Massive Quake Hits NE Japan

[notyoueither]

I read something about large financials having to repatriate capital to pay for rebuilding/insurance payouts, etc?

Maybe speculators as well.

[Asher]

The government injected tons of money in the money markets.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

(Reuters) - The top U.S. nuclear regulator told Congress on Wednesday the United States will not be hit by harmful radiation from Japan's crisis-hit reactors and that the evacuation area around them is smaller than what it would recommend.

Gregory Jaczko, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, also said at a House energy and commerce subcommittee hearing that the spent fuel pool at Japan's troubled number four reactor has no water.

"There is no water in the spent fuel pool and we believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures," Jaczko said.

When asked later by a lawmaker on the panel to further clarify his remarks, Jaczko said: "We believe at this point that unit four may have lost a significant inventory, if not lost all, of its water."

He added that there is also the possibility of a crack in the spent fuel pool in reactor three "which could lead to a lost of water in that pool."

While the NRC has 11 agency experts in Tokyo monitoring the situation, Jaczko stressed that the NRC's information "is limited" in what is happening at the nuclear power plant.

He said that radiation levels around the nuclear power plant may give emergency workers "lethal doses" of radiation, preventing them from getting near the plant.

"We believe that around the reactor site there are high levels of radiation," Jaczko said. "It would be very difficult for emergency workers to get near the reactors. The doses they could experience would potentially be lethal doses in a very short period of time."

It marks the first time the top U.S. nuclear regulator has testified before Congress on Japan's nuclear crisis.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-japan-nuclear-nrc-idUSTRE72F7PQ20110316

NRC chair weighs in.

[germanos]

I gather that it's not really reassuring news/assessment they bring?

edit: BBC:
#
2035: US officials have concluded that the Japanese warnings have been insufficient, and that, deliberately or not, they have understated the potential threat of what is taking place inside the nuclear facility, according to the New York Times. Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, earlier said he believed that all the water in the spent fuel pool at reactor 4 had boiled dry, leaving fuel rods stored there exposed. "We believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures," he told a Congressional committee.

[germanos]

I read something about large financials having to repatriate capital to pay for rebuilding/insurance payouts, etc?

Maybe speculators as well.

The government injected tons of money in the money markets.

Shortly aferwards the BBC posted:

#
1917: BBC business reporter Mark Gregory says: "You would expect the currency of a country in crisis to fall in value. But the opposite has happened in Japan. During trading on Wednesday, a dollar was briefly worth less than 80 yen for the first time in 16 years. It is driven by the belief that Japanese firms will need to repatriate some of their vast overseas holdings to pay for reconstruction. This would mean swapping other currencies for yen, pushing the yen higher. This is bad news, though, for Japanese exporters. A high yen means their goods become less competitive in foreign markets just as they are reeling from the impact of an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear emergency. A similar rise in the yen took place after the Kobe earthquake in 1995. Indeed, that was the last time the Japanese currency was valued near the current level."

Just posting FWIW, I can't say I understand.

[germanos]

From Kyodo news:

U.S. asks citizens in 80-km radius of Japan nuke plant to evacuate

WASHINGTON, March 16, Kyodo

The U.S. Embassy in Japan has asked American citizens living within an 80-kilometer radius of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in Japan to evacuate as a precautionary measure.

''We are recommending, as a precaution, that American citizens who live within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant evacuate the area or to take shelter indoors if safe evacuation is not practical,'' the embassy said in the advice issued Thursday local time.

Conditions such as weather and wind direction will affect the area of radioactive contamination in a complex way, the embassy said, adding that low-level radioactive materials can reach areas more than 80 km away from the damaged nuclear power plant.

The Japanese government currently sets the evacuation zone covering areas within a 20-km radius of the plant and advises those within a 30-km radius to stay indoors.

==Kyodo

[Aeson]

Just posting FWIW, I can't say I understand.

They are saying the spike is because people are buying Yen due to speculation that Japan will have to buy it from them later to pay for reconstruction. It's like buying up the water bottles hoping to sell it for more once people start dropping from dehydration.

(I personally don't have an informed opinion on if this is the case or not or even if it would work or not. It would seem to me that Japan could devalue it's currency at least to some extent, though how much it could do so without hurting itself I don't know. And it would also seem to me that with how much destruction there is, Japan might benefit from the higher rate, since much of what they end up buying may have to be shipped in.)

[Dinner]

This appears to have been something like "the perfect storm". I mean a 9.0 earthquake, a 10 meter tall tsunami, and then multiple problems with generators and water supplies?

[Docfeelgood]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-japan-nuclear-nrc-idUSTRE72F7PQ20110316

NRC chair weighs in.

He said that radiation levels around the nuclear power plant may give emergency workers "lethal doses" of radiation, preventing them from getting near the plant.

Those fifty people are heroes.

[Docfeelgood]

This appears to have been something like "the perfect storm". I mean a 9.0 earthquake, a 10 meter tall tsunami, and then multiple problems with generators and water supplies?

"That's great, this is really f*ckin' great, man. Now, what the f*ck are we supposed to do? We're in some pretty sh*t now, man.
That's it, man. Game over, man. Game over, what the f*ck are we supposed to now, huh, what are we gonna do?"

[Dinner]

Please don't put your panic pants back on. You should wash poo stains out once in a while.

[Docfeelgood]

Please don't put your panic pants back on. You should wash poo stains out once in a while.

I thought nerds had a sense of humor.

Never seen "Aliens?"

[SlowwHand]

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/16/6284477-panoramic-image-shows-the-damage-in-kesennuma-japan

[Docfeelgood]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...ml?ref=science

[OneFootInTheGrave]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12725646

new footage on the moment tsunami struck -