Nuclear Plant Disaster from 3/11/11 Earthquake-- "Japan Syndrome"?

(UPDATED 3/13)


The explosion happened at 3:40pm. 34 is not a good number for this sort of thing, as it may signify quarantine escape.

The extent of the problem at the plant is not known, supposedly the damage is being contained with minimal radiation release.

WASHINGTON — An explosion at a nuclear power plant in northern Japan on Saturday blew the roof off one building, brought down walls and caused a radiation leak of unspecified proportions, Japanese officials said, after Friday’s huge earthquake caused critical failures in the plant’s cooling system.

Television images showed a huge cloud of white-gray smoke from the explosion. Soon afterward, government officials said an evacuation zone around the plant had been doubled, to 12 miles. The chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, confirmed earlier news reports of an explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, 15o miles north of Tokyo, saying: “We are looking into the cause and the situation and we’ll make that public when we have further information.” He was speaking amid fears that a disastrous meltdown could be imminent because of critical cooling failures at that plant and another nearby, Daini, after both were shut down.

Images on Japanese television showed that the walls of one building had crumbled, leaving only a skeletal metal frame standing with smoke billowing from the plant. The Associated Press reported that the damaged building housed a nuclear reactor, though that report was not immediately verified by nuclear officials. The cause of the explosion was unclear, with some experts speculating that it may have resulted from a hydrogen build-up.

There was no immediate confirmation of news reports that the container of the nuclear reactor itself had escaped damage.

Bloomberg News quoted Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant’s operator, as saying the explosion happened “near” the No. 1 reactor at around 3:40 p.m. Japan time on Saturday. Four people were reported injured. The explosion came roughly 26 and a half hours after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake caused a deadly tsunami that killed hundreds and caused both plants to be shut down. Authorities issued broad evacuation orders on Saturday for people living near the plants and warned that small amounts of radioactive material were likely to leak out.

Just to note that 3/11/11 can be construed as a double 33 (3 x 11, twice).

This article has the more conventional 33 inserted, to give credit to the PTB for all this wonderfulness-- "The Japanese plant was damaged by Friday's 8.9-magnitude earthquake, which sent a 10-meter (33-foot) tsunami ripping through towns and cities across the northeast coast."

UPDATE 3/13--

Looks bad:

TOKYO — Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were bracing for a second explosion, even as they faced serious cooling problems at four more reactors.

The emergency appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. The developments at two separate nuclear plants prompted the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. Japanese officials said they had also ordered up the largest mobilization of their Self-Defense Forces since World War II to assist in the relief effort.

On Saturday, Japanese officials took the extraordinary step of flooding the crippled No. 1 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 170 miles north of Tokyo, with seawater in a last-ditch effort to avoid a nuclear meltdown. That came after an explosion caused by hydrogen that tore the outer wall and roof off the building housing the reactor, although the steel containment of the reactor remained in place.

This article doesn't have a "33" but has a clear "three" motif, with "three" or "3" mentioned several times.

Here's a more obvious three-three, in an AP piece: "An additional reactor was added to the list early Sunday, for a total of six - three at the Dai-ichi complex and three at another nearby complex."

This post at DU is good:

Let me remind you of something crucial when it comes to nuclear power incidents and accidents.

People lie. When it comes to nuclear incidents and accidents, plant owners, government officials, and the media lie. If they can't cover up an incident, they will minimize it. Since radiation not only kills immediately, but also over time, the plant and government officials will simply say that all is good, nobody has died, meanwhile, years later, cancer cluster pop up and people who were exposed die prematurely . When a crisis, such as TMI or Chernobyl, comes down, the danger is minimized. Since most folks don't have a Geiger counter, they feel that they can get away with minimizing the amount of exposure. Only later does it turn out to be major. We've seen this pattern followed for years and decades. Minor releases of radioactive material are covered up for years, if not forever. Major incidents, such as TMI and Chernobyl, are downplayed, sometimes to ludicrous extents, until the scope of the devastation simply can't be hidden anymore. And even afterwards, the damage is minimized. Proponents of nuclear power like to point to TMI and say that no deaths occurred, all the while ignoring the fact that there are cancer clusters surrounding the downwind side of TMI, one full of thyroid cancers and childhood leukemia. We're seeing the same game being played out in Japan. All yesterday, the damage was minimized, the threat was minimized. Vague statements that were trying to be reassuring were issued, and all the buzz words were used. Yet the situation continued to worsen until now we have the building that houses the reactor and containment vessel exploding, and yet the dissembling continues as authorities hastily rush to mention that radiation levels are going down. Nuclear power has been shoved down the throats of the people in this world for the past sixty years, despite the dangers, despite the threat, despite the fact that it is now the most expensive form of energy production going. A small group of powerful people have a vested monetary interest in continuing down the nuclear path, and they are able to exert their influence to put out lies and propaganda. Don't fall for it. The evidence of nuclear's dangers are apparent in the cancer clusters of Pennsylvania. They are evident in a 2,800 square mile dead zone in Ukraine. And they are being played out for us now, on the coast of Japan. Don't fall for the lies, spin and propaganda.

Relatedly, this tool to compare before and after satellite shots of Japanese cities is really interesting.

Finally, remember: the China Syndrome came to the WTC on 9/11.