Earthquake/Tsunami Thread - FG Members Check In.

Try my wild speculation out: Earthquake hits, turbine (aka, the generator part of the installation) shuts down and decouples from the reactor due to excessive vibration. Reactor is still getting power from the grid's remaining generation systems, so not a huge deal. A bit later, the tsunami rolls in and grid power goes down. Computers or the operators command the diesels to start - and they suck in water and hydrolock.

Would also explain why they couldn't get the things back up and running in a hurry after the problem was evident. Hydrolock most engines and they're done.

Something like that probably. 13 engines won't all fail even if they skip a few maintenances.
 
Also possible. They've also had at least one really strange criticality incident, back in 1999.

Doesn't mention TEPCO explicitly, but that doesn't mean they're beyond reproach. Hell, they're a for-profit company.

Yes the scenario makes sense. The generators could have been flooded. Call me crazy, but why weren't the generators built on a 10m high platform? Or something.
 
Something like that probably. 13 engines won't all fail even if they skip a few maintenances.

Exactly. Chances are that at least one would have staggered to life. The Japanese are some of the best there are at making larger diesels, so something had to have gone horribly wrong for all of those to fail in such a way that they could not be quickly repaired and brought back online.

Edit: For that matter, if it's like any other critical power system here that relies on diesels (such as the generators for cell towers), they would have been tested on a regular basis. Even if they had had maintenances skipped, some should still have been functional unless something happened to them.

Doesn't mention TEPCO explicitly, but that doesn't mean they're beyond reproach. Hell, they're a for-profit company.

Yes the scenario makes sense. The generators could have been flooded. Call me crazy, but why weren't the generators built on a 10m high platform? Or something.

From pictures, it looks like the installation is on the waterfront, but a bit elevated above it. I suspect they never anticipated a tsunami that big would come rolling up that elevation to say hello. Or it simply may never have occurred to anyone and they located the generators on the ground for easier servicing. Remember, we're speculating here.

Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station got directly hit and overrun by Hurricane Andrew (and the high waters it brought) back in 1992 and the nuclear part of the station was untouched, so 'getting hit by a lot of water' isn't a normal or inherent reactor complex weakness.
 
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Checking in. Everything fine except all the worrying pictures on the TV.
 
Please debate that somewhere else. There is a thread in the political section if you would like to make use of it.
 
Please debate that somewhere else. There is a thread in the political section if you would like to make use of it.

No, I don't want to debate that. Just my 2 cents.

If anyone wants to help Japan by donating money, great, please do so. :)



In another news, Fukushima accident is rated 4 at a scale from 0 to 7. Chernobyl was 7, Three Mile Island 5.
 
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BBC News link

BBC News said:
Rescuers are searching for survivors of a huge earthquake and tsunami that have devastated Japan's north-eastern coast, killing at least 1,000 people.

In one town alone - the port of Minamisanriku - 10,000 people were listed as unaccounted for, officials were reported as saying.

Continues

The BBC have shown the NHK TV pictures of before and after at Minamisanriku, the place looks like it has been wiped out, baring the a large Hospital and some other buildings. Obviously, missing figures this early are only an estimate, but it is an official source. The town population is around 25,000.

This looks really bad and makes me wonder how many other towns have been hit up and down the coast.

The fault line was estimated to be 400 kilometers yesterday.

Does anyone know how wide the tsunami was when it hit the coast?

:|
 
Map that Blind posted is a bit too large, but black part (wave over 240cm high) looks like 200-300km wide.

That was what I had feared, penetration was up to about 10kms inland as well.

Not good. :(


EDIT:
The BBC have a news team transmitting live pictures from Sendai. It is the middle of the night so you can't see much perspective, but it looks as bad as you can imagine.
 
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The coastal town of Minamisanriku before the tsunami:
5520039071_6117305082_o.jpg


And after...
image-191220-galleryV9-odcx.jpg


The death toll may rise into the tenth of thousands, when you look at devastation like that... :(
 
Bloody hell. :( That's just...
 
Last chance to buy Ram before prices get insanely expensive.


edit : judging from the picture, the tsunami damage looks pretty hectic.
 
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