ISU Where Will Worlds BE (formerly) JAPAN QUAKE FOR WORLDS | Page 4 | Golden Skate

ISU Where Will Worlds BE (formerly) JAPAN QUAKE FOR WORLDS

NMURA

Medalist
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Looks like the foreign media are drumming up for the nuclear catastrophe story. The reason of initial "meltdown" was reportedly the pump failure to supply cooling water to the reactor. The situation seems to be under control at this point. They are not saying "safe" because there are other reactors to be taken care of and (direct) aftershocks to nuclear power plants can't be ruled out. Currently the media attentions are mainly on the power outage issues.
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
There shouldn't be any drumming up or downplaying of the possibilities of extreme dangers but they are probably both happening. The fact is that it is simply too great a danger if it happens and orderly precautions and preparedness should be in place. Neither exaggeration nor pretending the risk is not there will change the eventuality. Both are not helpful or conducive to life saving.

Hope and work for the best while preparing for the worst should be the approach.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Here is the last English press release from TEPCO:

(just put on line)

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031312-e.html

Units 1 & 3 are being cooled with borated sea water.
The status of Unit 2 is stable (same comments for over 24 hours)
4,5&6 are shut down.



All 6 units of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have been shut down.

[There is no update from the previous press release.]

Unit 1(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down. However, the unit is under inspection due
to the explosive sound and white smoke that was confirmed after the big
quake occurred at 3:36PM.
- We have been injecting sea water and boric acid which absorbs neutron
into the reactor pressure vessel.

Unit 2(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down and Reactor Core Isolation Cooling System
has been injecting water to the reactor. Current reactor water level is
lower than normal level, but the water level is steady. After fully
securing safety, measures to lowering the pressure of reactor
containment vessel has been taken, under the instruction of
the national government.

Unit 3(Shut down)
- Reactor has been shut down. However, as High Pressure Core Injection
System has been automatically shut down and water injection to
the reactor was interrupted, following the instruction by
the government and with fully securing safety, steps to lowering
the pressure of reactor containment vessel has been taken. Spraying
in order to lower pressure level within the reactor containment vessel
has been cancelled.
- After that, safety relief valve has been opened manually, lowering
the pressure level of the reactor, which was immediately followed
by injection of boric acid water which absorbs neutron, into
the reactor pressure vessel.

Unit 4 (shut down due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down and sufficient level of reactor coolant
to ensure safety is maintained.
- Currently, we do not believe there is any reactor coolant leakage
inside the reactor containment vessel.

Unit 5 (outage due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down and sufficient level of reactor coolant
to ensure safety is maintained.
- Currently, we do not believe there is any reactor coolant leakage
inside the reactor containment vessel.

Unit 6 (outage due to regular inspection)
- Reactor has been shut down and sufficient level of reactor coolant
to ensure safety is maintained.
- Currently, we do not believe there is any reactor coolant leakage
inside the reactor containment vessel.

Casualty
- 2 workers of cooperative firm were injured at the occurrence of
the earthquake, and were transported to the hospital.
- 1 TEPCO employee who was not able to stand by his own with his hand
holding left chest was transported to the hospital by an ambulance.
- 1 subcontract worker at important earthquake-proof building was
unconscious and transported to the hospital by an ambulance.
- The radiation exposure of 1 TEPCO employee, who was working inside
the reactor building, exceeded 100mSv and was transported to
the hospital.
- 2 TEPCO employees felt bad during their operation in the central
control rooms of Unit 1 and 2 while wearing full masks, and were
transferred to Fukushima Daini Power Station for consultation with
a medical advisor.
- 4 workers were injured and transported to the hospital after explosive
sound and white smoke were confirmed around the Unit 1.
- Presence of 2 TEPCO employees at the site are not confirmed

Others
- We are currently coordinating with the relevant authorities and
departments as to how to secure the cooling water to cool down
the water in the spent nuclear fuel pool.
- We measured radioactive materials inside of the nuclear power station
area (outdoor) by monitoring car and confirmed that radioactive
materials level is higher than ordinary level. Also, the level
at monitoring post is higher than ordinary level. We will continue
to monitor in detail the possibility of radioactive material being
discharged from exhaust stack or discharge canal. The national
government has instructed evacuation for those local residents within
20km radius of the periphery because it's possible that radioactive
materials are discharged.

- We will continue to take all measures to restore the security of the
site and to monitor the environment of the site periphery.

The 4 reactors of Daini have same status as yesterday: Unit 3 is in cold shut down. Units 1, 2 & 4 have outside power, and are being cooled, water level steady, however, work is proceeding on the cooling systems to get to the cold shut down state.

