OT: Shogun, hope you're okay man..

[RockJock]

Japan just got hit by an 8.8, 150km East of Japan @ a depth of 24km. Massive Tsunami. :(

[whiskychaser]

+1
30 foot wave:( Just read all power down so dont see him logging on any time soon.

[Ross]

Woke up to this bad news just a bit ago. Sounds bad.
Hoping for our friend Shogun, his family and all those 7ers fare well.

[ScottyWM]

Wow, destruction looks massive. Praying for Shogun's safety.

[shogun]

my family is o.k., hardest hit area was more north of Tokyo, that was the longest shaking I have ever experienced in 30 years living in Japan. Still a lot of after shakes.
Mobile phones are not working, lines too busy, trains/subways closed, highway closed, total chaos in Tokyo with car traffic, just came home after 2 hours walk from office with millions of other people walking home.
Still too early to tell what happened throughout the country, be prepared for Tsunami all over the pacific coast, 6 hours to USA only, will even reach south America.
Never have seen this, houses, trucks, cars floating like toys on the water.
Thanks for asking.

[93 525 Paul]

Great to hear from you Shogun. That had to be surreal walking home. Kind of nightmarish. Living in CA I know earthquakes well, Northridge, Loma Prieta among others. Always scary. Cheers to you and yours.
We are inland but our friends and family on the coast of CA are on pins an needles, ETA is less than a half hour away.

[Grantus]

I'm glad you and your family are ok. Here in NZ we have a new appreciation of earthquakes.

[Bo525i]

Good to hear you and yours are safe!

[Bimmer Nut Ed]

I'm glad you are OK shogun. We will pray for all the families there.

[RockJock]

Erich – Thanks for posting. Relieved to hear your family is okay. I listened to Naoto Kan address the nation shortly after the quake and it was heartwrenching. Knowing how resilient Japanese folks are, Japan will bounce back. Hang in there man, we’re thinking about you guys…

[Jeff N.]

Shogun - like everyone else, glad to hear that you and your family are ok! Prayers and good wishes from here to everyone in Japan...

[MBXB]

Shogun, we are glad to hear you are well!

[tim eh?]

Best wishes to you and yours Shogun, what a horrible disaster!

[BMWDriver]

We are so small compared to such forces of nature. Like many I keep an eye on the news in Japan with compassion. Very glad you are fine, and look forward to reading more of your posts.

[Gayle]

I rarely come to this forum anymore, but when I heard the news, I immediately thought of you and want to know if you were ok. Really glad you and your family came through it relatively unscathed. The news doesn't get any better through. If events change and you are affected, I hope you will let us know.

[BMW4LIFE]

I'm glad you are OK shogun. We will pray for all the families there.

+100000000000000000

I hope everything looks up...especially the radiation! =/

My prayers are with you and every other human currently in Japan!

[632 Regal]

Bump to the top, any updates?

[CharlesAFerg]

Well, where do you go? :P

[shogun]

well, I am still there. hope they get the power plant fixed before the wind turns into our direction. have moved some staff and families south, but at same time we have to provide service for our customers to repair damaged plants so they they get them running again to produce much needed goods. Since today gas stations are open again and every car gets only limited qty, shops fill up somehow the shelves, no black outs so far in central Tokyo.
the most damaged area of of course another story, people living in shelters, thousands still missing.
But all well organized, people wait in line to get food and water, no looting, no crime. Flashlights, batteries, power generators, solar cells, all sold out still. We will see what they can do in the next days to control the nuclear power station.
I have seen pics from other parts of the world where the army had to move in with weapons to protect empty houses, here they come with shovels and heavy equipment to help.

[Tiger]

Good to know everyone is 'safe' in Japan. World tends to be pessimistic... then any positive news will be labelled as 'miracles'...

I missed Japan.

[shogun]

Status of nuclear power plants in Fukushima as of 16:00 March 18 (Estimated by JAIF)
http://estaticos.elmundo.es/documentos/2011/03/18/reactores2.pdf

[632 Regal]

Status of nuclear power plants in Fukushima as of 16:00 March 18 (Estimated by JAIF)
http://estaticos.elmundo.es/documentos/2011/03/18/reactores2.pdf

I cant understand any of that, just glad to see your Okay so far.

[genphreak]

Wow, cool iink Shogun!

That pdf refreshes every day. Wish it were html so I could do a diff and list the deltas.

Crumbs- Shogun, it doesn't seem good. Am really worried about the spent rods in the pools above the reactor cores in 1-4, with the amount of destruction that's taken place during exploosions and fire, that stuff could be scattered all over the place (maybe someone knows better?) and will be extremely dangerous. Plutonium can ruin yor whole life and that of the next 10 thousand generations- and uncooled/contained it blows all sorts of nasties into the air.

