Living in eastern Japan is almost like living on shipboard, the way the ground beneath us seems to roll without rest. On some days, the after-shocks from the March 11 quake seem bigger than brand-new earthquakes. Experts say that is only to be expected. After-shocks are, by definition, a degree or so smaller than the original quake, and when the original one is huge, the after-shocks are also huge.
Here is a part of a Q/A from the Japan Times, with Yoshiro Ota of the Japan Meteorological Agency, written by Minoru Matsutani:
(1) Why do aftershocks occur?
Because tectonic plates and faults try to stabilize ground conditions that have been greatly altered by a huge earthquake.
(2)Why do we have so many big aftershocks?
The magnitude of the largest aftershocks tend to be about 1.0 magnitude lower than the main quake, which was 9.0, said Yoshiro Ota of the Meteorological Agency.
"People tend to think aftershocks are small. But a magnitude 8 is huge. Magnitude 7 is also huge, so we should be very careful," Ota said.
For more of this article, go to:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nn20110414a5.html
2011年4月15日金曜日
2011年4月13日水曜日
Earthquake (5)
Are we a 5 or a 7? A City University of New York expert says neither one is exactly right.
"It's incorrect to say that it's on the same level as Chernobyl," Japanese-American physicist Michio Kaku, a professor at the City University of New York, told the Daily News.
"Chernobyl represents the high end of the category. Right now Fukushima would be more on the low end - about one-tenth the level of Chernobyl."
Japanese officials raised Fukushima's rating to the highest level on the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) accident severity index Tuesday - sending shock waves through surrounding villages and the international media.
Regulators stressed it didn't represent a worsening of the situation at the tsunami-crippled nuclear plant, just a reassessment of overall radiation leaks since the March 11 earthquake."
Nothing is as serious as the Chernobyl disaster was. Perhaps it simply means the rating scale is off, and if the rating scale is off, maybe a lot of our thinking about nuclear affairs is off the mark, too.
Earth to humans: wake up! wake up!
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/04/12/2011-04-12_japan_is_no_chernobyl_physicist_says_threat_level_upgrade_is_wakeup_call_but_not.html#ixzz1JOGns1oP
"It's incorrect to say that it's on the same level as Chernobyl," Japanese-American physicist Michio Kaku, a professor at the City University of New York, told the Daily News.
"Chernobyl represents the high end of the category. Right now Fukushima would be more on the low end - about one-tenth the level of Chernobyl."
Japanese officials raised Fukushima's rating to the highest level on the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) accident severity index Tuesday - sending shock waves through surrounding villages and the international media.
Regulators stressed it didn't represent a worsening of the situation at the tsunami-crippled nuclear plant, just a reassessment of overall radiation leaks since the March 11 earthquake."
Nothing is as serious as the Chernobyl disaster was. Perhaps it simply means the rating scale is off, and if the rating scale is off, maybe a lot of our thinking about nuclear affairs is off the mark, too.
Earth to humans: wake up! wake up!
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/04/12/2011-04-12_japan_is_no_chernobyl_physicist_says_threat_level_upgrade_is_wakeup_call_but_not.html#ixzz1JOGns1oP
2011年3月29日火曜日
The Saddest Love Song (a different kind of nuclear umbrella)
One of Japan's golden oldies was a love song that went something like this:
"I want to come to you, but I can't.
The night is rainy, and I have no umbrella."
Sound wimpy? It's not.
In the 50s and 60s, nuclear devices were tested in the open air, often over the Pacific where "no one lived"--no one except millions of Pacific islanders, including the Japanese people. The fall-out was expected to disperse, and it did: carried on the wind, it filled the raindrops that fell on rainy Japan.
Often black, the rain could be lethal. No one wanted it on themselves, and no one would ever want to carry it into the home of a loved one.
To this day, it is still considered bizarre to go out in the rain without an umbrella in Japan. This habit took root thanks to unrestrained US nuclear testing, and now it is once again a necessary habit.
"I want to come to you, but I can't.
The night is rainy, and I have no umbrella."
Sound wimpy? It's not.
In the 50s and 60s, nuclear devices were tested in the open air, often over the Pacific where "no one lived"--no one except millions of Pacific islanders, including the Japanese people. The fall-out was expected to disperse, and it did: carried on the wind, it filled the raindrops that fell on rainy Japan.
Often black, the rain could be lethal. No one wanted it on themselves, and no one would ever want to carry it into the home of a loved one.
To this day, it is still considered bizarre to go out in the rain without an umbrella in Japan. This habit took root thanks to unrestrained US nuclear testing, and now it is once again a necessary habit.
2011年3月28日月曜日
Incredible Changing Landscapes
One minute, there were thriving towns. The next minute, tsunami! Water. Mud and sand. Rubble. And now?
Hundreds of units of re-fabricated housing are already going up in places where the rubble has been cleared and the scars in the land smoothed over. After more than two weeks in emergency shelters, the ones whose numbers are picked in the lottery to decide who gets to move in first will have a place to call home.
Banzai, Japan! Hurray for everyone who is contributing to the rebuilding!
Hundreds of units of re-fabricated housing are already going up in places where the rubble has been cleared and the scars in the land smoothed over. After more than two weeks in emergency shelters, the ones whose numbers are picked in the lottery to decide who gets to move in first will have a place to call home.
Banzai, Japan! Hurray for everyone who is contributing to the rebuilding!
