Blogging / Disasters / Japan / Military

Thoughts On Japan

My father is a retired Navy Command Master Chief. He spent 32 years in the Navy, so I’ve literally been in the military my entire life. My grandfather fought in WWII with the Army Air Corps in the European Theater (if you’re interested, I wrote about him after he died here, here, and here based off his journals). My dad was stationed in Japan twice growing up.

The first time we lived there, I was about 11 years old the first time we moved to Japan. We lived on a small communications base called Kamiseya. The entire base is only a little more than 100 acres large.

Disasters / Energy / Japan

(UPDATING) NEWS OPEN THREAD II – Japan’s Tsunami “Fallout”: failing reactors, and the entry of politics

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While there is no shortage of heartbreak and disaster to focus on in the wake of Japan’s (now upgraded) 9.1 magnitude earthquake, yesterday morning my thoughts concentrated on what was then a quiet story in the background… the problem with then one of Japan’s many nuclear power facilities that supply about 30% of their needs.

By yesterday eve, the story started gaining traction as rising radiation levels were detected at the two adjacent Fukushima facilities. Because the cooling back up generator systems had failed, the pressure was building in the core and plans were made to open valves, releasing some of that pressure. Apparently, the plant’s officials decided to use seawater as a coolant, which would indicate they had written off the 40 yr old plant’s functional future, as it would corrode the metal innards.

Despite efforts, in the US’s west coast mid-night hours, the Fukushima #1 facility exploded, blowing the roof off one building and destroying exterior walls where the troubled reactor was housed.