Tag Archives: tsunami

Fukushima Lesson: Prepare for Unanticipated Nuclear Accidents

By Guest PostMarch 12, 2012Environmentalexandra navrotsky, davis, decontamination, earthquake, edward h kraus, electricity, Environment, fission, fukushima, fukushima daiichi, fukushima reactor, human health, hydrogen gas, Japan, japanese government, knowledge, magnitude, nuclear fuels, nuclear power plant, nuclear waste, peter burns, radiation, radioactive fallout, rehabilitation, rodney ewing, seawater, tepco, tsunami, university of california, university of michigan, university of notre dame, uranium dioxide, zirconium alloy

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A year after the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, scientists and engineers remain largely in the dark when it comes to fundamental knowledge about how nuclear fuels behave under extreme conditions, according to a University of Michigan nuclear waste expert and his colleagues.

In a review article in this week’s edition of the journal Science, U-M’s Rodney Ewing and two colleagues call for an ambitious, long-term national research program to study how nuclear fuels behave under the extreme conditions present during core-melt events like those that occurred at Fukushima following the March 11, 2011, magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami. (more…)

One Year Later: Japan Quake, Tsunami a Cautionary Tale for Pacific Northwest

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2012Environment, Generalalki, british columbia, cascadia subduction zone, earthquakes, hokkaido university, Japan, jody bourgeois, john vidale, long beach peninsula, magnitude 9, northern california, ocean shores, one year anniversary, oregon, pacific northwest, prediction, puget sound, sapporo, seattle fault, seismometer readings, sunday, tohoku earthquake, tsunami, tsunami evacuation, united states, university of washington, Washington

Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, killing more than 16,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damage.

University of Washington scientists say the event has some important lessons for the Pacific Northwest – most notably, not that a similar event can happen here but that it WILL happen here, and that this region is still much less prepared than Japan was a year ago. (more…)

One Year after Triple Disasters, Japan Continues to Struggle

By Guest PostMarch 3, 2012Environment, Generalbureaucratic red tape, catastrophe, coastal city, coastal communities, earthquake, ethan segal, evacuation zone, fukushima nuclear power plant, haiti, hurricane katrina, Japan, japanese government, japanese history, katsurao, michigan state university, nuclear meltdown, rikuzen takata, tepco, tokyo electric power, triple disasters, tsunami

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A year after Japan was struck by triple disasters – earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown – many citizens cannot find regular work and face the possibility of never returning to their homes and seeing their communities disappear, according to a Michigan State University scholar.

Ethan Segal, associate professor of Japanese history, made two trips to Japan following the March 11, 2011, catastrophe, spending close to two weeks in the northeastern part of the country that was most directly affected. (more…)

NASA Finds Japan Tsunami Waves Merged, Doubling Power

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2011Environmentc k shum, chilean tsunami, coastal regions, double high wave, european radar satellites, hawaii, Japan, march 2011, merging tsunami, merging tsunamis, NASA, northeastern japan, ocean ridges, ohio state university, san francisco, satellite, sea, sea floor topography, tohoku oki quake, tsunami, tsunami hazard, undersea quake, undersea topography, y tony song

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA and Ohio State University researchers have discovered the major tsunami generated by the March 2011 Tohoku-Oki quake centered off northeastern Japan was a long-hypothesized “merging tsunami.” The tsunami doubled in intensity over rugged ocean ridges, amplifying its destructive power at landfall.

Data from NASA and European radar satellites captured at least two wave fronts that day. The fronts merged to form a single, double-high wave far out at sea. This wave was capable of traveling long distances without losing power. Ocean ridges and undersea mountain chains pushed the waves together along certain directions from the tsunami’s origin. (more…)

Researchers Assess Radioactivity Released to the Ocean from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Facility

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2011Environmentbaltic and black seas, cesium 134, cesium 137, chernobyl accident, coastal waters, contamination, fate of radioactivity, fukushima dai ichi nuclear power plants, fukushima nuclear power plants, groundwater, history of contaminant, iodine 131, isotope, japan agency for marine earth science and technology, ken buesseler, levels of radioactivity, limnology, march 11 earthquake, marine biota, marine life, marine sediments, masao fukasawa, meteorological research institute, mext, michio aoyama, northwest coast of japan, ocean, ocean mixing processes, plants, radioactive leaks, radioactivity, radioactivity from fukushima, radionuclides, reactor facility, salt lake city, salt water basins, tepco, tsunami, woods hole oceanographic institution

With news this week of additional radioactive leaks from Fukushima nuclear power plants, the impact on the ocean of releases of radioactivity from the plants remains unclear. But a new study by U.S. and Japanese researchers analyzes the levels of radioactivity discharged from the facility in the first four months after the accident and draws some basic conclusions about the history of contaminant releases to the ocean.

