#Fukushima I "Level 7" Nuke Plant: Workers Evacuated as Yet Another Earthquake Hit Fukushima

A Magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Fukushima and Ibaragi at 2:09PM JST April 12, 2011.

Epicenter was INLAND, west of Iwaki City (which is south of Fukushima I Nuke Plant).

Japan Meteorological Agency's Seismic Intensity was 6- in Fukushima-Hamadori (region along the ocean), where Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located.

Workers have been evacuated from the Plant.

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M7.1 #Earthquake Off Sendai, Japan at 11:32PM JST April 7, 2011; Some Nuclear Facilities Have Lost External Power Supply

Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) says it was Magnitude 7.4, and 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) in depth. The USGS says M.7.1 and 49 kilometers (30.4 miles) in depth. It was right off the coast of Sendai.

Tsunami warning (Miyagi Prefecture)/advisories (Aomori, Iwate, Fukushima, Ibaragi Prefectures) were issued, but they've been all canceled.

2-meter tsunami "may have already hit" Sendai, according to Yomiuri.

The power is out in entire Aomori, Akita, Iwate Prefectures, in almost all Yamagata Prefecture, a good portion of Miyagi Prefecture.

The JMA's Seismic Intensity (map by Asahi):
Aomori: 5+, 4
Iwate: -6, +5
Miyagi: 6+, 6-
Fukusima: 5+, 5-


Nuclear power plants and processing facility in the area:

Aomori: Higashi-Doori Nuclear Power Plant:

• External power has gone out.
  
• The Plant (1 reactor, BWR) is operating on an emergency power supply for the reactor and the Spent Fuel Pool.

Aomori: Rokkasho Processing Plant:

• Processing capacity: 800 tons of uranium, or 80 tons of plutonium
• External power has gone out.
• The Plant is operatng on an emergency power supply.

Miyagi: Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant:

• External power has gone out on 2 of the 3 reactors.
• The plant has been shut down after the March 11 earthquake, and is considered stable.

Fukushima: Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, Fukushima II Nuclear Power Plant:

• No further damage to the facilities
• All workers evacuated safely
• Power is NOT OUT.
  

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#Japan #Earthquake: 262 Aftershocks M5 or Larger

No ordinary earthquake, that is for sure.

The number of aftershocks since the March 11 Magnitude 9.0 earthquake is unprecedented, and probably not even counting all of them, reports Kahoku Shinpo (in Japanese; 3/19/2011).

According to the article, there have been 262 recorded aftershocks of Magnitude 5.0 or larger since March 11. The number is out of the ordinary, compared to other similar big earthquakes in the past that took place along the Japan Trench (a subduction zone).

There have been 56 aftershocks of Magnitude 6.0 or larger, which is quite abnormal. Shinichi Sakai, associate professor at Tokyo University Earthquake Research Institute warns of continued seismic activities in East Japan, possibly for years.

The article also has this chart of aftershocks Magnitude 5.0 and greater along the Japan Trench, based on the data from Japan Meteorological Agency. The red line is the March 11 earthquake. The X-axis is the number of days since the earthquake, and the Y-axis is the cumulative number of aftershocks.

(The chart actually reminds me of the explosion of excess reserves at the Fed after Lehman Brothers went down in September 2007. Unlike the excess reserves that are going vertical again, I hope this number tapers off, and soon.)

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