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| ESA / HPF / DLR |
Axel Bojanowski Nature Geoscience 4, 421 (2011)
Published online 30 June 2011
Some giants are so big, they are practically invisible.
Geophysicists have discovered one of them — a huge hump of water in the South Pacific that is imperceptible to the naked eye. Satellites aided scientists in tracking the phenomenon. Carmen Böning and her colleagues at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have reported a bulge in ocean waters that extended over an area the size of Australia for some months, and measured up to six centimetres in height (C. Böning et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L04602; 2011). A “record” or an “unusual maximum”, say the researchers.
From: www.nature.com/ngeo
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Monday, July 11, 2011
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Sunday it temporarily halted the system to decontaminate radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture after discovering that about 50 liters of contaminated water and chemicals used in the system were leaking from a pipe after a part broke.The utility has been using the decontaminated water to cool the Nos. 1-3 reactors at the plant, and even during the temporary suspension to fix the part, it was able to continue the cooling function using water that had already been decontaminated, it said.
"The concentration of radioactive substances in the leaked contaminated water was not at levels that would cause problems involving workers' exposure to radiation," a Tepco official said.
The leak occurred in a section of a device developed by France's Areva SA where the chemicals, which are used to condense and precipitate radioactive materials in the contaminated water, are injected from a hose into a pipe through which the polluted water passes, according to Tepco.
The plastic part broke, causing the chemicals and contaminated water to leak, the company said, adding that workers replaced the part with a steel one and resumed operation of the water treatment system.
The chemicals are not toxic, Tepco said.
Smooth operation of the treatment system, which is designed to remove highly radioactive materials from the massive quantities of contaminated water accumulating at the power station, is essential for containing the nuclear crisis, as Tepco recycles the water to cool the plant's damaged reactors.
The contaminated water accumulating at reactor facilities, including coolant liquid leaking from damaged reactors, has been diverted elsewhere at the plant to prevent it from overflowing from the facilities, but the storage locations are nearing full capacity.
From: search.japantimes.co.jp
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UPDATE 11.49am: A TSUNAMI alert has been issued for the Pacific coast of northern Japan after a strong quake hit the region heavily damaged by the March earthquake and tsunami.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the advisory for Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures, after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the main island of Honshu at 1057 AEST.
The US Geological Agency, which also estimated the magnitude at 7.1, said the offshore quake hit at a depth of 10 kilometres in the same general area as the 9.0-magnitude quake of March 11 which triggered a massive tsunami.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had not received reports of any fresh problems at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after the latest earthquake.
"We are still checking details, but cooling of reactors is continuing," a TEPCO spokeswoman said.
A small tsunami of up to 50 centimetres was expected along the affected region, the meteorological agency said.
Communities along the Pacific coast issued warnings and advisories for local residents to seek higher ground but no damage had been reported shortly after the quake.
Television footage of the affected coasts did not show any visible signs of a tsunami or major changes in the waters.
MORE TO COME
From: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/tsunami-fear-after-new-japan-quake/story-e6frf7lf-1226091646258
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