Reuters is reporting that Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor, has suspended an agreement that was meant to delay the closing of Germany’s older nuclear plants.
Merkel points to the nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan as the reason. She has decided that Germany’s old nuclear plants need to be shut down, by their originally planned closure dates. Another German official suggests that the events in Japan may result in all nuclear power plants, in Germany, being shut down.
NHK is presenting an official ‘explainer’ of why the nuclear safety and backup systems failed. I’ll try to put it simply.
1: Earthquake triggered automatic shut down procedures, which involves raising/exposing fuel rods. This still requires cooling of the rods.
2: Cooling of raised rods failed because main power supply cut. Back up generators came on, but failed when tsunami hit the plants. They could not be restarted.
3: A third backup cooling system failed. This is a steam reclamation system that collects steam off the hot rods, condenses it to water, then sprays the water on the rods. It failed because coolant levels dropped too much for steam to be created. Officials say coolant levels might have leaked due to structural damage caused by the quake and tsunami. They can not be sure what happened to the coolant, until they can inspect the structures.
The failed safety & back up systems are causing the raised fuel rods to partially melt down. The report suggests that all the reactors along the coast line hit by the quake/tsunami are in partial melt down. An official now says they obviously didn’t expect such a powerful natural disaster when they planned the safety/back up systems. In Fukushima Prefecture alone, one of the hardest hit areas, there are 10 reactors.
There are a total of 55 plants, with anywhere between 2 and 6 reactors each, in Japan. There are 2 plants under construction, with another 11 planned. In the United States there are at least 104 commercial nuclear plants. Most of the plants are east of the Rocky Mountains, in highly populated areas.
The failure of all these systems, in Japan, will give anti-nuclear activists plenty of ammo for the demand to end the use of nuclear power plants.
200 plus aftershock/quakes greater than magnitude 5 have hit all over Japan (if I heard right, this was in a 24 hour period). These are not just in the area of the main quake, but all over Japan, another sign of a major geological event.
At least half a million people are in emergency shelters. The shelters are running out of food and water.
At least 15,000 people are officially missing.
Fukushima nuclear plant 1; officials admit that reactor 2 fuel rods melted/permanent damage, caused by a huge drop in coolant levels. Pumping in water failed the first time, because the rods were so hot it all evaporated. They are attempting to pump in more water.
For the first time in Japan’s modern history, reserve military forces are being called up. Also, 13 countries are currently helping with rescue efforts. As many as 96 countries are offering help.
To help with the economy, which has literally been stopped, the Bank of Japan has injected billions in cash, and has announced that it will increase asset purchases.
There is home video from survivors, which demonstrates the surrealness of the event. In one video people have run up a hill near their town. They are heard screaming at others to hurry up, “Run, run faster!”, as the wall of water engulfs their town and heads towards the hill they are on. One survivor said the event made it impossible to think, you just ran. Another survivor, after seeing the total destruction of her town, and loss of life, said “It would have been better if I died.”.
The Shinmoedake volcano on the southern island of Kyushu, has erupted, again. The volcano started erupting back in January. This was part of a series of volcanic events that lead some people to predict a major geologic event for Japan.
The volcano had settled down for the past two weeks, but now, after the big quake event, it has roared back to life. Witnesses say it is hurling huge boulders, and ash.
Bank of Japan officials are issuing millions in cash, into the Japanese economy. This is due to the earthquake and tsunami destroying a major part of Japan’s infrastructure.
Major Japanese manufacturers have closed, mainly because employees and supplies can not get to the factories. Farm lands have been destroyed by the tsunami.
Japan must focus on financing a major recovery effort, and this will affect U.S. Treasury Bonds. Japan was one of the biggest buyers of U.S. bonds, helping the U.S. government deal with its debt, but now that money will go to rebuilding efforts. Also, Japan might be forced to sell off its existing holdings of U.S. bonds, to help pay for the rebuilding of their country. This will affect interest rates in the United States.
For all those electronic junkies out there, get ready for withdrawal symptoms. Japan is a crucial electronics supplier, but don’t expect anything now. About 40% of lightweight chips, for computers and phones, are supplied by Japan. Objective Analysis, a semiconductor research firm, said “This may cause phenomenal shortages…”. You can bet this will affect prices of goods, and trading in stock markets around the world.
Like your Blue-Ray movies? Forget it, Sony shut down operations at their Blue-Ray plant in Japan, thanks to the disaster.
Were you thinking about getting one of those gas saving Toyota Prius, or Honda Fit? They are made mainly in Japan, and production has been halted.
Speaking of gas. Expect fuel prices to go up, even more. Japan is being forced to turn to other sources of fuel to run electric generators, now that their nuclear plants are going critical. Already two tanker ships, with LNG, were diverted from their original destination in Russia, to Japan.
The weather forecast, for northern Honshu, is for a week of rain and snow. This will exacerbate landslide conditions. Already there have been 66 confirmed landslides.
An NHK reporter discovered, in an abandoned fishing town of Kesennuma, that fires that destroyed the city have spread to the country side.
No firefighting capabilities due to the destruction. Wild fires likely to spread.
The reporter talked to the few survivors in the area and they said the fire was spread by a fishing boat, that was on fire, being pushed around the city by the tsunami. Kesennuma was destroyed by flood and fire.
NHK is reporting that Meterological officials are predicting new earthquakes up to magnitude 7 are expected by Thursday, March 17. This would be followed by tsunami.
This is more evidence that a major geological upheaval is taking place under Japan’s main state of Honshu.
Russia Today is reporting that massive smoke is pouring from reactor 3 at the Fukushima nuclear plant 1, Monday morning Japan time. People living on Russian territory near Japan have received warnings from Japan about a second melt down.
Video on YouTube shows the reactor 3 explosion is bigger than the reactor 1 blast.
RT is also reporting that there are warnings of an approaching tsunami. Reuters says the claim of an approaching tsunami came from a local Japanese TV station.
Reuters says the announcement of an explosion came from a Japanese nuclear agency official. A Canadian news source says the reactor 3 explosion was felt 40km away. 3 plant workers injured, 7 are missing.
Officials are also trying to determine if high radiation levels in Miyagi Prefecture are from a local nuclear power plant, or is coming from the damaged Fukushima plants.
Despite officials downplaying the threat of radiation contamination, hospitals in Miyagi Prefecture are reporting more and more people coming in with radiation poisoning.
Part of the reason why officials are not strongly concerned about radiation is that winds are blowing towards the Pacific Ocean.
Japanese Self Defense forces are also warning of a tsunami, but Japan’s Meteorlogical Agency says otherwise. Fukushima Prefecture officials claim it could be 3 meters high.
Japan’s NHK is reporting that Japanese car maker Toyota is extending its plant closers. Other auto manufactures are joining Toyota in closing down operation. These include, Honda and Nissan.
It is not damage to their factories that caused them to shut down, it is the near total destruction of Japans infrastructure. There is no power, and because roads are destroyed employees and supply of parts can not get to the factories.
The near total lose of infrastructure, in the northern half of the state of Honshu, guarantees that there will be no economic recovery for Japan, in the short run. The northern area of Honshu is home to many of Japan’s major factories. This include factories that are for other products, besides automobiles. If they can not operate, they can not sell anything. Don’t forget that the area’s agriculture industry has been wiped out.
The only way Japan can recover quickly is with economic help equal to what the United States provided after World War 2, and the U.S. is not able to do that now.