been made homeless.

The government has deployed 100,000 troops to lead the aid effort.

The UK Foreign Office has updated its travel advice to warn against all non-essential travel to Tokyo and north-eastern Japan. British nationals and friends and relatives of those in Japan can contact the Foreign Office on +44(0) 20 7008 0000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +44(0) 20 7008 0000 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Are you in Japan? Have you been affected by the emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi plant? Send us your comments and experiences using the form below:

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +44 7725 100 100 end_of_the_skype_highlighting (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

Japanese Volcano Sakurajima Blows After Earthquake Hits - 3.11.11

Trains tossed around like discarded toys: Terrifying pictures reveal full horror of Japan's worst quake

Fouroverturned train carriages lie at impossibly skewed angles. A cruise ship sits on its side. Another teeters perilously on the edge of a quay.

All had been flung from their courses by the devastating force of the tsunami, but pictured from above – in such unlikely settings – they appear almost as toys scattered by a child who has grown bored with playing.

Elsewhere, terrified survivors wait to be rescued atop a building in Kesennuma, in north-east Japan, after fashioning a giant SOS sign from bedsheets.

And residents in Rikuzentakata can be seen on the roof of a block of flats that appears to have been put through a shredder.

Still smouldering: White smokes rise from burning house in Yamadamachi in Iwate, today after the earthquake caused pandemonium in the area

These were the apocalyptic scenes captured from the skies above north-eastern Japan yesterday.

Four entire trains carrying ­hundreds, possibly thousands of passengers, vanished after the earthquake. At least one was a high-speed Japanese ‘bullet’ train. Rail operators lost contact with them as they operated on coastal lines on Friday.

East Japan Railway Company admitted it did not know how many people were on board.

As well as the ships seen here, a cruise liner is said to have simply vanished with hundreds of holidaymakers on board.

Kesennuma – near the off-shore epicentre of the magnitude 8.9 quake – has been burning furiously, with broadcasters reporting that fires are spreading out of control.

Aerial footage of the city, home to 74,000, shows the whole area engulfed in flames.

Catastrophe: The true scale of the devastation that the tsunami unleashed is clear in this picture of the port city of Minamisanriku town where 10,000 people are unaccounted for

Witnesses said the fires were caused after the tsunami smashed into cars, causing them to leak oil and gas. They described a city of ‘fire and water’ – what is not ablaze is submerged.

Officials said the number of dead was likely to soar as thousands were still unaccounted for. An estimated 215,000 survivors have been placed in makeshift shelters.
A huge international rescue effort was also underway and a British team was preparing to fly out. The fate of residents of the shredded flats of Rikuzentakata, also on the north-east coast, was not clear last night.

Footage broadcast on Japanese TV showed that minutes before the ­tsunami struck, it appeared a ­typical Japanese town moving towards rush hour, with hundreds of cars on the roads.

Then, as the torrent of water sweeps in, the entire region merges into the sea, causing a flood that few would be able to survive.

Many homes were crushed beneath the intense pressure of the first barrage of water which left behind a tangled mess of wrecked wooden buildings. Cruelly, many others that initially stood firm were washed away when the ferocious waves continued to roll in from the Pacific.

Save our souls: Stranded people wait to be rescued from the roof of a building in Miyagi Prefecture

Saviour: A little child is held by rescue workers after being pulled from a collapsed building at Kesennuma, northeastern Japan today while right, an elderly woman is helped across the rubble as all around her homes have been reduced to rubble

Freak sight: Bathers at Acapulco, Mexico, see an unusually dense school of fish wash up as the tsunami after-effects reach the far side of the Pacific Ocean, and right, an elderly resident is given a piggy back by rescue workers through pools of muddy water

Tired: A young girl watches the news in a community centre after being evacuated from areas surrounding the Fukushima nuclear facilities following the earthquake

Desperate: Residents in Rikuzentakata seek refuge on a roof terrace while right, two Japanese news presenters take precautions by wearing hard hats as they announce that 9,500 are missing in the port of Minami Sanriku

Catastrophe: A soldier carries an elderly man on his back to a shelter in Natori city, Miyagi prefecture

Airlift: A woman is rescued from the devastation by a helicopter in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture

Loss: Eiji Kanno, left, and his wife Matsuko are comforted rescue workers after finding out their 18-year-old daughter Mizuki is dead in Yamamoto, south of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture

Carnage: Amidst tsunami flood waters burning houses and ships are piled in a mass of debris in Kisenuma city, Miyagi prefecture

Scattered: Train carraiges were thrown from the line in Fukushima and ships were tossed ashore by the tsunami in Aomori province

