nuclear reactor meltdown japan..
 

curious, lets say one of the reactors melt down(this is actually a possibility),

what will happen after that?

are we safe in cali?

game over for japan , cali should be good, but not the bay area , game over for them too

just have a feeling this is being over played.. i think a meltdown is just a meltdown.. nothing bad happens.. no radioactivity will leak, etc..

you're looking for common sense here?

You're correct.

Meltdown is not a nuclear blast. It just melts into the ground. Probably a 15 mile radius would be unsafe to hang around, but otherwise nothing apocalyptic.

I use to sleep near a nuclear reactor, just saying! LMAO

#3 reactor is potentially 2-3x more deadly than #1. Let's hope they get this under control soon.

Just reported that there is a "new blast at Fukushima nuclear plant". Reported to be the #2 reactor that they have been fighting with.

that explains a lot! :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh :pimp

BREAKING: "Explosion heard at third Japanese reactor"

it would be very different to Chernobyl - and much less dramatic. but nuclear power still sucks in any way

"A senior government official said it now seems that the nuclear fuel rods inside all three functioning reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex are melting."

Ocean water can be used to cool the reactor down. Problem is tht by flooding the reactor with oceanwater will effectively destroy it forever, so they will save that as a last resort and given that the pump system still works to actually pump in seawater.

Since Japan is exporting a lot of nuclear knowledge and services, they are actually world leaders in this field, many think that the japanese government is trying to downplay the seriousness of this as to not destroy the chances of their nuclear industry on the international arena.

A nuclear power plant is not as an atomic bomb, they don't just explode. They are constructed to withheld as much radiation as possible while an atomic bomb is the completely opposite with as much radiation an spread of it as possible. By all mean, this is very serious but also needs to be seen in light of what it actually is, not getting overly hyped by uninformed dummies.

There was an expert on CNN that just said whatever leaks from those reactors has a half-life of 8 hours. if that's true, it pretty much exempts the US west coast from danger.

8 hours can't be right. There has to be something in there that last for years.

yeah, if it reaches the jetstream, it's about 36 hours... if it hits the trade winds, it's 6-10 days....
I've heard varying reports on the halflife... anything from minutes, to hours, to months....

I do agree with an above comment though - full melting will cause massive environmental damage, not *too* much damage to North America...
now, if the containment units explode and spray radioactive dust into the air - that would be bad....