Japan Nuclear Reactors Not Contained, More Explosions, Evacuations

Japan has had another explosion in their nuclear reactor and are unable to cool them. Most of our readers are in the United States, so the question becomes, beyond the catastrophe of Japan, where will the radiation land in the United States?

Below is a report about the Jet Stream which hits Alaska, Hawaii and the West Coast. The original map predicting the Jet Stream for this week is at this link. The below new reports gives some analysis on this possibility. Bear in mind this report was done before the latest explosions and evacuation orders near Tokyo.

 

 

There are evacuations ongoing in Japan. The French embassy has told it's citizens to evacuate the area. On one nuclear reactor the containment chamber is damaged:

Below is a video of an independent nuclear scientist and his assessment of the situation as well as Japan's cultural response. One might think about BP underestimating the oil spill before watching.

 

 

Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s stricken nuclear power plant was today rocked by two further explosions and a fire as workers struggled to avert the risk of a meltdown.

A hydrogen blast hit the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant’s No. 4 reactor, where Tokyo Electric earlier reported a blaze, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said at a briefing. Four of the complex’s six reactors have been damaged by explosions.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan appealed for calm as he said the danger of further radiation leaks was rising at the crippled nuclear facility, 135 miles (220 kilometers) north of Tokyo. Sea water is being pumped to cool the reactors and prevent the uncontrolled release of radioactive material.

Earlier there was a fire at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant reactor number 4. The above explosion is reactor no. 2.

There isn't much one can do beyond entering a fall out shelter and taking potassium iodine.

Q: How do radioactive materials contaminate food? A: Atomic bomb tests in Nevada during the 1950s and 1960s released I-131 into the atmosphere that was blown thousands of miles away. Animals grazing on pastures contaminated with I-131 had the radioactive material in their milk, which poisoned some children. People exposed to I-131 may have an increased risk of thyroid cancer.

Right now the radiation in Tokyo is 23 times normal but is not a threat, this post is more of a better safe than sorry, just in case.

The Japanese Stock Market is crashing at the time of this posting, down 13%. Japan is issuing warnings that might be prudent as we learn more about radiation fall out in the United States. From AP:

Kan and other officials warned there is danger of more leaks and told people living within 19 miles (30 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex to stay indoors to avoid exposure that could make people sick.

"Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told residents in the danger zone. "Don't turn on ventilators. Please hang your laundry indoors."

"These are figures that potentially affect health. There is no mistake about that," he said.

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Comments

washington resident

I live in the eastern part of washington state, we are. So screwed. On top of all this there was another earthquake in japan this morning hitting 6.2. This is going to be 800 times worse then chernobel. Prepare yourselfs and watch the weather.

Also a Washington resident

Anyone with the slightest interest in research can find much more credible (as in "believable") information about this disaster. The "independent nuclear scientist" is completely off-base, and the so-called fallout map has been discredited about 800 times. It isn't even the CBC for the last half, just some whisper-voiced alarmist.

Be prepared, be cautious, be alert. Just don't be gullible. Every reliable and credible source says, "yes, there is some small danger but no, you aren't going to glow in the dark."

So, yeah, just don't jump on the scared bus.

I beg to differ

Just as one example, a Nuclear Engineer, MIT prof was on CNN saying pretty much the same thing, first and foremost...

that said, this is just information because if something major happens, it's dependent upon the radiation levels at the source, i.e. Japan, but to get out of the way, would take major prep and possible travel.

No it hasn't happened yet but this information is credible, multiple experts are saying almost the same thing.

CNN Japan nearing Chernobyl in disaster level

Chernobyl. Oh SHIT!

The explosion Tuesday at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has elevated the situation there to a "serious accident" on a level just below Chernobyl, a French nuclear official said, referring to an international scale that rates the severity of such incidents.

The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale -- or INES -- goes from Level 1, which indicates very little danger to the general population, to Level 7, a "major accident" in which there's been a large release of radioactive material and there will be widespread health and environmental effects.

"It's clear we are at Level 6, that's to say we're at a level in between what happened at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl," Andre-Claude Lacoste, president of France's nuclear safety authority, told reporters Tuesday.

Japanese nuclear authorities initially rated the incident at Level 4, according to Greg Webb of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Level 4 is characterized as a minor release of radioactive material that necessitates only measures to control food due to contamination. But in the latest information about the explosion, Japanese authorities did not give it a rating, Webb said, and the IAEA is not putting a number on it either.

For a real map showing I131 and Radioactive Cesium levels...

For a real map showing I131 and Radioactive Cesium levels, see;

http://www.zamg.ac.at/aktuell/index.php?seite=1&artikel=ZAMG_2011-03-15G...