my wife's family is in Japan - I would like them to leave and stay with us but of course they're not even considering but i've gone past the point of worrying, i've now basically accepted that a full scale meltdown is going to occur.
man...i dont think the tenants wanna go back to living there. freakin' hit by earthquake+tsunami+nuclear.... geezus.
but if the fuel melts to the bottom of the reactor, re criticality and a chain reaction is a possibility?
The European Union's energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger said today that the Japanese nuclear disaster is a lot worse than what Japan is declaring. In fact, he believes it could be an apocalypse: "There is talk of an apocalypse and I think the word is particularly well chosen [...] I hope that it doesn't happen, but we can't rule out that the worst case scenario [a complete meltdown a la Chernobyl] happens in the next few hours or days." IAEA head says situation at Japan's Daiichi nuclear power plant is very serious; says core damage at units 1-3 of Japan's quake-hit nuclear plant confirmed -Reuters Wednesday, March 16, 2011 11:48:25 AM ET
U.S. to fly spy plane over Fukushima nuclear plant for closer look http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78680.html TOKYO, March 17, Kyodo The U.S. military will operate a Global Hawk unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft over a stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, possibly on Thursday, to take a closer look at its troubled reactors, a Japanese government source said Wednesday. Photographs taken by the plane equipped with infrared sensors could provide a useful clue to what is occurring inside the reactor buildings, around which high-level radiation has been detected. The planned mission comes as the Japanese government appears unable to contain the crisis days after the coastal nuclear plant was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami. It would represent a deepening of Japanese-U.S. cooperation in coping with the escalating crisis, with the U.S. military having already provided logistical transportation, and search and rescue efforts in the wake of the disaster that hit northeastern Japan.
This is extremely irresponsible. A guy in his position should not be making sensational statements during a panic that start with "there is talk" and "I think." Additionally, note he's a career bureaucrat apparently without scientific expertise.
when the US starts withdrawing diplomats then we really know it's game over, until then there's some hope I guess
4:01am Kyodo news agency has quoted the Japanese prime minister as losing his temper at executives of the crisis-hit Fukushima nuclear power facility operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company. In a phone call, he reportedly shouted at them: "The TV reported an explosion. But nothing was said to the premier's office for about an hour ... What the hell is going on? "