New tsunami alert for Japan, explosion at reactor site

A three-metre tsunami has reportedly been spotted by a helicopter off the Pacific coast of north-eastern Japan, local media is reporting.

A five-metre change in sea level has been reported off the coast and the tsunami is expected to hit land within minutes.

Residents have been told to evacuate to higher ground.

At the same time, there are reports of sounds of a fresh explosion and smoke billowing from one of the reactors at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plants.

The second reactor may have had a hydrogen explosion, like the first. They don’t seem to be able to cool the reactor, even with the sea water.

Update: The BBC confirms it was reactor 3 which was viewed as the second problem reactor at the complex, and the probable cause was hydrogen build up.

The tsunami is probably the result of an aftershock.

Update: If you look at the listing of the individual events on the USGS map for the last week, you will see over 400 ‘quakes. This cycle started with a 7.2 on 2011/03/09 at 02:45:20 UTC and ends with a 5.1 on 2011/03/14 at 01:57:54. There are more than 30 ‘quakes in the 6.0 to 6.9 range, and a 7.1 on 2011/03/11 at 06:25:50, 40 minutes after the 8.9. While the trend has been to less powerful shocks, looking at the list you can see occurrences of multiple 6+ shocks hitting in quick succession at random intervals.

One of the things that has always bothered me personally about earthquakes is that it is the one of the few threats that you cannot hide from. In almost every other case, you can “crawl into a cave”, but you don’t want to do that in an earthquake.

Do you need an antiseptic, acne medicine, a safe insecticide, something for rotting wood, an efficient lubricant? How about stopping a runaway nuclear reactor?

It’s time to go by your local drug store and pick up some H₃BO₃ [it will say boric acid on the jar of white crystals]. Leave it in the original container, because it looks a lot like sugar and salt.

Yes, boric acid does all that, and more. It is cheap and effective, and is the active ingredient in a lot of expensive products that add nothing more than fillers and fancy packaging.

The Japanese are pumping sea water and boric acid into at least two of the reactors to reduce the level of meltdown. They have already written the reactors off when they decided to use sea water for cooling, so things are worse than they have been telling people. No doubt the public statements were designed to “reduce the panic” that would be caused by the truth – a common government/industry excuse for lying.

John Baker starts his day still in the lead and with $2,500 in gold nuggets for the Gold Coast Award given to the first team to the Norton Sound.

Ramey seems to have a faster short distance team, but they take longer to recover, so his chance to win is dependent on luck as much as strategy.

DeeDee keeps getting mugged by the trail. She got bounced and rolled on the Steps, and then she found a hole in the ice entering the Yukon and was thoroughly soaked. The cold doesn’t make the bruises feel any better, and once you get wet, you need a complete immersion in a hot tub for about a week to get warm again. She’s hanging in there at 7th.

Ramey cut John’s lead to 41 minutes, but he did it by not resting his team. He might catch up, but I’m not sure that he can stay up with John’s team. It is 58 miles to Koyuk.

At Shaktoolik

1 John Baker (53)
2 Ramey Smyth (30) +0:41
3 Hans Gatt (23) +0:45

Beyond Unalakleet

4 Sebastian Schnuelle (31)
5 Hugh Neff (35)
6 Ray Redington, Jr (3)
7 DeeDee Jonrowe (2)

At Unalakleet

8 Sonny Lindner (52)
9 Dallas Seavey (21)
10 Jessie Royer (58)
11 Lance Mackey (17) [Read more →]