Also, Chernobyl ended up the way it did because 1) they'd been messing around with things, 2) they had to stop in the middle of a test due to a power outage, 3) someone [censored] up, and some other stuff.

Only thing I remember about 3 mile island arw the people complaoning about metallic tasting air...

Reactor design also piss poor for Chernobyl.

Was finally able to get in touch with my friends in japan. they are doing well and they werent effected at all

My friend has a bunch of people he knows from Japan. My heart and prayers go out to them all.

One of the nuclear power stations http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/japan-earthquake/4758653/Explosion-at-Japanese-nuclear-station-following-quake

Not quite. More accurate is: there has been an explosion at one of the nuclear power stations. The actual reactors are still as okay as they can be without proper cooling, etc.

Yes, explosion, not exploded. News report elevated radiation levels, the normally yearly dosage is gained in one hour near the plant.

what a mess.

Earthquake, fires, a tsunami and now a plant that will likely meltdown. Damn thats going to hit hard, wonder how many years it will take to rebuild.

You guys from West Coast and Alaska should start taking some iodide pills, the fallout will reach West coast in less than 10 days and Alaska in about 3 days if the wind keeps blowing east. Alaska will suffer most of the fallout. If the wind starts blowing west, then Korea, China and Russia will be totally [censored]

Are you saying http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/wotmess460.jpg had something to do with this?


On the bright side, it shouldn't happen again (something this severe) for a while, and they'll be able to rebuild things to survive stuff even better.

I'm not a Geologist, but I wouldn't be too sure about that, mother nature has been pretty harsh and unpredictable lately.

:facepalm:

You made me login on my phone just to reply to this. First of all: there's been an explosion at Fukushima. Neither the plant nor the reactor itself has actually exploded. CNN breaking news is reporting that the explosion was caused by water vapor used in the cooling process.

There is no "fallout." If you live as far away as Alaska or inland Russia, there is currently more risk of radiation exposure in getting an x-ray at your dentist than there is from Fukushima.

Take a deep breath and gather the facts before going into EVERYBODY PANIC mode, please.

The fact is that the radiation levels around the power plant are 30 times higher than normal. If, I mean if any radioactive steam or dust gets loose, the winds would spread the fallout to the east.
I was takling about an if scenario. I had seen a map from some research team with a map of a fallout spreading to Alaska and West coast from the location of the nuclear power plant in Japan. The radiation is not lethal, but it's not harmless either.
And yes, I know that there's been an explosion in Fukushima. I never said that the reactor has exploded.

Well, once pressure has relieved it'll take a while for it to build up again.

We swedes are definitely spoiled in this regard. Worst natural disaster we've had for ages was a hurricane that killed, IIRC, two people and felled a whole bunch of trees. No extreme storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, droughts. Hell, we're practically immune to even sinkholes!

Here's to Japan and I hope that things work out as well as possible

Same here, only a storm or two in a year, usually not killing anyone. We have earthquakes, but they are so small they can only be detected with seismographs. The situation in Japan is definetly bad, but it was the most powerful earth quake in 140 years. I doubt similar happens anytime soon.

in that area, atleast. Isn't California expected to experience a huge earthquake in the near future too?

Admittedly, the same fault probably won't spaz out again any time soon, but it's not only Japan that's going to be effected - there are something like 50 countries on Tsunami alert, and I'm sure some of them are going to have quakes within' a year or two, which could have repercussions around Japan/other places of the world. Heaps of different things could hit Japan again, not necessarily the same thing.

The way I see some people react to this is sickening. I cant link it to language, but uh some people should be removed from society. with bullets

No, but suggesting Alaska and so forth start stocking up on iodide pills is the sort of reaction one has to the reactor exploding and/or spewing radioactive particulates into the air. Hence my clarifying re: explosion vs. exploded, not necessarily for you but for everyone else reading the thread.

I won't deny that a Chernobyl-esque meltdown is not outside the realm of possibility. Chances are good it won't happen--there were a number of contributing factors at Chernobyl that aren't in play here--but it's still a possibility. Just hasn't happened yet, and sitting around worrying about it won't do much except raise your blood pressure. (And frankly I'd worry more about those still in the area surrounding Fukushima, and Japan itself, before I started worrying about possible exposure in Alaska/Hawaii/China/whichever way the wind's blowing...they're more likely to suffer lethal or extremely harmful exposure.)

On a completely different note, the quake http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.earthquake.tsunami.earth/index.html?hpt=T1, and shifted the Earth on its axis.

svcks to be Japan. Here's hoping they can prevent a meltdown.

No kidding. This country is on the opposite side of the planet, but still there are people panicking over it, more so than the japanese themselves. Iodine tablets have been sold out in some places here :facepalm:

The radiation fears are definitely overexaggerated. There really ought to be some international campaign to educate people on nuclear power and how it works.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.earthquake.tsunami.earth/index.html?hpt=T1

My Uncle is japanese, and he is worried about family that lives out there.

I am worried as well.

Yo Japan, I'm feelin real bad for you, I'mma let you finish, but Shaanxi had the GREATEST EARTHQUAKE OF ALL TIME!!