Land of the Rising Water: November 2012

Shortly after seven a.m. residents heard a bang from the plant at the Weurtseweg, followed by a continuous loud noise. The police reports that there is no one wounded. There are no missing persons. The explosion occurred in a boiler, said a spokesman from Electrabel. Thus a hole was created, from which steam escaped. During this process, pure water was released.

Cooling

It will take a long time before the resulting steam is evaporated and the boiler has cooled. After the explosion, the seven present employees went to the control room to turn off the plant, according to the protocol. This was reported by the police.

In a steam power plant normally a turbine is driven by hot steam, which in turn rotates a generator. Possibly too much steam was built up in the boiler. The emission of steam is slowly but surely decreasing, and along with it, so will the noise.

There is no danger of collapse, although a facade has been badly damaged. Due to the explosion much insulation material has fallen onto the surrounding streets. Other plants have taken over the electricity production.

The fire department is still investigating whether asbestos was released. The safety region indicates that glass wool particles could have been released into the environment. The advice is not to touch these and leave them where they are.

Locked

The district where the plant is located, still remains a closed off area. It will take a long time before the plant becomes operational again, said a police spokeswoman.

The police have been flooded with calls from all around, especially from the Betuwe area.

The navigation on the river Waal was not halted. However, the lock on the Maas-Waal canal was closed for some time.

Businesses in the area were evacuated for some time and for residents the advice was to keep windows and doors shut. This advice was withdrawn by the municipality shortly after nine o'clock. '' There is still a lot of glass in the area,'' said a spokeswoman.

Broadcasting Agency Gelderland

After being unreachable for a half hour, the site of Broadcasting Agency Gelderland is functioning again on Thursday morning. A spokesman for the regional broadcasting explains the crashing of the site was due to the large number of people that wanted to see images of the explosion at Electrabel.

''The first hour after the explosion the site was easily accessible. It went wrong when the national news reported that Broadcasting Agency Gelderland had live images. Then the whole of the Netherlands wanted to see that.'' The site of Broadcasting Agency Gelderland can hold up to 10,000 visitors simultaneously.

It has long been a given that regional broadcasters, who also function as an emergency transmitter, do not have enough internet capacity during a disaster.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Map of Japan

A better map of Japan than previously posted can be accessed here.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Ninomiya House Drill

Ninomiya House organized its own fire safety drill, which was very exciting. It was combined with tips on earthquake safety, as earthquakes are also a likely cause of fire. The whole two hours were packed with activities.

First all people had to evacuate the building using stairs and safety exits, wearing protective helmets. We had to gather at a rendezvous park close-by, at which point everyone was accounted for per floor. Next was a fire fighting drill with lo and behold actual fires. The extinguishers contained water though, but the spray cans for kitchen fires seemed the real deal. The fire department showed how everything should be worked, and volunteers were actively sought to replicate each of the demonstrated actions.

"Fire!" This is the most important thing to do before actual fire fighting. Call out to your neighbors and make sure they hear you, then head in with the right equipment. Useful information was also given. As I expected, if the ceiling is on fire, run. Smoke kills 90% of people in fires, so always cover your mouth and stay low.
We were also taught how to activate emergency power generators, in case the power would fail on the weekend, and few staff would be available to help. Firetruck ladders can reach up to 40 meters, so escaping to a balcony would not be a problem. The water from the hoses however, came only about 3 stories.

Afterwards at the lecture we unexpectedly got to taste some emergency supplies. Ninomiya House has food and water available for all residents for 5 days! Now we can start to eat our own supply.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Changes in governance in the Netherlands

It's highly challenging to study the governance and law of a country that radically alters its form of administration and law system halfway through the study. When we go back in two years, it won't be the same country as provinces will merge to new areas (with new names?), as well as municipalities.

