#Japan #Earthquake: Bad Weather for #Tohoku on March 15

More people will die, who are stranded in shelters and still trapped in debris. No food, no water, no fuel, no help.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (Japanese; 2/14/2011):

Coastal area of Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures hard hit by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 will be cloudy tomorrow morning. The lowest temperature in the morning is expected to drop below zero (Celsius, 32 Fahrenheit) in some parts.

Forecast for Eastern Miyagi on March 15 is cloudy in the morning, rain or snow at night. The lowest temperature in the morning in Sendai is expected to be zero Celsius, and in Ishimaki -1 Celsius (30 Fahrenheit).

Northern part of coastal Iwate will be cloudy, with snow at night. Southern part of coastal Iwate will be cloudy, with snow or rain at night. The lowest temperature in the morning is expected to be -1 Celsius (30 F) in Miyako-City, and -2 Celsius (28.4F) in Oofunato-City.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: What's Left of Reactor No.3 Building That Exploded

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Reactor No.2 Cooling System Just Failed (Updated)

(UPDATE on my later post)

Only the headline on Nikkei Shinbun and other papers. No info on TEPCO's site. More when I find details.

From Kyodo News (Japanese; 4:12PM Japan Time, 3/14/2011):

The reactor No.2 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant lost its cooling system, TEPCO reported to the Japanese government.

The water level of the containment vessel has lowered, but the fuel rods are not yet exposed.

More from Asahi Shinbun (Japanese; 3:57PM Japan Time, 3/14/2011):

The reactor No.2 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant lost its cooling system at 1:25PM.

The water level in the containment vessel decreased from 300 centimeters to 240 centimeters above the fuel rods between 12PM and 1:30PM. Observing this, TEPCO determined that the cooling system had been lost, and reported the situation to Fukushima Prefecture at 1:38PM.

TEPCO says it will try its best not to repeat the explosive events of the reactors No.1 and 3, and will start planning for releasing the steam, pouring in sea water, and other measures to prevent hydrogen explosion.

The cooling system of the reactor No.2 had been working. The cause for the stoppage is not yet known.

More from Mainichi Shinbun (Japanese; 4:24PM Japan Time, 3/14/2011):

The RCIC (Reactor Core Isolation Cooling) system failed in the reactor No.2 at Fukushima I Nuke Plant. [For more on this RCIC system in a BWR (Boiling Water Reactor), read this quick summary.]

In order to avoid hydrogen explosion, TEPCO is planning to open a hole on top of the building that houses the reactor No.2 today. TEPCO is also preparing to pour sea water.

At 3PM, the water level is down to 120 centimeters above the fuel rods.

If too much hydrogen accumulates within the building, opening a hole on top of the building could trigger explosion.

Black swans in a phalanx is what I'm seeing.

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Toyota to Stop All Factories in Japan Until March 16

from Nikkei Shinbun (original in Japanese; 3/14/2011):

Toyota Motors announced that it is shutting down all factories in Japan, including those of its group companies. According to Toyota, it is to "assist the recovery from the earthquake and secure the safety of the employees". Part of the reason may be that they are having a problem in securing the supply from Toyota's parts manufacturers in Tohoku region.

For other manufacturers, Isuzu has decided to shut its two truck manufacturing factories until March 16. Hino [another truck manufacturer] will shut down 3 of its factories until March 16. Their factories didn't sustain much damage, but they cannot secure the parts supply as well as supply of electricity.

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Bank of Japan to Add 5 Trillion Yen to Its Asset Purchase Program

That will bring their Asset Purchase Program to 40 trillion yen ($486 billion). Approaching Ben Bernank....

Part of BOJ's announcement at 2:48PM Japan Standard Time:

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#Japan #Earthquake: People Buying Up Toilet Paper, Rice

Quick message from my sister in Tokyo:

People are scrambling to buy up large quantities of toilet paper, rice, noodles...

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#Japan #Earthquake: 1,000 Found Dead on a Beach on Ojika Penninsula Near Ishimaki City

Just grim news after another. From Yomiuri Shinbun Update (3/14/2011), Akita Sakigake Shinpo (3/14/2011):

1,000 found dead in Minami-Sanriku, Miyagi Prefecture; 10,000 people still missing. [population 17,400]

1,000 found dead on a beach on the Ojika Peninsula near Ishimaki City, Miyagi Prefecture

150,000 displaced in Miyagi Prefecture, 130,000 in Fukushima Prefecture, the total displaced 530,000

(Akita Sakigake) 450,000 displaced in Miyagi Prefecture.

