He spoke after technicians temporarily abandoned a quake-crippled nuclear plant as radiation briefly surged.

I wonder if the timing of the Emperor’s appearance had anything to do with the return of the 50 into the reactors? If it’s so darn safe, why aren’t the other 750 returning?

Of course the corporate media are saying radiation levels went down and THEN the 50 returned.

How about a presser with TEPCO guys on site in the exposure suits for a look see?

Some of us recall that the Emperor appeared in public to surrender after we bombed Hiroshimo and Nagasaki. Seems he gets to do the nitty gritty.

Here’s a really stoooopit (and now, apparently, largely academic) technical question. Been wondering about it for a few days, but haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere. Prolly missed it. Be that as it may:

When seawater is pumped in to cool the rods, etc, I assume that water either evaporates or is circulated through. So if the latter is the case, is the (presumably radioactive) water pumped back into the ocean? Then again, I suppose it doesn’t matter if it goes into the atmosphere or into the ocean. It’s going to end up in the food chain one way or the other, anyway…or so it would seem.

China’s evacuating it’s people:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599205925500;_ylt=AnmWmSutDzsrve0e5tUt0yz9xg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJ2aWJqczZhBGFzc2V0A3RpbWUvMjAxMTAzMTYvMDg1OTkyMDU5MjU1MDAEY2NvZGUDcmRuYmUEY3BvcwMzBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDamFwYW5udWNsZWFy

Hoped that there would be good news this morning. Not today, though.

Our experts explained what happens to the water some thread back. I’m not technical enough to even attempt to explain, even if I thoroughly understood. IIRC it was on a Bill Engor thread…

What do you do with miles of radioactive rubble? How do you safely contain it and dispose of it?
I realize this is not number one on the priority list. Still it has been nagging at me.

The biggest concern at the Fukushima Daiichi plant continues to be the spent fuel rods, which could be sitting exposed without water. And it’s hard to see how those pools will be refilled given the current situation.

My bold Well robots might be able to do the job or we need magic. Where is Pat Robertson and the power of prayer?
Somebody has a diary about Glen Beck saying its God’s Will or some crap I take Glen’s ramblings to mean that GE Nuclear Reactors are cursed by God for getting Reagan in the WH:)
That and God wants us to stop using Nuclear Power.

Not stupid but as long as the water keeps the rods cool the radiation is much less than it would be if the rods are exposed to air.

Yesterday I stated, this situation is beyond dire

because no nation has anyone voluteer to help the 50 people at the plant

which leaves me to assume, that the situation on the ground at the plant is out of control

when one listens to the media, no one ever says, the USA, FRANCE are sending people to help the 50 people at the plant

and all the internationals in Japan that can leave, are leaving

You can’t dispose of it breaking it up and moving it to a mine shaft would only spread radioactive dust. Dumping tons of concrete might be the best idea but we would probably need to move the rods first.

“Everybody was happy when we heard that the embassy would send a car to pick us up,” Li Mingwei, who ran a small shop in Sendai, told the Beijing News. The government, however, cautioned that a complete evacuation could take some time given the fact it has made contact with some 22,000 Chinese citizens in the region around Fukushima. “We hope our compatriots in the worst-hit disaster areas remain calm, listen to instructions, understand and cooperate with the evacuation operation,” the embassy said on its website. Given China’s track record at this sort of thing, it shouldn’t take long. The country recently plucked more than 35,000 of its citizens out of Libya over the span of nine days – a maneuver hailed in the Chinese press as the largest overseas evacuation since the 1949 communist takeover.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599205925500;_ylt=AnmWmSutDzsrve0e5tUt0yz9xg8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJ2aWJqczZhBGFzc2V0A3RpbWUvMjAxMTAzMTYvMDg1OTkyMDU5MjU1MDAEY2NvZGUDcmRuYmUEY3BvcwMzBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDamFwYW5udWNsZWFy

China does hundreds of billion in trade with Japan I doubt this is a political stunt but thats what the Right will call it.

Japan has thousands of people who are more closely trained and more available than anyone aboard.

But there are only so many people who know the valves, gauges, ports, and hoses of this particular plant. What’s going on onsite is happening in real time and there’s nobody to train. New guys from abroad who don’t speak Japanese and don’t know the plant would slow things down, not help.

Concerns of the MOTU. Private jets for hire going in & out of the area have raised prices by 20% since the earthquake. Costs something like $160,000 for a plane of 25 passengers. cnbc

GREAT POINT!

I did not look at that way

What is the UN Nuclear People doing, the guy on MSNBC John Walsh said they need to be more involve, due to the fact that you have 6 Nuclear Reactors on one site, that may be melting down.

He also said, no one, has ever developed a plan to deal with the case happening in Japan, where you have 6 nuclear reactors that may not be stable.

The 800 probably includes engineers and mainenance workers and any number of people not considered emergency responders.

Might as well keep their dose down.

No sane person believes you can cool down 6 severely damaged nuclear reactors with fire engine pumps. I thought the Japanese are smart. And the Obama administration still believe (as of yesterday) nuclear power is safe! Corporate shills.

Rush Limbaugh laughed about Japanese refugees recycling after the earthquake that struck the country on his Tuesday show.

A caller asked Limbaugh, “If these are the people that invented the Prius, have mastered public transportation, recycling, why did Mother Earth, Gaia if you will, hit them with this disaster

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/16/rush-limbaugh-mocks-japan-refugees_n_836384.html

The Japanese should pull all ads from Clear Channel and Fox News, the Wallstreet Journal etc for Glen Beck’s comments.
Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital owns Rush’s Fat Ass but of course he is not responsible for what Rush says.

