What Does A Nuclear Leak/Meltdown in Japan Mean for the World?

[Anonymous]

What are the potential threats to the US if the radiation at the nuke plant does leak? Will this be a Chernobal situation in Japan?

[Anonymous]

They'll try to make it a reason to raise gas prices to $6 per gallon.

[Anonymous]

It is important to note that the Chernobyl reactor had no containment building to speak of (it was basically a tin shed) around the reactor. It also had graphite in the reactor core that caught on fire, and the smoke from the fire is what spread the radiation after the top blew off the building. The Japanese reactor does not have graphite in the reactor. Unlike Chernobyl, the Japanese reactors have thick concrete and rebar containment vessels around the reactor. The Japanese are saying that containment has not been breached. The reactor has been shut down, so it's just a question of dissipating residual heat at this point. Even if the reactor were to melt down, it is likely to be more similar to our Three Mile Island accident, which made a mess inside the containment building, but released almost no radiation to the environment.

[Anonymous]

It is the opening of the 6th seal:

Rev 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake;
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.

Quasimodo predicted all of this.

[Anonymous]

Quasimodo?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame?

[Anonymous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYJVL9bzk4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They'll try to make it a reason to raise gas prices to $6 per gallon.

Good. Maybe that'll get you out of your F*%#&* car a little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They'll try to make it a reason to raise gas prices to $6 per gallon.

Electrical generation is a completely different animal from providing gasoline for cars. They'll have a hard time justifying that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is the opening of the 6th seal:

Rev 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake;
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.

Quasimodo predicted all of this.

It was just an earthquake, not earthquake plus eclipses. We have a while yet there, Bobby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is important to note that the Chernobyl reactor had no containment building to speak of (it was basically a tin shed) around the reactor. It also had graphite in the reactor core that caught on fire, and the smoke from the fire is what spread the radiation after the top blew off the building. The Japanese reactor does not have graphite in the reactor. Unlike Chernobyl, the Japanese reactors have thick concrete and rebar containment vessels around the reactor. The Japanese are saying that containment has not been breached. The reactor has been shut down, so it's just a question of dissipating residual heat at this point. Even if the reactor were to melt down, it is likely to be more similar to our Three Mile Island accident, which made a mess inside the containment building, but released almost no radiation to the environment.

Good explanation. Thanks for sharing!

But we should also note, that like the affected Chernobyl and Three Mile Island units, these units will never produce another watt of electricity. We really don't want to have our electrical generation system reliant on such an expensive and potentially volatile form of energy. It costs billions of dollars to build a nuclear plant. While these accidents are rare, once they occur, the units are unrecoverable and cost an enormous amount to clean up -- plus some of the left over waste will be radioactive for years to come. Nuclear power is not a solution to our energy problems and it does little to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking about the benefits of nuclear power in JAPAN. It must first of all have been quite a debate given JAPAN's history. On the other hand, they're very short on natural resources, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They'll try to make it a reason to raise gas prices to $6 per gallon.

Good. Maybe that'll get you out of your F*%#&* car a little.

So angry...

[Anonymous]

unfortunately it will mean no more nuke plants for another 25 years.

[Anonymous]

I'm wondering how this disaster will affect their already depressed economy.

[Anonymous]

It will be a setback for nuclear. The problems are that the earthquake and tsunami were worse than predicted by planners when they built the reactors, and that the electrical backup failed.

That tells the public (1) scientists and engineers are not good at predicting the real risks to a nuclear facility, and (2) promised failsafes are not always to be trusted.