The study, conducted by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution chemist Ken Buesseler and two Japanese colleagues, Michio Aoyama of the Meteorological Research Institute and Masao Fukasawa of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, reports that discharges from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plants peaked one month after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that precipitated the nuclear accident, and continue through at least July. Their study finds the levels of radioactivity, while quite elevated, are not a direct exposure threat to humans or marine life, but cautions that the impact of accumulated radionuclides in marine sediments is poorly known. (more…)

Yahoo!’s 10th Annual Year in Review Spotlights 2011’s Passing Obsessions and Perplexing Newsmakers

By Guest PostNovember 30, 2011Technologyamerica, american idol, amy chua, angry birds, casey anthony, Germany, iPhone, japanese earthquake, kim kardashian, most wanted terrorist, osama bin laden, playstation 2, Steve Jobs, technological marvel, the battle hymn of the tiger mother, tiger blood, tsunami, vera chan, Yahoo, year in review

*iPhone takes the top spot in 2011; Casey Anthony pled her way onto the list; Kim Kardashian joins the list again; and Osama bin Laden’s death captivated the world*

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)— Today Yahoo! Inc., the premier digital media company, announced the 10^th anniversary edition of its Year in Review (yearinreview.yahoo.com), the highly-anticipated annual look-back that identifies the top stories and trends of the year based on nearly 700 million monthly unique visitorsⁱ activity on the network and billions of consumer searches. The annual look-back of aggregated visitor activity is a gauge for worldwide interests. The 2011 Year in Review is available in 17 versions including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United Statesⁱⁱ.

The top search term of 2011 didn’t go to a person or a news event, but to a technological marvel. The iPhone led the 2011 search queries, bypassing a reality TV star’s marriage and pending divorce, a notorious criminal defendant, and America’s most wanted terrorist. (more…)

Mastering Disaster: Students Create Software to Save Lives

By Guest PostJuly 7, 2011Technologybosnia and herzegovina, brazil, chulalongkorn university, claire bonilla, czech republic, dam collapse, disaster victims, echo project, edward g happ, European Union, Facebook, flood, floodsim project, floodwaters, geographical information assistant, global positioning system, igor peric, imagine cup, imagine cup 2011, international red cross and red crescent societies, jon perera, kriangkrai pipatvilaikul, largest student technology competition, maps, microsoft sponsored event, nethope, new york city, northern thailand, pdas, personal digital assistants, smartphone application, social networks, software projects, spread of cholera, spu, team gina, terra, thailand team newkrean, tsunami, world, zbynek poulicek

*At the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals, dozens of student teams showcase software projects that in some cases are already improving disaster relief efforts.*

REDMOND, Wash. – July 7, 2011 – When floodwaters swept across northern Thailand last fall, Kriangkrai Pipatvilaikul knew he had to help. So he boarded a bus with fellow students from Chulalongkorn University and went to a devastated village he had seen on TV.

The students joined scores of volunteers arriving at the same village with food, water and medical supplies. As they helped with the relief effort, the group heard about a harder hit area, one that hadn’t made the news, and they decided to push on. What they found shocked them. As they paddled through the submerged town, desperate villagers surrounded their boat and tried to grab whatever food they could. The students realized no other volunteers had been there despite the short distance from the previous site. (more…)

Japan Earthquake Appears to Increase Quake Risk Elsewhere in the Country

By Guest PostMay 26, 2011Environmentaftershocks, boso, coulomb stress triggering, earthquake, geological evidence, honshu island, izu islands, Japan, japan sea, jian lin, kyoto university, magnitude, mainshocks, microearthquakes, mount, nagano, normal faults, ross s stein, sanriku hokobu, sendai, stress, toda, tohoku earthquake, tohoku mainshock, tokyo area, tsunami, usgs, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

Japan’s recent magnitude 9.0 earthquake, which triggered a devastating tsunami, relieved stress along part of the quake fault but also has contributed to the build up of stress in other areas, putting some of the country at risk for up to years of sizeable aftershocks and perhaps new main shocks, scientists say.

After studying data from Japan’s extensive seismic network, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Kyoto University and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have identified several areas at risk from the quake, Japan’s largest ever, which already has triggered a large number of aftershocks. (more…)