Senior official points to doom scenario for Japanese if explosion at Fukushima occurs -WSJ

[flamingdem]

Japan senior political figure Ichiro Ozawa

<...> Some day we may not be able to live in Japan. There is the possibility that the power plant can reach the state of criticality again. If it explodes, it’s a huge matter. Radiation is being leaked in order to keep the reactors from exploding. So, in this sense, it’s even worse than letting the power plant explode. Radiation is going to be flowing out for a long period of time. This is not a matter of money, but of life and death for the Japanese. If Japan cannot be saved, then the people of Japan are done for. We can always print money. Ultimately the people will have to bear the burden. Government must be determined to put a stop to radioactive pollution no matter what it takes, money or otherwise. The Japanese people must understand the situation. <...>

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576348263512336934.html

[Old and In the Way]

1. What is the worst case scenario and what's the probability?

I don't know, but the broadcast media has seemed to moved on. Yet, I really don't understand whether the problem is getting worse, stabilized, or getting better. I doubt it's getting better, but I don't see any kind of metric that is tracking the catastrophe in a way that we can understand the rate of change in the danger or the area affected.

[flamingdem]

2. Yes it seems more muddled as time goes on, the focus might be water decontamination

and the mysterious patented process that Areeva, the French company is using to do that.. not many details allowed given out.

Then there is the cat 5 typhoon that is about to hit.. Can see why those concerned are extremely depressed about the future. At least part of Japan will be lost.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Typhoon????

[flamingdem]

4. Lat I heard it was on the way for a direct hit, but not sure if it veered or not nt

[Beam Me Up]

6. typhoon link

this is probably not the most recent news but at least gives some info:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-27/typhoon-strengthens-may-hit-fukushima-nuke-plant.html

May 26, 2011 11:56 PM PT

Typhoon Songda strengthened to a supertyphoon after battering the Philippines and headed for Japan on a track that may pass over the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant by May 30, a U.S. monitoring center said.

Songda’s winds increased to 241 kilometers (150 miles) per hour from 213 kph yesterday, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said on its website. The storm’s eye was about 240 kilometers east of Aparri in the Philippines at 8 a.m. today, the center said. Songda was moving northwest at 19 kph and is forecast to turn to the northeast and cross the island of Okinawa by 9 p.m. local time tomorrow before heading for Honshu.

[flamingdem]

8. So it's still on the way, ouch nt

[starroute]

9. It's down to a Cat. 3 and fading fast

Expected to be only a tropical storm by the time it reaches the main part of Japan on Sunday -- and to veer out to sea before it reaches Nakushima. I would guess it would still bring plenty of rain and a significant storm surge, but the winds will be much diminished.

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/wp201104.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. Storm surge of all that radioactive water they dumped....

nothing like a big wind and a lot of storm surge to stir that cocktail.
Bet their tourist industry has fallen off,eh?

[kristopher]

5. Recc'ed but...

There are a lot of politics going on right now that this should be filtered through. Kan is the leader of a party that isn't particularly fond of nuclear power. The LDP, which is the strongest opposition party, is the group that built Japan after the war. They held virtually undisputed power power until pretty recently. They want to continue a nuclear future for Japan. Ozawa is -

Ichirō Ozawa (小沢 一郎 Ozawa Ichirō?, born 24 May 1942) is a Japanese politician. Formerly a chief secretary of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), he later defected from the LDP. He was the president of Japan's main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), from 2006 until May 2009, when he resigned over a fund scandal, and secretary general of the party from 2009 until 2010, when Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announced that they were both stepping down from respective leadership positions. Ozawa is often dubbed as the "Shadow Shogun" due to his influence within DPJ.<1><2>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichirō_Ozawa


I think they are trying to pull a teaparty on Kan. I'd say that in the midst of a crisis their policies caused, they are using that crisis to stymie the efforts of the guy that want to alter those policies that caused the problem.

Opposition camp may submit no-confidence motion

The opposition Liberal Democratic and New Komeito parties may jointly submit a no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

LDP Secretary General Nobuteru Ishihara met with his New Komeito counterpart, Yoshihisa Inoue, on Friday.

Ishihara said LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki is thinking of submitting the motion to the current Diet session, scheduled to end next month. He urged the New Komeito to cooperate.

Inoue said his party believes that it is favorable to sponsor such a motion jointly with the LDP.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/27_21.html


We've seen an accusation that Kan literally caused the meltdown come out as an official statement from Tepco, only to have it retracted two days later as a mistake.

It appears he is under attack by the nuclear industry. I'd love to know what was said behind the scenes at G8.

[flamingdem]

7. Aha! It seemed a bit strange to comment that way -

there had to be more to the story.

[bananas]

10. Thanks for that insight. nt

[Scuba]

12. Shorty after this disaster started, DU was rampant with nuclear apologists....

...who have been conspicuously absent recently.



I wonder how many DU members are actually paid trolls?

[intaglio]

13. Baggins is still about

but I don't think he is paid for his support

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. How many Japanese are there? And how are they going to be

dispersed around the world?

This is just crazy.