Massive tsunami hits Japan (JARED MATTE MEMORIAL THREAD,RIP)

[Malchik]

You cunts, I nearly threw up reading that title.

You deserved that after coming in three days late.

[Delphine]

Aw guys, that's just mean.

[Senbei]

Hahahahahahaha.

[cjmcray]

That.. that was terrible.

I look forward to the interesting stories GG! will be sharing with us when he returns.

[(No Imagination)]

Yay, Gibbon's alive and well! That's a real reli...oh shit, I think I may have been discussing game preparation in his cereal topic.

[P.P.A.]

I love this forum.

[Farmer]

Dang, that's cold. Even so, great news to hear he's alive and well.

[Brazillian Cara]

It's excellent to know that our one acquaintance is alive and (probably) well, but we shouldn't forget that the overall situation in Japan is still really awful. Reference images.

[j-man]

You deserved that after coming in three days late.

Bollocks! I've been checking this thread every fifteen minutes, and I had work last night. Eat my piss.

Anyway, relief! Looks like things are gonna be aaaaaaallllll right. Apart from all those dead folks, that still sucks.

[Spazz]

an artist's rendition of the tsunami

[Radrappy]

Tasteful. Glad to hear he's fine. We'd probably have to shut down the whole shabang out of respect if he wasn't.

[Blount]

The title change got to me before I remembered this was The GHZ. That said, I'm very relieved to hear he's fine!

you guys YOU GUYS we completely forgot about Passepartout

I actually did remember the guy when I realized GG could have just flown away, assuming the castle wasn't responsible for the whole thing in the first place.

[MiraiTails]

Hah. Who's the troll who changed the thread title? I knew he was ok, but I still freaked out for a second, thinking maybe something had happened since we heard he was fine...

[gr4yJ4Y]

This is the first thread in years where I've skipped over posts in a thread that I cared about, thanks to that title change. I was more concerned about others I know living in Japan being okay mostly because his description of his area made me think he was in Hokkaido for some reason. So I hadn't checked here until just now. You guys had me worried for a few minutes.

Even before the news that he lives so far inland, I doubted that he was offed by the tsunami. This is the guy whose total damage from Hurricane Kartina was a single shingle fell off his roof. I'm sure him, his cave/lair, and his flying castle are all okay.

I'm still mourning over the loss of so many I never met in Japan though.

[Arcade]

Well, I hope things get better, since a new quake is suposed to strike in two days more-_-

[Crisis]

Here's the nuclear reactor situation as of writing, as best I can tell from the somewhat confused reporting:

Reactor 1: Partial meltdown, reactor status unknown, containment vessel intact. The meltdown is seriously bad news, but it hasn't caused external damage, so as long as the containment vessel isn't breached then the environmental consequences will be minimal.

Reactor 2: No meltdown, reactor stabilised, containment vessel breached. This has been the main source of radiation leakage, however, the breached containment vessel was a bit of a mixed blessing - from the kind of radiation that was leaked, we know that the metal casing has melted but the fuel rods (the important bits) are probably OK. This gives a clue and some hope as to what's going on in Reactor 1, although Reactor 3 could go in any direction.

Reactor 3: No meltdown as yet, reactor unstable, containment vessel intact. Most of the nuclear disaster effort is being focused on Reactor 3, because if a meltdown can be prevented now then we can all have a big sigh of relief. A meltdown would require a more delicate recovery operation and could endanger the local environment. As before, as long as the containment vessel remains intact, the radiation won't leak out in significant quantities... but if a meltdown were to occur, this couldn't be guaranteed.

The speed at which Reactor 1 began a partial meltdown and the recent explosion at Reactor 3 do not bode well for the attempts to prevent a second meltdown. It'll take another 3-4 days or so for the reactor to naturally stabilise and the government will have to continue to pump seawater into the reactor - and if any of the radioactive seawater were to leak out of the system (say, after an explosion) then that could be problematic. The good news is that the containment vessel has survived two explosions and the safety mechanisms are pretty state-of-the-art, which makes a repeat of any prior nuclear disasters very unlikely. Also, the weather is on our side, and winds are blowing the radioactive debris out to sea rather than onto any urban populations.

