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[Bompa]

WASHINGTON – ...the day just got a tiny bit shorter because of Friday's giant earthquake off the coast of Japan.

NASA geophysicist Richard Gross calculated that Earth's rotation sped up by 1.6 microseconds. That's because of the shift in Earth's mass caused by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.

That change in rotation speed is slightly more than the one caused by last year's larger Chile earthquake. But 2004's bigger Sumatra earthquake caused a 6.8-microsecond shortening of the day.

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Anyways, Japan is in big trouble over there.  Well prepared for quakes, but no defense for a major tsunami.

Now they are facing a possible meltdown of at least one reactor, maybe two.

It does seem to me that they could have built the emergency cooling generators up off the ground
or is some sort of water proof area or containment thingamabob.


Oh wait, it probably was not in the budget.

[perkiset]

manohman its gonna be a mess over there.

[isthisthingon]

Nuclear power is quite a long-term responsibility.  It's safer for the environment in terms of immediate pollution levels during production but the storage of the waste produced and management of the reactors in cases like these cause great concern.

I think we're fortunate more meltdowns (pardon the pun) haven't occurred after the fall of the Soviet Union since financial support is critical to maintain the plants.

But the video in Japan of the tsunami is just jaw dropping.  My heart goes out to all who've passed and those who remain in sadness.

[daviator]

Now they are reporting that there are three reactors failing and likely to melt down.  One or two of them may already be in meltdown, I have a feeling they are delaying status updates so they can figure out what to tell people. 

They have also announced that another explosion is likely.  Scary stuff.