DisasterJapan: Technics: American robots examine nuke plant's innards

Nasdaq (Apr17,2k11)

refWrite editorial comment:  The news story introduced below vaguely moves in a counter-direction to the news we hear from Japan since the earthquake, tsunami, flood, and nuclear near-meltdown.  Just in the last few days, another quake hit the Honshu area in Japan.  In the midst of all the disaster news and the rehabilitation efforts of the Japanese people, govt, outside help and support from many nations and organizations, and the work of Christian aid organizations and those of other religions including Buddhists (Japan's majority religion), this infobit regarding the deployment of very advanced robotry creates a precedent for future h+tech solutions.  As in the case of war technology, such developmental deployments will have applications outside the "realm" of nuclear radiation, and also outside the "realm" of natural disaster.  We can't predict where, as the deployment of the iRobot-made technical apparatus utilizes an innovation on a scale for a purpose that simultaneously tests it and in the very utilization/testing stretches the innovation process.

Robotry is being used to do a marvellous thing, and offers promise of further applications to other kinds of problems (God forbid, we shoud have to use it again for runaway nuke radiation).  "Mixed and uneven development" where a good emerges from a horrible vast bad.  The robotry itself can be used for good, but it can also be used for extremely negative purposes; we need to keep reminding ourselves of this mixed actuality.

-- EconoMix

US-made Robots to examine 

inside of Japan nuclear plant

TOKYO (Dow Jones) A U.S.-made robot built for bomb disposal were set to make its way into a reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Sunday to find out whether conditions were safe enough for workers to begin badly needed measures to put the crippled plant under control.

The "Packbot", made by U.S. firm iRobot Corp, will measure radiation and oxygen levels as well as the temperature inside the building, the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company  said.

Read the complete article at the Nasdaq webpage, click here.

japanDisaster: Earthquake Tsunami: BBC, Australia Tsunami Research Center, video of tidal wave floods Japan

BBC News (Mar11,2k11)

Japan hit by tsunami 

after massive earthquake

11 March 2011 Last updated at 02:34ETHelp

A massive earthquake has hit the north-east of Japan triggering a tsunami that has caused extensive damage.

Japan's TV showed cars, ships and even buildings being swept away in the Fukushima prefecture, after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake.

Officials said a wave as high as 6m (20ft) could strike the coast.

The quake struck about 250 miles (400km) from Tokyo at a depth of 20 miles, shaking buildings in the capital for several minutes.

Chris Ryan, head of the Australian Tsunami Warning Centre, describes the impact of the Tsunami.

Read More

• Tsunami after massive Japan quake

Politics: Diplomacy: North Korea negotiates nuke-free Korean Penninsula, agrees to close down nuke-making

Whew!, Washington Post in a lengthy report by Edward Cody, filing from Beijing, "North Korea Agrees to Nuclear Disarmament" (Feb13,2k7) gives a postive hopeful construction of NorKor's latest diplomacy. Here's an introductory excerpt to this very important article:

In a landmark international accord, North Korea promised Tuesday to close down and seal its main nuclear reactor within 60 days in return for 50,000 tons of fuel oil as a first step in abandoning all nuclear weapons and research programs.

North Korea also reaffirmed a commitment to disable the reactor in an undefined next phase of denuclearization and to discuss with the United States and other nations its plutonium fuel reserves and other nuclear programs that "would be abandoned" as part of the process. In return for taking those further steps, the accord said, North Korea would receive additional "economic, energy and humanitarian assistance up to the equivalent of 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil."

The pledges -- in an agreement reached here by North and South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States -- marked North Korea's first concrete commitment to carry out an agreement in principle, dating from September 2005, to relinquish its entire nuclear program. In the view of U.S. and allied diplomats, they also amounted to a down-payment on establishment of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and a new set of relations among the countries of Northeast Asia.

"The parties reaffirmed that they will take positive steps to increase mutual trust and will make joint efforts for lasting peace and stability in Northeast Asia," the accord said. "The directly related parties will negotiate a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula at an appropriate separate forum."

In a statement issued by the White House, President Bush said he was pleased with the agreement. "These talks represent the best opportunity to use diplomacy to address North Korea's nuclear programs," he said. "They reflect the common commitment of the participants to a Korean Peninsula that is free of nuclear weapons."

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher R. Hill, the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator, qualified the first-step accord as "a very solid step forward."

"We're moving off the pages of the September '05 agreement onto the ground," he added. "We have an initial set of actions, and then we have a peek into the next phase, which would involve the dismantling of the facilities."

The actual first transaction may well take place, but it remains to be seen if Cody's optimism plays out in the longer term. One may have acquired, as have I, a general skepticism regarding anything NorKor agrees to. Despite any skepticism , without nuclear-energy even for peaceful purposes, it's obvious that NorKor needs what would be its "alternative energy" supply of oil for a myriad of non-military energy purposes (in a very cold winter climate, to say the least). Is this a concrete small step toward the peace of the world? I do hope so. But I'll be watching the more dobuting account that will appear [has now appeared!] in China e-Lobby.

--Politicarp