2011年3月27日日曜日
Iodine and Us (2)
This is from Bloomberg news, about what a scientist from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute predicts, based on the fact that the scariest substances escaping from the damaged reactors are soluble:
"Ocean currents and natural dilution of seawater contaminated by the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are likely to spare marine life and the underwater ecosystem from devastation, scientists say.
Radioactive materials, including iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium-137 have been detected near the southern discharge canal from the nuclear plant.
The ocean can absorb significant increases in cesium and iodine, the two most common radioactive isotopes coming from the plant, before it becomes unsafe for humans or marine animals, said Ken Buesseler, senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. Health authorities would still be wise to monitor seafood, seaweed and other ocean products, he said."
"Ocean currents and natural dilution of seawater contaminated by the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant are likely to spare marine life and the underwater ecosystem from devastation, scientists say.
Radioactive materials, including iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium-137 have been detected near the southern discharge canal from the nuclear plant.
The ocean can absorb significant increases in cesium and iodine, the two most common radioactive isotopes coming from the plant, before it becomes unsafe for humans or marine animals, said Ken Buesseler, senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts. Health authorities would still be wise to monitor seafood, seaweed and other ocean products, he said."
2011年3月25日金曜日
Iodine and Us
This is from a Q and A in The Japan Times online, fielded by a radiation safety expert from Nihon University, Kunikazu Noguchi, in an article by Jun Hongo and Mizuho Aoki. The question concerns a radioactive form of iodine released from the generating plant in Fukushima.
"Q: Iodine was blamed for cancer cases following the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Will that happen in Japan?
A: Apart from the difference in the amount of radiation leakage in the two cases, Japanese in general consume more foods rich in iodine, including fish and seaweed, than the people around Chernobyl. Some believe as a result the presence of more nonradioactive iodide in their thyroids will reduce the intake and accumulation of toxic iodine.
Iodine not accumulated in the thyroid tends to pass into the bloodstream and is expelled in urine, Noguchi said."
Good reasons to eat more nori, wakame, and konbu!
"Q: Iodine was blamed for cancer cases following the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Will that happen in Japan?
A: Apart from the difference in the amount of radiation leakage in the two cases, Japanese in general consume more foods rich in iodine, including fish and seaweed, than the people around Chernobyl. Some believe as a result the presence of more nonradioactive iodide in their thyroids will reduce the intake and accumulation of toxic iodine.
Iodine not accumulated in the thyroid tends to pass into the bloodstream and is expelled in urine, Noguchi said."
Good reasons to eat more nori, wakame, and konbu!
2011年3月20日日曜日
There is Joy in Mudville Tonight!
The cooling system for the damaged nuclear generation plant in Fukushima is back. Thank you, thank you, the 160 very brave workers who accomplished this!
It takes an engineer to solve the hard problems. Here's one of the background stories behind this wonderful news.
One of the opposition parties in Japan, Komeito, set up a task force to help deal with the tsunami/earthquake disaster area. They are a small, grassroots party whose support comes from a wide swath of society. Not labor unions, not farmers, not the financial sector--ordinary working people make up the bulk of their support. Why is that good? Because those are the people with practical ideas, and the party leadership is in the habit of listening to them.
Here's what happened:
A big problem was how to get water into the pool that cools the rods that supply the heat to turn water into steam and turn the electric generating turbines. They tried dropping tons of sea water from helicopters. Dropping the water from a safe height made hitting the target with a big enough splash very difficult. They tried high power fire engines with water cannons. The fire engines helped a little, but they quickly ran out of water and had to turn back.
And then...
An engineer type looked at the problem and made a suggestion to the Komeito task force. Deliver a liquid from a great height? Have it run continuously? Not endanger the operator? Hmmm... Got it!
Why not try a contraption operated by remote control that is used to deliver sloppy, wet concrete to high rise buildings under construction?
Voila! A concrete pumping machine with an arm with a 50+ meter reach was located. It was rushed to Yokohama harbor from Mie Prefecture. (where the Ise pearl farms are) It reached Fukushima the next day, and it did the job.
Hurray!
It takes an engineer to solve the hard problems. Here's one of the background stories behind this wonderful news.
One of the opposition parties in Japan, Komeito, set up a task force to help deal with the tsunami/earthquake disaster area. They are a small, grassroots party whose support comes from a wide swath of society. Not labor unions, not farmers, not the financial sector--ordinary working people make up the bulk of their support. Why is that good? Because those are the people with practical ideas, and the party leadership is in the habit of listening to them.
Here's what happened:
A big problem was how to get water into the pool that cools the rods that supply the heat to turn water into steam and turn the electric generating turbines. They tried dropping tons of sea water from helicopters. Dropping the water from a safe height made hitting the target with a big enough splash very difficult. They tried high power fire engines with water cannons. The fire engines helped a little, but they quickly ran out of water and had to turn back.
And then...
An engineer type looked at the problem and made a suggestion to the Komeito task force. Deliver a liquid from a great height? Have it run continuously? Not endanger the operator? Hmmm... Got it!
Why not try a contraption operated by remote control that is used to deliver sloppy, wet concrete to high rise buildings under construction?
Voila! A concrete pumping machine with an arm with a 50+ meter reach was located. It was rushed to Yokohama harbor from Mie Prefecture. (where the Ise pearl farms are) It reached Fukushima the next day, and it did the job.
Hurray!
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