Even the main TEPCO press release is now stressing all the substations and power lines that have been disturbed, and urging people to conserve electricity. As NMURA says:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/11031310-e.html

Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1, 5, 6, 7: normal operation
Units 2 to 4: outage due to regular inspection

[Thermal Power Station]
Hirono Thermal Power Station Units 2 and 4: shutdown due to earthquake
Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station Unit 1: shutdown due to earthquake
Kashima Thermal Power Station Units 2, 3, 5, 6: shutdown due to earthquake
Ohi Thermal Power Station Unit 2: shutdown due to earthquake (Unit 3
resumed operation)
Higashi-Ohgishima Thermal Power Station Unit 1: shutdown due to earthquake

[Hydro Power Station]
* All the stations have been restored.

[Transmission System, etc.]
4 substations shown below have been shutdown:
- Naka Substation
- Shin Motegi Substation
- Joban Substation
- Nishi Mito Substation

[Blackout in TEPCO's Service Area]
Total of about 0.26 million households are out of power.
Tokyo: 0
Kanagawa Pref.: 0
Tochigi Pref.: 7,366
Chiba Pref.: 301
Saitama Pref: 0
Gunma Pref.: 0
Ibaraki Pref: 247,853
Yamanashi Pref: 0
Shizuoka Pref: 0 (east of Fuji River)

[Supply and Demand Status within TEPCO's Service Area to Secure Stable Power
Supply]
Backup supply from Shinshinano Conversion Station: 600MW
Backup supply from Sakuma Conversion Station: 300MW
Backup supply from Higashi Shimizu Conversion Station: 100MW
Backup supply from Kitahon Interconnection Facility: 600MW

Because TEPCO's facilities have been seriously damaged, power shortage
may occur. TEPCO appreciates customers' cooperation in reducing electricity
usage by avoiding using unnecessary lighting and electrical equipment.

We are taking all measures to restore power, however, we expect extremely
difficult situation in power supply for tomorrow as well.
We kindly ask our customers to cooperate with us in reducing usage of power.

Please do NOT touch cut-off electric wires.
 

oksanafan

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
I don't see how they could get another country to host Worlds in such a short time but i hope they do.

The most appropriate alternate location would be South Korea where they have just successfully held the World Juniors.
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
If there were a meltdown, South Korea would be too close for comfort.

eta TEPCO has announced rolling blackouts for Tokyo on Monday.

The people of Tokyo have been so admirably brave, calm, and civil in all of this, considering it has about the same population as all of Canada in one city.
 
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colleen o'neill

Medalist
Joined
Nov 3, 2006
With all of the problems attendant on this horror , I don't really see how the event can feasibly be held in Japan as scheduled .

Even without the nuclear concerns , which must be taken seriously ( while hoping for a successful and safe outcome ) the situation with aftershocks ( BBC reports another major one is likely within the next 72 hours ) ,and rolling blackouts, possible travel and transportation disruptions , etc. , would make a fair and orderly competition very unlikely.
 

NMURA

Medalist
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
With all of the problems attendant on this horror , I don't really see how the event can feasibly be held in Japan as scheduled .

Proceeding "as scheduled" could be problematic though, there's NO damage in western Japan, including major cities like Nagoya, Osaka. Even in Tokyo, damages to human lives and properties are limited. The main problem is power shortage now. Casualties will increase further as searches progress, but new damages can be mostly avoided as long as tsunamis are taken care of. Most of the damages are done by tsunamis, not quakes themselves. Even the pumping failure directly responsible for the "meltdown" accident was tsunami-caused. If the plant was located away from the coast, there wouldn't be any problems. It's not the end of the world.
 
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Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
The planned, rolling power outages in Tokyo and surrounding areas could be a problem (though not an insurmountable one) for skaters trying to practice at nearby rinks. The conditions won't be optimal for practice, but skaters can make do with less of it or improvise.

Also for all the worries about a radiation leak, let's remember that in the Three Mile Island incident, no known casualties resulted and no radiation leaked outside the reactor building. Even a Chernobyl style catastrophe at Fukushima (extremely unlikely) would not affect skaters much as long as they remain indoors and then leave the country (it's the people living in Japan who will be most affected). Currently, the Fukushima crisis is rated at a lower level than Three Mile Island. Yes, there's a chance it could worsen, but Three Mile Island was largely the result of repeated human error and stupidity. I'm more optimistic about Fukushima.
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
but new damages can be mostly avoided as long as tsunamis are taken care of

How do you "take care of" tsunamis? If Japan could have been as prepared for tsunamis as it is for earthquakes, it would have been so prepared.

Most of the damages are done by tsunamis, not quakes themselves. Even the pumping failure directly responsible for the "meltdown" accident was tsunami-caused. If the plant was located away from the coast, there wouldn't be any problems. It's not the end of the world.

Wouldn't the engineers have been totally aware of this, as well as risks of contemination carried by water, when the plants were built? Water is needed for cooling, as it is being done right now with sea water. It's a paradox, a catch 22 for this stage of nuclear technology.
 

