Japan

[nico]

I would like to offer my sympathy (condolences if you lost someone) to all Japanese forum members and their family members (and the whole Japanese population) who became victims of this unprecedented disaster following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Nico

 

[GhostFist]

Likewise..

 

[woodguy7]

Yea, its a bad one for sure.  I always complain about my crappy weather but on the other hand we never get that stuff.  There is always someone worse off then you eh !

 

[Chris Hughes]

My niece is in Okinawa.  Here husband and new baby are stationed there.  Thank god they are okay.  My heart goes out for those poor souls inmate north. 

 

[b_m_hart]

Let's hear it for Japanese engineering!  9.0 on the Richter scale, 30 foot tall waves, and hydrogen explosions that literally blow the roof off.... and *41* year old reactor cores have not gone into full meltdown.  Truly amazing stuff.  Hopefully some of that engineering prowess will allow them to quickly get back on their feet after one of the 10 biggest earthquakes ever recorded.

 

[GhostFist]

Last I read it ranked 7th in recorded history and the six before it were no where near civilization. Beside the main point I know. I read somewhere else that the people who have been working to keep the reactors cool have essentially forfeit their lives, talk about heroism if nothing else.

 

[mohrab]

If anyone would like to help - this is one of ways:  http://jasonkelly.com/helpjapan/

I have followed Jason's website for years and know he is a solid citizen.  You can read about him by clicking on "About" on his website.  Also gives you some straight news about what is happening in Japan.

 

[tjbier]

I see the images and cannot even think about where to start re-building ect, truly devastating what happened.
But, they should be proud of themselves for not whining, complaining and blaming people, gov't, nature for what happened.
They are just quite and go about trying to rebuild their lives and community.

 

[b_m_hart]

Let's hear it for Japanese engineering!  9.0 on the Richter scale, 30 foot tall waves, and hydrogen explosions that literally blow the roof off.... and *41* year old reactor cores have not gone into full meltdown.  Truly amazing stuff.  Hopefully some of that engineering prowess will allow them to quickly get back on their feet after one of the 10 biggest earthquakes ever recorded.

The design is actually General Electric's.  There were several redesigns subsequent to the models used at the Fukushima plant due to concerns about reactor cooling under particular circumstances.

The reactor is GE's design, yes, but the Japanese designed and built the building that houses it - which is what I was getting at in a round-about way.  If it were in a building that was built to lesser US code, hello Chernobyl 2.  But, yes, the fact that the reactor didn't meltdown after pressure inside it was at least twice the "maximum spec" is also very impressive.