For those of you who don't know what's going on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents
For those of you who want to know the technical details and potential risk from a reliable unbiased source: http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/nuclear_power_risk/safety/nuclear-reactor-crisis-faq.html
As I hope most of you know, Japan has just had a massive earthquake and tsunami. Over 10,000 people were killed, and many towns ruined. Sadly enough, this gigantic tragedy may be dwarfed by an even larger one. Three of Japan's nuclear power plants, each with multiple reactors, were damaged by the earthquake and tsunamis. The plant with the most issues is Fukushima I; the water system has broken down there and the nuclear rods are melting from overheating, as happened at the terrible tragedy in Chernobyl. A 20km radius has been evacuated, and a 30km radius has been marked as indoors only. Currently, brave Japanese soldiers, firemen, and scientists are exposing their bodies to deadly amounts of radiation so the whole Japanese Island is not affected. The United States is sending much of the 7th Fleet to Japan, in case the tens of thousands of US Navy personnel, or far worse the entire population, need to be evacuated.
Please discuss what you think will happen here, consider what this means for US reactions and reactors around the world (currently 2 US reactors of the same specifications of the Japanese reactor are on the San Andreas Fault Line), and leave your condolences. I must laud the Japanese for their expert handling of the situation and I hope they can keep it under control.
I had to press "add to dictionary" for Fukushima, but not Chernobyl; let's hope this is still the case in 10 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents
For those of you who want to know the technical details and potential risk from a reliable unbiased source: http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/nuclear_power_risk/safety/nuclear-reactor-crisis-faq.html
As I hope most of you know, Japan has just had a massive earthquake and tsunami. Over 10,000 people were killed, and many towns ruined. Sadly enough, this gigantic tragedy may be dwarfed by an even larger one. Three of Japan's nuclear power plants, each with multiple reactors, were damaged by the earthquake and tsunamis. The plant with the most issues is Fukushima I; the water system has broken down there and the nuclear rods are melting from overheating, as happened at the terrible tragedy in Chernobyl. A 20km radius has been evacuated, and a 30km radius has been marked as indoors only. Currently, brave Japanese soldiers, firemen, and scientists are exposing their bodies to deadly amounts of radiation so the whole Japanese Island is not affected. The United States is sending much of the 7th Fleet to Japan, in case the tens of thousands of US Navy personnel, or far worse the entire population, need to be evacuated.
Please discuss what you think will happen here, consider what this means for US reactions and reactors around the world (currently 2 US reactors of the same specifications of the Japanese reactor are on the San Andreas Fault Line), and leave your condolences. I must laud the Japanese for their expert handling of the situation and I hope they can keep it under control.
I had to press "add to dictionary" for Fukushima, but not Chernobyl; let's hope this is still the case in 10 years.