NMURA

Medalist
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
How do you "take care of" tsunamis? If Japan could have been as prepared for tsunamis as it is for earthquakes, it would have been so prepared.



Wouldn't the engineers have been totally aware of this, as well as risks of contemination carried by water, when the plants were built? Water is needed for cooling, as it is being done right now with sea water. It's a paradox, a catch 22 for this stage of nuclear technology.

I'm just saying "aftershocks" would not be so worrisome. They are expected to happen somewhere on the plate periphery under the sea, not on the land. Another "pumping failure" will not happen. The rescue teams can evacuate to higher places when the "shock" happens. All remaining populations are already in safe places as far as tsunamis are concerned.

Just reported, the first round of planned outage was averted. If the citizens cooperate to save the electricity, the situation will no get worse.
 
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magicalwords

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 1, 2008
I sincerely hope that ISU makes a smart decision.
Personally, I'm with the side that thinks Worlds shouldn't be held at Tokyo, at least not right now. I'm sure it's not impossible to hold Worlds at Tokyo - Yoyogi stadium is fine, Tokyo is quite far away from where the earthquake happened and Fukushima nuclear plants, airports back to work... but, just because it's physically possible, doesn't mean they should. Japan will be short of electricity for the next few weeks, or probably months, due to Fukushima Nuclear Plant incident, and it's not just going to be Tohoku area; Tokyo, Gunma, Saitama, Kanagawa, etc. are all going to be experiencing forced/intentional blackout/power outage to deal with power shortage issues. Even though the area where Yoyogi stadium is won't be facing intentional blackout problems, when there are thousands of ordinary Japanese citizens that will be sacrificing their comfort in order to help out those in serious need of electricity, I just think that the extra electricity that will be needed to keep the ice frozen, keep rink/seats warm, keep lights on, scoreboards, etc. should go toward actual victims of earthquake/tsunami that need electricity.

On that note, I really admire Japanese people for bravely facing this tragedy and cooperating to help the victims in need.
 

sigrid

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
The latest info I got from a skater who is gonna compete in the WC, is that the WC is gonna be canceled or postponed and moved to another country. I feel that any decision is unfair for the Japanese audience. But maybe postpone and move is the most fair thing for the skaters... It's a hard decision for ISU anyway
 

colleen o'neill

Medalist
Joined
Nov 3, 2006
NMURA...I'm not being Chicken Little, here...I'm saying put aside the possibility of danger to life and limb for a second because that's not easy to define at the moment. I'm very relieved to hear that the Japanese skaters are all OK at the moment, and feel the losses to the Japanese people at large are heartbreaking. I know they are a brave and stoic people and will probably come out of this as well as anyone could.

I'm just saying that the ISU has to be( or should be) concerned with providing a stable environment for the competition ( never mind Bern ) in order to ensure that the results will be fair to all. If the competition is likely to be disrupted by the building shaking, or stretched out due to blackouts, how can this be fair to the competitiors ? Even if nothing happened , the knowledge that something could easily happen at any moment would have to be unsettling to the athletes. Even as we all would love to see something happen to provide a lift to the people of Japan , the ISU would not be doing their duty by the athletes, if that was a deciding factor. And I don't know if enough reassurances can be given by tomorrow morning. ( But I doubt it )
 

Serious Business

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
magicalwords, you make a good point about conserving electricity. The power shortage is expected to continue for a while in Japan, and a relocation of worlds is one way to donate power to the country.

On the other hand I don't think the power expenditures of a figure skating competition will be crippling, so if they do continue to hold worlds in Japan no condemnation from me.


K. Welp they can't be the only federation thinking that. Expect to see Worlds or more likely, delayed.
 
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janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009

Thanks for the link.

I think Ryan Bradley's comments express how many of us are feeling.

“Obviously, as badly as I want to go and compete at a world championships and how much I want to perform, how important is it in the grand scheme of things? Everything going on over there is way bigger than figure skating right now.”


From Mirai's twitter:

"My grandpa commented that of the 88 years of his existence, nothing like this has ever happened."

Mirai also mentioned her relatives are all safe.
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
What about aftershocks during the competition if Worlds is held too soon? Aside from the safety concerns, wouldn't that be unfair to the skaters? Official practice would start next week, imagine the skaters' nerves going into competition after being rattled by aftershocks during practice.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I tend to be a worrywart, but in these circumstances I think that being a worrywart is the right approach to take. The situation is both agonizing and unstable, and the idea of anyone coming in to Japan to face risk at this moment seems impractical. Added to that the power blackouts, and it's not optimum conditions for the skaters to train and practice.

Doris, thanks so much for the detailed information about the nuclear facilities. Everyone else, thanks for any updates you've been able to find from the skaters and the organizations.

I know that nothing we say will have any bearing on the outcome, but it does help me to talk about it and to hear everyone else's ideas. This catastrophe is so hard to process.
 
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