By now all those people got maxed out on radiation.

From Washington’s Blog.

Unlike the reactors, spent fuel pools are not—repeat not—housed in any sort of hardened or sealed containment structures. Rather, the fuel rods are packed tightly together in pools of water that are often several stories above ground.

“With damaged [fuel rod] pools, we are talking about things that were never considered a credible threat,” said Alvarez.

Officials abandoned a plan to dump water from helicopters because of the extreme radiation concerns.

I wonder if at this point, they should consider dumping cement (as they did at Chernobyl) to try to contain the damage.

Scarecrow has a fresh cross-post ready: Japan Nuke Watch Wed Nite (JST): Frantic Efforts to Cool Reactors and Fuel Pools

The Emperor should talk to Toyota, Honda etc and tell them to stop advertising with Clear Channel and NewsCorp anyone who attacks Japan when its down does not deserve Japan’s ad dollars.
This is as embarrassing as Obama going on Fox News only to be interrupted by O’Reily constantly, but its as dangerous to Japan and all Asians as Glen Becks rants against Immigrants are.
Will Japan let itself be treated like Immigrants?

Beck in his latest act of socio-political pyromania trotted out the idea that this is God’s way of saying that we are sinful and wayward

http://my.firedoglake.com/sjgulitti/2011/03/15/glenn-beck-stupid-or-just-playing-the-part/

What Emperor stands for such insults?

If you guys don’t want to use the hyperlink tool, at least use tinyurl. Tanbark’s 227 character link goes to 26 and looks like this: http://tinyurl.com/4upr6uz . Better than the link crawling out if the comment box a right across the page imo.

From Olbermann’s blog:

if there is an inscrutable message from some deity translated via earthquake, tsunami, and really bad nuclear power plant construction, the message is: “Glenn Beck Needs To Stop Doing His Nitwitted Show”?

What Emperor stands for such insults?

A powerless one. Akahito is a figurehead under the Constitution of Nihon.

Concerning demolition/cleanup. I think what will be needed are a lot of remotely operated heavy cranes and earthmovers, which would also be useful for fire supression and to get that spent fuel watered down and ultimately out of those overhead storage racks. Anybody working on that?

Glenn Beck is a disgustingly predictable POS, but I doubt that Emperor Akahito could give a sh*t what that peckerhead says. Doubt the Emperor’s even heard of him. But as Margaret says, the Emperor is largely a figurehead with no power.

It really defies my imagination (which I feel can pretty vivid, inventive and creative a lot of the time) how *anyone* can listen to sh*t like that, much less agree with it, enjoy it and clap & cheer for it.

The depth of depravity of some citizens is something that I don’t wish to contemplate for very long. No humanity; no compassion; completely full-on sociopaths proudly strutting their stuff. ICK

The piece I saw with those numbers in it: “Foreign bankers flee Tokyo as nuclear crisis deepens” (CNBA, Mar. 16, 2011, 5:54 AM ET)

Like the English Queen I suspect in Elite Social circles he has much power in what in America is called the cocktail weenie crowd a request has social implications. No company in Japan wants to be seen disrespecting the Emperor especially if Rush and Glen’s Japan bashing leads to Japanese getting lynched in America.
The American Right thinks with one brain this is a coordinated attack the Right needs someone to blame for our economy anyone but our own elite rich class….or else they might have to talk about gasp Creating Jobs! (the Horror)!

Jed, I think you’re right about no other nations volunteering personal to go on site and risk the radiation, and, as for the idea that they don’t know the hardware; don’t forget: this is a GE designed plant, with, undoubtedly, a number of similar reactors.

Wag, I think they KNOW they can’t cool it all down using these bandaids.

We’re seeing a lot of whistling past the radioactive graveyard. They’re trying to hold the line on releasing any more bad news, while hoping that events don’t expose them.

Someone is going to have to pay for that.

The Japanese should pull all ads from Clear Channel and Fox News, the Wallstreet Journal etc for Glen Beck’s comments.

The entire world should pull ads from Clear Channel for this, because it is beyond reprehensible. Clear Channel should be out of business for allowing this level of stupidity. Here’s hoping…

No company in Japan wants to be seen disrespecting the Emperor especially if Rush and Glen’s Japan bashing leads to Japanese getting lynched in America.

It’s deeper in the culture than that. I don’t pretend to be an expert on Japan, but I have taken Japanese, and had ‘Japan-Japanese’ neighbors and friends throughout my life.

The sense of social continuity, respect for culture and tradition, and the ability of Japanese culture to be resilient in addressing the modern world are all bound up with notions of the Emperor and his family.

Consider as one example a Japanese garden; a real one, not a faux one. A gardener will work on a tree over his/her entire lifetime, will work on the garden their entire lifetime. They know everything about that garden, and the shaping of it is patient, quiet, slow work — almost invisible. Yet, over time, there is nothing more beautiful than a true Japanese garden at any time of year. This comes from respect for nature, from understanding nature, from working with – not against – nature.

The history of Japan is complex, and merits more respect than tossing the Emperor’s name around in the same way that we Yanks tend to view any public figure as free for some kind of tabloid discussion.

For the Emperor to come on television… well, it makes me – literally – weep. Something is deeply, profoundly changed.