Right now trying to get my family out of Tokyo. It's not bad, but too close for comfort. Erich, we have space for you too, down here in Oz :)

I imagine the condition/state of the fuel in reactors 1-4 is vital. But regardless of whether the melting cores can cause serious problems or melt through the containments, what I am most worried about is another accident somewhere else in the country (another earthquake/tsunami is possible), when there is limited capacity to deal with it, let alone mass panic.

Wishing you plenty of good luck in the meantime :)

[shogun]

we have had more than 260 earthquakes since then and most we could feel, just yesterday another heavy one and Tokyo Narita airport was shortly closed for checking runways.
As you say: It's not bad, but too close for comfort

thanks for offering me a place in OZ, but at the moment I am needed here more as we have to get parts into the country to repair damaged production plants for the food and pharma industry mainly, our service engineers are very busy now.

[shogun]

This is a geiger counter that is placed in Hino, Tokyo. I'll include the location so you can see exactly on Google map if you wish.

This is not something that was just placed for this event; it has been around for some time and has been recording real time alpha, beta, gamma radiation for years I think. Therefore there is actually historical data.

If you follow the link, you will see at the top, the real time reading at the location. And below that you will see the historical readings of one year ago.

ƒKƒCƒK�[ƒJƒEƒ“ƒ^‚É‚æ‚é•úŽË�ü—Ê‘ª’è (http://park30.wakwak.com/~weather/geiger_index.html)

The Data:

Nuclear radiation detector：Black Cat Systems GM-10 Geiger Counter Radiation Detector
Radiation detected： Alpha - Above 3 MeV , Beta - Above 50 keV , Gamma / X-Ray - Above 7 keV
Location： 　Latitude:N 35 ° 39 ' 28 '' ( 35.658 °) , Longitude:E 139 ° 24 ' 5 '' ( 139.402 ° )　
100CPM = about 1 micoro Sievert/hr
Reload every 10 minutes.

[Tiger]

Interesting... so what is that exposure mean? Less than X-ray session?

[jhayregz]

Shogun hope all is well after that fight with Jon Jones at UFC 128 this past weekend. :p
Sorry seemed relevant :p

Other than that glad your well and posting so we know your ok.

[shogun]

Interesting... so what is that exposure mean? Less than X-ray session?
easiest is to compare it with the second recording from last year, which is below that actual reading.
ƒKƒCƒK�[ƒJƒEƒ“ƒ^‚É‚æ‚é•úŽË�ü—Ê‘ª’è (http://park30.wakwak.com/~weather/geiger_index.html)
last year it was below 20=simply meaning that was normal before , now it is below 40

FAQ

Q1. How do I read the graph?
A1. In the zigzag blue graph you can see a grey line. This is the average reading. Under the graph you can see the average value displayed as "Mean: 14.25" or similar.

Q2. Are these readings accurate?
A2. The counter used has not been certified by any public authority. Please consider these readings as being for reference only. Trends can be seen by examining past data.

Q3. Can I compare data from before and after the accident?
A3. I have added a graph of data from December 2010 for comparison.

Q4. Is the Geiger counter located inside or outside?
A4. Because the counter's case is not waterproof, it is set up inside facing out of a window. Since it is a wooden structure, I have confirmed that readings do not differ significantly between inside and outside.However, this only applies to background radiation levels. In the current situation with windborne particles it reads slightly less inside than outside. (In a short test, I observed the reading inside to be roughly half the reading outside.)

Q5. Are there other sites publishing observed radiation counts?
A5. Mr. Hideki Kuroda has a Google map displaying other monitoring posts.Japan quake radioactive material monitoring post MAP - Google Maps

Q6. What reading would indicate a dangerous radiation level?
A6. As my professional field is communications engineering, I am afraid I am not qualified to answer.

Q7. I would like to use your data for analysis or research.
A7. I have published the raw data on this site. Please feel free to use it.

Q8. The graph scale only covers up to 100CPM; can you display higher values?
A8. Yes. If necessary I will alter the scale.

Q10. Regarding the conversion from CPM to Sieverts.
A10. I quote an email from Mr. Shikano:

Thank you for providing continuous data on radiation levels. I am much relieved by the data you publish.

I am not an expert, but I do work with radiation, so I researched the CPM / Sv/h　conversion.

I expect the biggest issue now is radioactive Iodine 131, which is created by Uranium fission. Iodine 131 produces gamma radiation principally with energy of 365 keV, and according to the graph on the manufacturer's homepage this gives a relative countrate of approximately 1. Therefore 1 CPM ~ 1 mR/h = 0.01 uSv/h is appropriate.

It isn't clear what the relative countrate is relative to, but the values given for Cesium 137 (Gamma at 662 keV) and Cobalt 60 (Gamma at 1.17 MeV / 1.33MeV) are roughly the same so there should be no problem.