Damage control: Firefighting ships spray water over burning oil refinery tanks in Ichihara in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo

What's going on? A toddler is checked for signs of radiation by officials in protective gear after thousands of residents were evacuated from the area near the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant in Koriyama

Dangerous work: Nuclear officials cover themselves head to toe in protective gear as they deal with those people who have been evacuated and right, one of the women who was taken out of her home is scanned for radiation

Rest: Elderly residents of a nursing home that was evacuated amid fears of a nuclear fallout from the Fukushima Daini plant sleep on their duvets while one man in his mask appears bemused by everything

Aftermath: Evacuees walk through the rubble of collapsed houses in Sendai, Miyagi today while right a derailed train carriage and piles of debris litter the landscape that will be scarred by the devastation for years to come

Cataclysm: Local residents look at debris brought by the huge tsunami in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture

Endeavour: Rescue workers carry a body found in the debris in the town of Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, left, while stranded survivors use whatever they can find to escape the ruins of the disaster in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture

Run aground: A container ship stranded, swept half ashore, in Sendai, north-eastern Japan

Inferno: Flames engulf buildings in an industrial complex in Sendai, north-eastern Japan

Blaze: Thick black smoke rises from burning buildings in a factory zone in Sendai, north-eastern Japan

Duty: Self-Defense Force officers rescue people from the flood waters by boat in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture

Disbelief: A man takes a photo of a car swept on to the roof of a building by the tsunami in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture

Comfort: Survivors hug each other in an evacuation center set up in a school gym in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture

Levelled: A man rides a bicycle through a debris-strewn street in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture

Precarious: A huge trailer stuck in an narrow canal leans over debris at a port in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture

Cut off: A bridge undergoing construction is damaged together with another bridge in Namegata City, Ibaraki Prefecture

Unusable: Vehicles are piled up beside homes in a residential area in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture

Chasm: A passing car keeps a safe distance from the giant rip in the road in Futaba, Fukushima prefecture

Devastation: A train sits derailed in Higashimatsushima, Miyagi prefecture

Carnage: A man cycles past a car overturned by the tsunami on a street in Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture

Alive: Survivors head to an evacuation centre in Sendai, north-eastern Japan

Crippled: A Japanese military plane has its nose struck in a building at Matsushima air base, north-eastern Japan

Watery: Houses and scattered debris fill Tsunami flood waters covering destroyed Sendai airport near Sendai city, Miyagi

Borders may shut 75 more stores

Borders Group Inc. is working quickly to form a restructuring plan and might close up to 75 more stores, depending on how talks with landlords go, Borders CEO Mike Edwards told a conference call of suppliers Friday.

The Ann Arbor-based bookseller hopes to schedule a review of its reorganization plan in early April, Edwards said. "We are moving more quickly and decisively on our restructuring plan."

Borders decided to close 200 of its 485 superstores when it filed for bankruptcy — including four in Metro Detroit. Edwards said the company has no plans for a major closing program for its remaining 148 smaller and airport stores because of prior landlord concessions. But he indicated the company is talking with landlords of superstores about renegotiating terms to improve their performance and keep them open.

"One hundred forty stores (out of 285) have been identified as on-the-bubble stores, which up to an additional 75 could be put in liquidation," Edwards said. "The decision will be made early next week."

Among those landlords is Agree Realty Corp., a Farmington Hills company that has 14 Borders stores on its properties — five of which are already scheduled to close. The Borders CEO acknowledged more closings will hurt communities.

"It is always a difficult decision to close stores, but it is a necessary part of positioning ourselves for a more profitable future given the major changes that are happening in our industry," Edwards said.

Borders held the call in a bid to reassure publishers and other vendors with whom it stopped payments in December and January prior to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The bookseller is still seeking concessions from publishers, who balked at renegotiating missed payments into loans for the struggling bookseller prior to its Feb. 16 bankruptcy filing.

Edwards said he hopes to restore relations with the 37 percent of the vendors who aren't shipping product at this time. About 63 percent of its major suppliers from 2010 are shipping products, he said.

Borders seeks to restore its business through cost cutting and reworking its business plan, Edwards saidThe company's restructuring plan will include a bigger emphasis on its electronic book sales — an area it ramped up prior to its bankruptcy filing; a revision of its store format; and a "refreshed" merchandising strategy, Edwards said.

But one analyst wasn't impressed.

"It's not a good situation" for Borders, the publishers and the stores, said Al Greco, a marketing professor at Fordham University's Schools of Business. "We still haven't seen a good strategic plan" for turning around the bookseller.

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