Sky News

[stormforce]

Just watching sky news about the earthquake in Japan and sunami's going to affect japan,hawaii,australia,new zealand and southern america.
Japan has a fire in a nuclear power plant and there's no cooling for it so there may be major problems with that.The earhquake was a 8.9 and the biggest ever recorded there

[fingers21]

Holy crap, thats a big quake! No doubting the earth is getting worse! Maybe the Maya were right about dec 21st 2012 after all!

[Apache]

Yep, Mayans, with their supercomputers and deep knowledge of terrestrial mechanics pretty much will be spot on.

Oh hang on - they didn't have any of that - they didn't even have wifi!

Get a grip man! They were as much clued up on hard science as I am on welding (oh, by the way, that's 'not very much')

Rich, presumably they've shut it down (I think they did it immediately to the 5 stations nearest the epicentre), so 'conventional' fire shouldn't be anywhere near hot enough to cause problems. I've heard some dopey 'dead air' filling shit coming out of the mouths of reporters today regarding Japan, but that doesn't stop it being a pretty epic disaster for them.

[slobodan]

Just watching sky news about the earthquake in Japan and sunami's going to affect japan,hawaii,australia,new zealand and southern america.
Japan has a fire in a nuclear power plant and there's no cooling for it so there may be major problems with that.The earhquake was a 8.9 and the biggest ever recorded there

Have you just got up then?

Lorry drivers have it easy.

[stormforce]

Yep, Mayans, with their supercomputers and deep knowledge of terrestrial mechanics pretty much will be spot on.

Oh hang on - they didn't have any of that - they didn't even have wifi!

Get a grip man! They were as much clued up on hard science as I am on welding (oh, by the way, that's 'not very much')

Rich, presumably they've shut it down (I think they did it immediately to the 5 stations nearest the epicentre), so 'conventional' fire shouldn't be anywhere near hot enough to cause problems. I've heard some dopey 'dead air' filling shit coming out of the mouths of reporters today regarding Japan, but that doesn't stop it being a pretty epic disaster for them.

They have just said that the power plant is now on emergency as they can't cool it down.The surrounding area have been put on emergency aswell about it

[Apache]

They have just said that the power plant is now on emergency as they can't cool it down.The surrounding area have been put on emergency aswell about it

I'll go and watch the good old Beeb with my lunch - though even they've been full of melodrama today too.

If they didn't get it shut down in time, and the cooling fails, it should automatically shut down. I dont think they're allowed to build RBMK type reactors (like the Chernobyl one) so it would should moderate itself and be effectively incapable of thermal runaway. A fire external to the reactor wont get through the concrete and steel to bother the contents much.

[fingers21]

Even without technology, they are the reason we have 365 days in a year and such an accurate lunar cycle.

The maya being right statement was sarcasm by the way. If I thought they were right about 2012, I would be in my garage right now, making sure my surf was completed with enough time for me to enjoy it! :-)

[Apache]

Even without technology, they are the reason we have 365 days in a year and such an accurate lunar cycle.

The maya being right statement was sarcasm by the way. If I thought they were right about 2012, I would be in my garage right now, making sure my surf was completed with enough time for me to enjoy it! :-)

Yeah, and they were wrong about the 365, by about 0.1%, bl00dy amateurs. ;-)

To be honest, I could probably work those out given a bit of time, without recourse to technology.

I'm building a tinfoil suit at the moment, to protect myself from solar storms - and stop that bl00dy satellite spying on me!

[oneidadan]

It's a testament to Japanese building that there wasn't more damage to buildings. I think I've just seen a 3rd gen surf, literally surfing though.

[BUSHWHACKER]

I'll go and watch the good old Beeb with my lunch - though even they've been full of melodrama today too.

If they didn't get it shut down in time, and the cooling fails, it should automatically shut down. I dont think they're allowed to build RBMK type reactors (like the Chernobyl one) so it would should moderate itself and be effectively incapable of thermal runaway. A fire external to the reactor wont get through the concrete and steel to bother the contents much.

It's OK Simpson is in charge.

[fingers21]

See I don't think the tin foil suit will work, but I'm thinking of changing plans on the surf! Some bomb proofing etc, I intend on being the only survivor ( with my daughter of course) of 2012! I've seen the movie, I've taken a few pointers! I think the hardest bit will be sealing my sunroof up!

[fingers21]

We seem to have hijacked the thread! Told you it was easy! My apologies. The Japanese can certainly built one hell of a building, while the Americans, with all there tornados etc, seem to built there homes of Tongue and groove still!

[schrodingers-cat]

Yep, Mayans, with their supercomputers and deep knowledge of terrestrial mechanics pretty much will be spot on..

Sarcasm, ya just cant beat it

[Apache]

It's OK Simpson is in charge.

Doh!!!!


There's just been an expert dude from some World Nuclear Authority on telly saying there hasn't been any radioactive leak, and it is extremely unlikely due to the design of the reactor. Had it been an RBMK, Japan would have melted by now.

Do the Russians still build / operate RBMK types or were they banned after Chernobyl?

Talking of which... spooky place. Some of the photos around the area are truly chilling.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&so...04823&t=h&z=18

[Rustinho]

Doh!!!!


There's just been an expert dude from some World Nuclear Authority on telly saying there hasn't been any radioactive leak, and it is extremely unlikely due to the design of the reactor. Had it been an RBMK, Japan would have melted by now.

Do the Russians still build / operate RBMK types or were they banned after Chernobyl?

Talking of which... spooky place.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&so...04823&t=h&z=18

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBMK#Status

Apparently there are a few still going. Hardly surprising really given that they're in the former USSR...

It was weird giving a lesson on nuclear power late last year. It just suddenly struck me after the lesson that not only were the kids just not even born before the Chernobyl disaster - it was over 10 years before they were born, yet it was history that I had lived through.

They found the Litvenenko story much more interesting!