Governance:

For the long term, we have the perspective of a country made up of five parts with a closed economy and municipalities of at least one hundred thousand inhabitants. (Voor de lange termijn hebben wij het perspectief van vijf landsdelen met een gesloten huishouding en gemeenten van tenminste honderdduizend inwoners voor ogen.)
The provinces of North Holland, Utrecht and Flevoland are combined, and the position of the Northeast will be judged later. (De provincies Noord-Holland, Utrecht en Flevoland worden samengevoegd, waarbij over de positie van de Noordoostpolder later een beslissing valt.) [Which will be called what exactly? Who gets to decide the new names?]
Decentralization will basically focus on 100,000 + municipalities. (Decentralisaties zullen in principe gericht worden op 100.000+ gemeenten.)
The water boards will be merged with the five parts of the country. (De waterschappen worden samengevoegd met de landsdelen.)
Water Board elections take place on the day of the elections for provincial councils. We promote scaling up to ten or twelve boards [there are 25 at the moment]. Water boards disappear from the Constitution. (Waterschapsverkiezingen gaan plaatsvinden op de dag van de verkiezingen voor provinciale staten. We bevorderen opschaling tot tien à twaalf waterschappen. Waterschappen verdwijnen uit de Grondwet.) [Response from the Union of Water Boards in Dutch]

Nature and water management:

The ecological main structure plans are implemented, including the corridors, but it will take more time. For this reason we will make agreements with provinces and conservation organizations on priorities, timing and use of resources. During an assessment in 2016, we will include the effects of spatial claims.(De ecologische hoofdstructuur wordt uitgevoerd, inclusief de verbindingszones, maar we nemen er meer tijd voor. Daarom maken we afspraken met provincies en natuurbeheerorganisaties over prioriteiten, tijdpad en de inzet van middelen. Bij een evaluatie in 2016 betrekken we de effecten van planologische claims.)
The maintenance of the existing infrastructure for water safety gets priority in water policy. In a water safety program, the various tasks will be combined in an optimized and innovative manner. Expenditure on water safety and freshwater supply will be financed from the Delta Fund. This fund will be split off of the Infrastructure Fund in 2014. The remaining room for investment in the Infrastructure Fund and the Delta Fund until 2028 may be spent for 80% in the next cabinet period for new projects. (Het in stand houden van de bestaande infrastructuur voor waterveiligheid krijgt bij het waterbeleid prioriteit. In een programma waterveiligheid zullen de verschillende opgaven optimaal en innovatief worden gecombineerd. Uitgaven voor waterveiligheid en de zoetwatervoorziening worden gefinancierd uit het Deltafonds. Dit fonds wordt met ingang van 2014 afgesplitst van het Infrastructuurfonds. De resterende investeringsruimte in Infrastructuurfonds en Deltafonds tot 2028 kan in de komende kabinetsperiode voor 80 procent worden bestemd voor nieuwe projecten.)
Decisions on planning projects should be simpler and faster, so we will streamline the spatial legislation even more. In 2013, we will come up with a bill to replace among others the Law on Spatial Planning and the Water Act. (De besluitvorming over ruimtelijke projecten moet eenvoudiger en sneller, daarom stroomlijnen we de ruimtelijke wet- en regelgeving verder. In 2013 komen we met een wetsvoorstel omgevingswet ter vervanging van onder meer de wet op de ruimtelijke ordening en de waterwet.)

Something I tend to forget:

The Netherlands is the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world. (Nederland is de tweede exporteur van agrarische producten ter wereld.) [The irony being this "The Netherlands exports a quarter of the worlds tomatoes and a third of its chili peppers." More information here.]

Something not really necessary:

Voting from abroad will be made easier. (Stemmen vanuit het buitenland wordt makkelijker gemaakt.) [I registered by email. I got some papers to vote on. I marked my vote and sent it back. Costs: 1 stamp. Given all the other bureaucratic paperwork involved with living in another country, this was remarkably easy.]

Copied from the new governance agreement, 29 October 2012.