But this could all change. The BBC have a handy FAQ which is quite up to date and possibly explains it better than I have (if I've got some or most of it wrong then feel free to put me in my place).

NOTE: As I was writing that, the BBC published a breaking news report that another explosion had occurred at Reactor 2 and the reactor was no longer being considered stable, at least by the Japanese government. I'm guessing this doesn't necessarily mean it's definitely unstable, since they were pretty confident earlier that it was, and it's plausible that there was some heat left over. But if there was a meltdown at Reactor 2 now, then it's currently the most exposed reactor - although the potential for environmental damage at Reactor 3 is perhaps just as high, if a meltdown were to occur.

It's going to be a long day for the Japanese nuclear team.

[Senbei]

Thanks for the breakdown. As you said, reports on the subject are confusing, so I appreciate the effort.

[Crisis]

Oh - I forgot to clarify - the containment vessel on Reactor 2 has been resealed and the exposure was only temporary. It reportedly hasn't been broken by the most recent explosion.

[G.Silver]

I've been keeping an eye on this thread here, though the top post has been edited to reflect that it doesn't have the latest developments.

[Crisis]

I gave it a glance through - I don't have much time before I need to get to bed - and it looks like I misunderstood the situation at Reactor 2. The fuel rods were exposed, but to air inside the containment vessel, not to the environment as was implied on the BBC. The containment vessel is still venting(/leaking) outside Reactor 2 and it still gave us a clue about what's going on inside. The thread says there is no radioactivity leakage, which is presumably no longer true, as radioactivity levels this morning were confirmed to be above the legal limit.

But the important thing to draw from it is that the containment vessel was never compromised, as I had thought, at least not beyond what is still a low level of leakage.

[Crisis]

It turns out I might not have been far off to begin with! This is the current official word as of 4 AM this morning (GMT). Notice that Reactor 2 has "damage suspected" to the containment integrity, presumably inferred from the radiation leaks.

[Crisis]

My computer scientist friend (who happens to have worked on a nuclear plant) and I have been dissecting the reports coming out of Tepco all day, pooling our analysis in the evening. Our conclusion is that the information being provided is unreliable and wildly optimistic after several "experts" severely understated some significant risks. I would be very surprised if there wasn't at least one complete meltdown. Worst case scenario is a triple meltdown and the burning of high level nuclear waste in Reactor 4, which is exposed to the environment; all of which is sadly very plausible.

My friend's gut feeling is that this could turn into something comparable to Chernobyl if cooling isn't sorted out in the next 24 hours. But it's very hard to tell with such mixed information. The UN is currently demanding clearer communication in light of France and America's recommendation to upgrade the International Nuclear Event Scale from level 4 (Accident with Local Consequences) to level 6 (Serious Accident) and their warning that it's on the verge of turning to Level 7 (Major Accident), which will be the second Level 7 event after Chernobyl, if things do indeed continue to get worse.

The good news is that Tokyo is genuinely not at any great risk, and Japan has been quite responsible about evacuating the local area. If they get their act together in the next 24 hours, it's possible that disaster will be averted. But if I was in Japan right now, I'd be on my way out.

[Malchik]

My friend's gut feeling is that this could turn into something comparable to Chernobyl if cooling isn't sorted out in the next 24 hours.

I'm disliking all the comparison to Chernobyl this situation is getting. This incident has more relation to Three Mile Island.

[Isuka]

Local news, unreliable and exaggerated as they may be, say that readings of radiation in Tokyo are about a hundred times above normal values, like everyone there is getting a free X-ray CT.

And that's Tokyo, a good 150 miles from Fukushima...

[Delphine]

My friend's gut feeling is that this could turn into something comparable to Chernobyl if cooling isn't sorted out in the next 24 hours.

Oh, for fuck's sake, no it won't.