0 Emergencies at 5 nuclear reactors in Japan after quake knocks out power to cooling systems
Japan declared states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants after the units lost cooling ability in the aftermath of Friday's powerful earthquake.
A single reactor in northeastern Japan had been the focus of much of the concern in the initial hours after the 8.9 magnitude quake, but the government declared new states of emergency at four other reactors in the area Saturday morning.
Thousands of residents were evacuated as workers struggled to get the reactors under control to prevent meltdowns.
A single reactor in northeastern Japan had been the focus of much of the concern in the initial hours after the 8.9 magnitude quake, but the government declared new states of emergency at four other reactors in the area Saturday morning.The earthquake knocked out power at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and because a backup generator failed, the cooling system was unable to supply water to cool the 460-megawatt No. 1 reactor. Although a backup cooling system is being used, Japan's nuclear safety agency said pressure inside the reactor had risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal.
Authorities said radiation levels had jumped 1,000 times normal inside Unit 1 and were measured at eight times normal outside the plant. They expanded an earlier evacuation zone more than threefold, from 3 to 10 kilometers (2 miles to 6.2 miles). Some 3,000 people had been urged to leave their homes in the first announcement.
The government declared a state of emergency, its first ever at a nuclear plant. And plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. warned of power shortages and an "extremely challenging situation in power supply for a while."
The utility, which also operates reactors at the nearby Fukushima Daini plant, later confirmed that cooling ability had been lost at three of four reactors there, as well as a second Fukushima Daiichi unit. The government promptly declared a state of emergency there as well.
The reactor core remains hot even after a shutdown. If the outage persists, it could in a worst-case scenario cause a reactor meltdown, an official with Japan's nuclear safety agency said on condition of anonymity, citing sensitivity of the issue.
Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency official Ryohei Shiomi said radiation levels surged inside the control center at the Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 reactor, while a monitoring device at the front gate of the compound detected radiation that is eight times higher than normal.
The level outside the 40-year-old plant in Onahama city, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, is still considered very low compared to the annual exposure limit, Shiomi said. It would take 70 days of standing at the gate to reach the limit, he said.
Shiomi said radioactive vapor probably entered the control room because of lack of air flow control resulting from power outage. The control room is usually radiation free, protected by negative air pressure. If the condition persists or worsens, the plant is equipped with gas masks and other protective gear to protect workers from radiation exposure, he said.
Officials planned to release slightly radioactive vapor from the unit to lower the pressure in an effort to protect it from a possible meltdown, but the continuing power supply problem has delayed the process.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the amount of radioactive element in the vapor would be "very small" and would not affect the environment or human health. "With evacuation in place and the ocean-bound wind, we can ensure the safety," he said at a televised news conference early Saturday.
Japan to distribute iodine near nuclear plants
Japanese authorities are preparing to hand out iodine, which helps protect the body from radioactive exposure, to residents in the area near the nuclear power plants hit by a massive earthquake.The U.S. and France also said they had plans to distribute doses of stable potassium iodine.
Media reports said earlier on Saturday the cooling system had failed at the Fukushima nuclear plant in northeastern Japan. Pressure was eased and steam was released from the nuclear reactor to prevent any meltdown.
The Fukushima prefectural government has expanded the evacuation area around Fukushima Number 1 Power Station from an earlier established 10-kilometer radius to a 20-kilometer radius.
The prefectural government is working to determine which towns and villages fall under the new evacuation order, NHK Television said.
MOSCOW, March 12 (RIA Novosti)
0 Possible Meltdown At Fukushima Tepco Reactor
Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture may be experiencing a meltdown in the wake of Friday's massive earthquake, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Saturday.
The agency said cesium, a radioactive material produced by nuclear fission, was detected near the facility.
Fuel rods were exposed to the air as the water level in the reactor fell, said one observer.