Severe shortage of food, water, gasoline.

8,000 unaccounted for in the town of Ootsuchi-cho in Iwate Prefecture [population 15,000]

2,500 tourists unaccounted for, who were visiting the affected area when the earthquake struck

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Explosion in Reactor No.3

From Yomiuri Shinbun (3/14/2011):

TEPCO announced that there were two explosions at the Reactor No.3 in Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, around 11:00AM Japan Standard Time.

Unlike the explosion of the Reactor No.1, the explosion of the Reactor No.3 is accompanied by dark grey smoke that is rising up vertically, and fire is being observed. It is possible that something more than a hydrogen explosion is involved.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: GE Mark 1 Reactor Design Flaw?

Of 6 reactors at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, at least 2 of them use GE's Mark 1 reactor (reactors No.1, 2). (I haven't found out whether the reactor made by Toshiba (reactors No.3, 5) and Hitachi (reactor No.4) are still based on GE's Mark 1. The reactor No.6 is GE's Mark 2.

From Nuclear Information and Resource Services March 1996 article by Mark Gunther [emphasis added]:

HAZARDS OF BOILING WATER REACTORS IN THE UNITED STATES

....But even basic questions about the the GE containment design remain unanswered and its integrity in serious doubt. For example, eighteen of these BWRs use a smaller GE Mark I pressure suppression containment conceived as a cost-saving alternative to the larger reinforced concrete containments marketed by competitors.

....However, as early as 1972, Dr. Stephen Hanuaer, an Atomic Energy Commission safety official, recommended that the pressure suppression system be discontinued and any further designs not be accepted for construction permits. Shortly thereafter, three General Electric nuclear engineers publicly resigned their prestigious positions citing dangerous shortcomings in the GE design.

....An NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] analysis of the potential failure of the Mark I under accident conditions concluded in a 1985 report that Mark I failure within the first few hours following core melt would appear rather likely."

....In 1986, Harold Denton, then the NRC's top safety official, told an industry trade group that the "Mark I containment, especially being smaller with lower design pressure, in spite of the suppression pool, if you look at the WASH 1400 safety study, you'll find something like a 90% probability of that containment failing."

Read the entire article at the link.

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#Japan #Earthquake: Nikkei Average Down 596 Points (with Update)

(UPDATE) Here comes the dip buyer...Now Nikkei is down only 500 points... And we know who it is: Bank of Japan, who is injecting unprecedented 7 trillion yen ($85 billion) into the money market today.

Well, that's less than one month worth of POMO that the US Federal Reserve is doing..

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Nikkei opened down 210 at 10,044 but quickly went below 10,000. It is currently trading down 596 at 9,658 as of 9:21AM, 3/14/2011 (Japan Time).

Real-time chart here at Nikkei Shinbun.

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#Japan #Earthquake: Rolling Blackout Mess

Short message from my sister who lives in Tokyo:

Great confusion from the start. The rolling blackout groups that were announced yesterday by TEPCO are not valid any more this morning. TEPCO phone lines are down. No one knows when and where the blackout will happen.

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Japanese Yen Rises Against US Dollar

In Tokyo, it went as high as 80.60 yen/US dollar. The highest level since last November, according to Nikkei.

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#Japan #Earthquake: Photo of Town of Onagawa in Miyagi Prefecture

A car on top of a three-story building. The photo is from Yomiuri Shinbun.

Onagawa-cho (town) in Miyagi Prefecture, famous for its fishing industry, has Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant, operated by Tohoku Electric Company.

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#Japan #Earthquake: More on Planned Rolling Blackout

Snippets from Yomiuri Shinbun (3/14/2011):

The rolling blackout planned by TEPCO, which was initially supposed to last for about a week, is now apparently up till middle of April. There's also a possibility that the rolling blackout will resume summer, when the electricity usage peaks.

Untimely delivery of conflicting information on the blackout from TEPCO is adding to confusion and anger among the local governments, residents and businesses in the affected area.

To make matters worse, TEPCO's website was down last night due to too many access requests. Their Japanese site seems to be working OK right now, but not their English site.

The power outage is about 4 to 8 hours total per day (daytime), depending on the area designated for blackout.

