Anyone in Japan? Tsunami alert - any more news ? PLEASE

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DH who gets these things has had a tsunami alert for Japan. Does anyone have any more info? Itsjust breaking news about the massive earthquake at the moment.

there has been an explosion at the nuclear plant but it's just the building not the reactor, apparently to do with them releasing steam, a build up of hydrogen led to the explosion.
They're purposely leaking radioactive gas into the atmosphere but say that this will not affect people or wildlife which is obviously bollox

I'm glad the reactor hasn't gone bang anyway...Sakura, thanks for the update and well done for keeping so calm.

I have everything crossed that they get things under control very quickly...take care.

Sakura: they appear to be saying here that controlled releases contain only a small amount of radioactive material which rapidly decay (?is that the right word - means it won't last for long).

It won't harm people, as they've been evacuated. Wildlife - possibly. Radiological effect possible, but only over a short period (until decay), and most of it would be in an area where the wildlife was doomed anyhow from the heat of the steam.

Think of it like taking the weight off the pressure cooker. If it wasn't done, it won't go bang but it could meltdown. Possibly it will do this within the reactor; worst case is that all the ground water receives an unpredictable amount of radioactive contamination. A much worse scenario than a controlled release.

It seems they are doing similar with reactor 3 as they did with reactor 1 yesterday.

thank you meditrina, your post is reassuring

I'll keep an eye out for any useful background pieces for you - the reflective/informative background pieces tend to be in the Sundays.

Bodies like WHO are making ressuring comments about risks to health being low and local: and IAEA on the power plant situation in general - risky yes, but not a Chernobyl, still more a Three Mile Island.

I'd be extremely surprised if they could detect any radiological impact on wildlife from these releases. Virtually all of it will have been distributed into the atmosphere & massively diluted. The direct impact of the tsunami will have had far more a profound effect on any wildlife.

We had something on the news tonight about the international atomic accident ratings or something like that - Chernobyl was a 7, Three Mile Island was a 5 and so far this event is a 4. The range is from 1 to 7.

Hope the Japanese contingent are all ok and have made contact with everytone they need to. Have the after-shocks stopped yet?

How is everyone doing?

Interesting to see the difference between uk and German news reports
The BBC are more cautious, the Germans are Forecasting armageddon. And using the crisis to protest against nuclear energy.

MmeLindt, I find this interesting too. especially as the english sites are often more doom and gloom than the german ones.

Thumb, that is INES (international nuclear event scale). The rating could change in the future once it is all completely finished & all info assessed. The rating takes into account things like risk to plant/personnel/public/environment, the size of any releases, etc Lower rated events do not make the news (but they are not secret).

80 local people have been affected by radiation.

In Tohoku area the police have found more than 300 bodies floating like dead fish in the sea

Cheers elvisgirl. Yes I realise that the rating of 4 is only so far and could change, but I thought it might be helpful for people to see that it is still rated below 3 Mile Island and nowhere near Chernobyl.

A spot of good news - they also found a 60yo man alive out at sea - DH says 15km out but he could have misheard that.

It also now says there are 10,000 missing in the Miyagi region.

just told DH that story thumbwitch

the odd miracle does help, doesn't it, Sakura? :)
DH has missed all of this while he was in Thailand - partly because he was working friday afternoon/evening, partly because he was sick as anything yesterday and then had to fly out in the evening. So he's been catching up on the laptop - his face, watching the early pics of the tsunami. .

{{{Sakura}}} Must be very hard being so close to it all.

thanks, I've got a fever, and I'm glued to MN even more than usual becuase I just can't turn on the TV

oh no :( I hope you feel better soon. Really important to take care of yourself then to make sure you fight off the bug well.

btw - love your name :)

I hope you feel better soon Sakura

just turned on the TV, what a mistake, it flashed to a woman of about my age looking on the wall of a shelter for her son's name because she's not quite sure where to look for him and can't find him at any of the shelters and she has a feeling the Tsunami might have taken him

oh :( really probably better to just check in to an online news source a few times a day in case there is anything you need to know about rather than putting the telly on which exposes you to the raw grief. Otherwise you are probably going to get overwhelmed with it all especially when you arent well.

thanks ohYou and Thingummy, so kind

Thankyou Sakura, I haven't heard from her since 1am uk time. I will forward the open airports to her by text. Really appreciate your help, hope you are feeling better soon.

Cooling system pump stops at Tokai No.2 plant - report
6 minutes ago
TOKYO (Reuters) - The cooling system pump has stopped at the Tokai No.2 nuclear power plant in Japan's Ibaraki prefecture, Kyodo news reported.