The nuclear agency serves under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
A later explosion at the Japanese nuclear power station tore down the walls of one building on Saturday as smoke poured out and Japanese officials said they feared the reactor could melt down following the failure of its cooling system in Friday's powerful earthquake and tsunami.(video below)
A later explosion at the Japanese nuclear power station tore down the walls of one building on Saturday as smoke poured out and Japanese officials said they feared the reactor could melt down following the failure of its cooling system in Friday's powerful earthquake and tsunami.(video below)
Want to know where the radiation would be headed?
This map shows where a Nuclear radiation plume from Japan may go if it followed the jet-stream to America...
This map shows where a Nuclear radiation plume from Japan may go if it followed the jet-stream to America...
0 Mercury Full Of Ice Despite Being Nearest The Sun
Earth is about to get better acquainted with its oddball planetary cousin, Mercury, a rocky wonderland of extremes.
NASA’s Mariner probe flew by Mercury in 1974 and 1975, and Messenger has whizzed by it in 2008 and 2009. But this is the first time a spacecraft will attempt the tricky maneuver of entering Mercury’s orbit, circling it for a year. To do that, Messenger, overbudget at $446 million, will have to thwart the enormous pull of the sun.
Mars may fascinate science fiction authors, Jupiter looms large and Saturn has stunning rings, but tiny Mercury can claim the title as weirdest planet in the solar system. It has the wildest extremes from hot to cold. A day on Mercury somehow lasts longer than its year. And maybe strangest of all, scientists think it holds tons of ice in dark craters despite being the planet closest to the sun.
 |
| Click to Enlarge |
Next Thursday, for the first time, a small NASA spacecraft called Messenger will enter into Mercury’s orbit, circling at times as close as 125 miles (200 kilometers) from the planet’s surface. And by coincidence, a few days before that will be the best time all year for people on Earth to see Mercury with the naked eye.
Barely bigger than our moon but much more distant, Mercury is not easy to see without a telescope. An odd pairing with giant Jupiter will make it easier to spot starting Sunday — probably the best opportunity for a year, said Geoff Chester at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington.
Chester said people in the Northern Hemisphere should look to the west after sunset. Jupiter will be about 10 degrees above the western horizon. Mercury will be about finger’s width to the right of Jupiter.
“Mercury has sometimes been called the forgotten planet,” said Sean Solomon, the Carnegie Institution planetary geologist who is Messenger’s chief scientist. “It is extreme in many respects. It is the smallest, closest to the sun. It is made of the densest materials.”
 |
| Craters could hold ice |
The overall heat on the sunny side of Mercury will melt parts of some of Messenger’s instruments, by design, acting as a heat buffer for the more sensitive parts of the equipment. Then the melted parts will refreeze when the spacecraft hits a cooler zone, said Messenger system engineering chief Eric Finnegan.
Meanwhile, Messenger’s orbit will be egg-shaped, distorted by the sun’s gravity. But that’s the sort of thing that’s normal for this oddball planet. Mercury itself has a highly elongated orbit that makes its distance from the sun range from 29 million miles (47 million kilometers) to 43 million miles (69 million kilometers). Mercury orbits the sun every 88 Earth days, zipping around at a faster pace than any other planet.
Yet its own rotation is downright pokey. It takes Mercury 59 Earth days to rotate around its axis. What that means is that a solar day on Mercury — from noon to noon at the same spot — lasts 176 Earth days, which is two Mercury years.
One myth about Mercury is that it’s the hottest planet in the solar system. Actually, that would be Venus. But Mercury has a tenuous atmosphere with wild swings in temperature. When parts of Mercury face the sun, it can be 800 degrees. On the opposite side, it can be 300 degrees below zero, said mission scientist Ralph McNutt of Johns Hopkins University.
Near Mercury’s poles there are deep craters gouged by comets and asteroids that “never see any sunlight and haven’t for maybe a billion years,” McNutt said. And because of that, scientists think the craters have ice — left over from comet strikes. Radar from afar has suggested ice, and it could even be several feet thick, Solomon said.
“You’re staring out in the blackness of space and it’s extremely cold,” Solomon said.