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#Japan #Earthquake: Severe Fuel Shortage in Miyagi

According to Mainichi Shinbun (in Japanese, 3/13/2011), fuel shortage is getting severe in Miyagi prefecture, hardest hit in the earthquake/tsunami on March 11. Without fresh supply, major hospitals in Miyagi will run out of fuel by March 15. Broadcasting companies in Miyagi have dwindling supply of fuel for their emergency generators, and may not be able to continue emergency broadcast on TV and radio. The Miyagi Prefectural government is trying to compile a priority list for the fuel distribution.

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Japanese Financial Markets Will Open As Usual In 2 Hours, at 9AM

It's 6:56AM Monday, March 14, 2011 over in Japan. The financial markets - stock market, foreign exchange market, commodities and futures market, bond market - are all set to open as usual, at 9:00AM.

According to Nikkei Shinbun, they expect a tumultuous market (not surprising):

• Stock market: probably goes down significantly, but hoping for a support around 10,300 on Nikkei.

• Forex: expecting higher yen

• Bond: more money flowing into Japanese government bonds

Japan's Financial Services Agency held a press conference last night and said it would strictly enforce rules against short selling in the stock market.

Nikkei futures are curently at 9,960, down 210.

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US State Dept's Crowley Resigns Over WikiLeaks Remark, But He Should Have Resigned Over #Japan's Tsunami Remark

...as far as I'm concerned.

It was reported in the Japanese media (here's one from Sankei Shinbun, in Japanese) right after the earthquake that P. J. Crowley, chief spokesman of the US State Department, tweeted about Japan's earthquake of March 11.

The particular tweet on March 11 was later removed, but from what I can figure from the Japanese translation that was reported there, Mr. Crowley seems to have called the democratic movement that's sweeping the north Africa and Middle East a tidal wave - tsunami, and equated that tsunami with what just hit Japan.

Many Japanese, shaken right after the largest earthquake they have ever known, took his tweet to mean Mr. Crowley was equating the democratic movement in the Middle East with the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and he considered both to be good, albeit implicitly.

The Japanese may be overreacting, but Crowley's tweet was insensitive to say the least. And it came right after Kevin Maher, director of the State Department's Office of Japan and American Consulate General in Naha, Okinawa, was fired for calling Okinawans "lazy" and "master extortionists". (That was on March 10, one day before the earthquake...)

Here's Crawley's tweet, as I reconstitute from the Japanese translation back into English (and therefore not exactly what Mr. Crawley may have written):

I'm looking forward to seeing (democratic) tsunami rushing to all of Middle East. Right now I'm seeing a different kind of tsunami rushing to Japan.

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#Japan #Earthquake: More Before & After Photos

New York Times has "before and after" photos of the Japan's March 11 earthquake, with a slide bar. The satellite images were taken by GeoEye. Orderly rows of houses dotted with greens, all gone.

Click on the photo will take you to the site.

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#Japan #Earthquake: Tokai II Power Plant Basics

The Japan Atomic Power Company, which runs Tokai Power Plants (I and II), doesn't have anything on their website regarding the latest news of the cooling system failure at the Plant II.

But it has this basic information about the Tokai II Power Plant:

• Operational since: 1978 (Japan's first large-scale nuclear power plant) [Fukushima I's Unit 1 started commercial operation in 1971, with 460,000 kilowatt]

• Reactor type: Boiling water reactor (BWR) [the same as Fukushima I and II plants]

• Fuel: low enriched uranium [Fukushima uses MOX - uranium/plutonium mix]

• Output: 1.1 million kilowatt [Fukushima I Plant total (6 reactors)=4.696 million kilowatt]

• Power supplied to: Tohoku Electric Power Co., Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)

TEPCO is implementing the rolling blackout, with anticipated 10 million kilowatt shortage.

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#Japan #Earthquake: Trouble at Tokai Nuclear Power Plant

This is the plant where the workers carried uranium in a bucket while smoking a cigarette in 1999.

More as I look for more info in the Japanese news sources...

From Reuters (3/13/2011):

TOKYO | Sun Mar 13, 2011 12:14pm EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - The cooling system pump has stopped at the Tokai No.2 nuclear power plant in Japan's Ibaraki prefecture, Kyodo news reported, in the wake of the massive earthquake that has crippled other reactors in the country.

The plant, located about 120 km (75 miles) north of Tokyo, had suffered a nuclear accident in 1999.

(h/t maryetta)

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