Messenger probably won’t be able to take pictures inside the craters, but it will aim devices that should be able to figure out the chemical composition of what’s inside, Solomon said.
Mission scientist Jean-Luc Margot believes there will be plenty of data that will help astronomers understand more about the geologic mysteries of Mercury, such as its surprising magnetism and unusually high density: “This will be our first really close look at this enigmatic planet. It’s going to be a blast.”
THINKING YET?
0 World to see biggest full moon in two decades
The world is set to experience the biggest full moon for almost two decades when the satellite reaches its closest point to Earth next weekend.
 |
| click for Hi-res image |
On 19 March, the full moon will appear unusually large in the night sky as it reaches a point in its cycle known as 'lunar perigee'.
Stargazers will be treated to a spectacular view when the moon approaches Earth at a distance of 221,567 miles in its elliptical orbit - the closest it will have passed to our planet since 1992.
The full moon could appear up to 14% bigger and 30% brighter in the sky, especially when it rises on the eastern horizon at sunset or is provided with the right atmospheric conditions.
This phenomenon has reportedly heightened concerns about 'supermoons' being linked to extreme weather events - such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. The last time the moon passed close to the Earth was on 10 January 2005, around the time of the Indonesian earthquake that measured 9.0 on the Richter scale.
Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was also associated with an unusually large full moon.
Previous supermoons occurred in 1955, 1974 and 1992 - each of these years experienced extreme weather events, killing thousands of people.
However, an expert speaking to Yahoo! News today believes that a larger moon causing weather chaos is a popular misconception.
Dr Tim O'Brien, a researcher at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, said: "The dangers are really overplayed. You do get a bit higher than average tides than usual along coastlines as a result of the moon's gravitational pull, but nothing so significant that will cause a serious climatic disaster or anything for people to worry about."
But according to Dr Victor Gostin, a Planetary and Environmental Geoscientist at Adelaide University, there may be a link between large-scale earthquakes in places around the equator and new and full moon situations.
He said: "This is because the Earth-tides (analogous to ocean tides) may be the final trigger that sets off the earthquake."
0 Agenda 21 For Dummies
Agenda 21 explained very well. Including implications it will have on humanity. Opinions within the video come in some cases from those that were in on the negotiations. Truly an interesting watch.
0 Millions Of Dead Fish Clog Harbor At Scene Of Mass Fish Kill In California
And Possibly The Most Laughable Explanation You'll Ever Hear....
0 dancing on ice Devil Horns Spectacular!
Mmmm...even if they give the excuse that they are "rock horns"....they were dancing to Status Quo....not Black Sabbath.
Some other popular "Horners"....
Barack and Michelle Obama
Bill Clinton
John Kerry campaigning in October of 2004
Illuminati Devil Hand Signals were Prevalent Throughout the 2005 Inauguration
George W. Bush at his 2005 inauguration
WOW - even King Abdullah and Putty Pute are fans, everybody's doing it!
Go Long Horns!
Go Long Horns!
France President Sarcozy
Vice President Dick Cheney
Maria (Kennedy) Shriver at her marriage to Arnold Schwarzenegger
Just google "pop star horns handsign" then click "images"....there's alot more to this than a simple "hand signal".....
0 Google uses Android kill switch to eliminate malicious apps on phones
"The new code undoes the exploit and prevents your data from being shared, and it’s kind of creepy to plainly see how much control Google has over your Android phone from afar."
A few days ago Google was made aware that there were over 20 apps in the Android Market that were up to no good. These malicious apps gained system-level access to your handset when downloaded and would intercept and covertly transmit private data to 3rd party servers. Some of these apps have been downloaded more than 50,000 times. To try and fix the problem, Google has started using a remote kill switch feature in Android to wirelessly nuke those installed apps on user’s handsets. That’s not the entire story, though, as Google is actually installing new code in the process. The new code undoes the exploit and prevents your data from being shared, and it’s kind of creepy to plainly see how much control Google has over your Android phone from afar. Affected users have started receiving emails that the process has been completed.
Following From http://googlemobile.blogspot.com
A few days ago Google was made aware that there were over 20 apps in the Android Market that were up to no good. These malicious apps gained system-level access to your handset when downloaded and would intercept and covertly transmit private data to 3rd party servers. Some of these apps have been downloaded more than 50,000 times. To try and fix the problem, Google has started using a remote kill switch feature in Android to wirelessly nuke those installed apps on user’s handsets. That’s not the entire story, though, as Google is actually installing new code in the process. The new code undoes the exploit and prevents your data from being shared, and it’s kind of creepy to plainly see how much control Google has over your Android phone from afar. Affected users have started receiving emails that the process has been completed. An Update on Android Market Security
Saturday, March 5, 2011 | 10:08 PM
On Tuesday evening, the Android team was made aware of a number of malicious applications published to Android Market. Within minutes of becoming aware, we identified and removed the malicious applications. The applications took advantage of known vulnerabilities which don’t affect Android versions 2.2.2 or higher. For affected devices, we believe that the only information the attacker(s) were able to gather was device-specific (IMEI/IMSI, unique codes which are used to identify mobile devices, and the version of Android running on your device). But given the nature of the exploits, the attacker(s) could access other data, which is why we’ve taken a number of steps to protect those who downloaded a malicious application:
- We removed the malicious applications from Android Market, suspended the associated developer accounts, and contacted law enforcement about the attack.
- We are remotely removing the malicious applications from affected devices. This remote application removal feature is one of many security controls the Android team can use to help protect users from malicious applications.
- We are pushing an Android Market security update to all affected devices that undoes the exploits to prevent the attacker(s) from accessing any more information from affected devices. If your device has been affected, you will receive an email from android-market-support@google.com over the next 72 hours. You will also receive a notification on your device that “Android Market Security Tool March 2011” has been installed. You may also receive notification(s) on your device that an application has been removed. You are not required to take any action from there; the update will automatically undo the exploit. Within 24 hours of the exploit being undone, you will receive a second email.
- We are adding a number of measures to help prevent additional malicious applications using similar exploits from being distributed through Android Market and are working with our partners to provide the fix for the underlying security issues.
0 Gates Foundation to Put "Wireless Whispers" in Teacher's Ears
Teachers will get live in-ear feedback just like NFL coaches thanks to technology funded by the Gates Foundation.
Teachers-in-training will have their very own personal angel to discreetly coach them through new lesson plans, with the same ear-bud wiring that feeds live information to NFL coaches. Teach for America is hoping that private coaching will speed up the painstakingly slow process of teacher development, allowing teachers to get both tailored instruction and the experience of being at the head of the classroom, without risking a disaster for students.
"Once a teacher understands what it feels like to be successful, it takes root immediately," Monica Jordan, coordinator of teacher professional development in Memphis City Schools, told Education Week.
The experimental group of teachers is willing, if hesitant. "I thought, what if they say something in my ear and I lose my train of thought?" said algebra teacher Cynthia Law. "And then I thought, so what if I lose my train of thought, I'll figure it out," Law continued, confidently, "I'm not a play-it-safe person. I'm willing for my kids' sake to look foolish."
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded technology is currently just used with an expert companion in a nearby room, but could easily be done from anywhere in the world.
Conceivably, the technology could allow even more exciting (and controversial) applications. For instance, Indian PhDs could one day be remote coaching AP calculus teachers, especially in cash-strapped schools forced to fill classes with unprepared teachers. This is especially likely since American educators have long wanted to use the successful math curricula of South Asian countries but lack the proper training.
Perhaps less controversial, the program could also bring expertise to isolated rural and underprivileged urban schools, with the help of President Obama's new universal broadband access initiative. No longer will students be penalized for being raised in an area that does not appeal to America's elite teaching graduates.
Live-feed instruction, if effectively executed, could bring personalized teacher development and the world's expertise to any classroom in the country.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)