I was watching a NOVA, or some such program, special on nuclear bombs the other day and they actually explained a few things about fallout. With nuclear bombs the fallout is the product of the radioactive substances fusing with earth, bomb casing fragments etc in the superheated explosion. Ground explosions cause more immediate fallout because there is more matter for the material to fuse with, while air explosions can send the material higher into the atmosphere, also dependent on explosion size. Nuclear power plants apparently use substances with a longer half-life which would make the fallout more dangerous, however I would assume there would need to be a big enough explosion to vaporize and fuse earth and other substances with the radio-active material, and to propel it further into the atmosphere thus increasing the fallout area.

Okay wiki to cover my inaccuracies or inadequate explanations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_out
The reporter seems to be pushing for some bomb like explosion that'll blanket the world in lethal radioactive fallout, and my understanding is that's unlikely to happen. Its unfortunate the media blows things like this out of proportion, I think it distracts from the real problem. When inevitably these things don't come to fruition and there's not fallout in people's backyards they tend to think the issue is done with.

Note this video is from Mar 16, 2011.

While still a terrible disaster, it is being ranked behind Chernobyl in terms of magnitude.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents

In response to the title: Na, here in Germany it's still in the news. Change the title to "... by Non-German Western News Media"!!! (Don't do it really) :-)

>> ^MaxWilder:

Note this video is from Mar 16, 2011.
While still a terrible disaster, it is being ranked behind Chernobyl in terms of magnitude.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents


I've been seeing posts on reddit about meltdowns in 3 or 4 of the cores. A full on china syndrome in the 1st reactor. There's radioactive sludge in a city outside of the 20km exclusion zone. http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/hebf2/fukushima_nuclear_core_meltdown_confirmed/

At this point there's so much bullshit here that I have to put on my fucking hazmat suit.

At this point, just arguing about how it is or is not like Chernobyl is a bunch of bullshit. It just muddies the fucking waters so much that no one knows what the fucking truth is.

People are saying it melted right after the quake, people are saying it melted sometime after the quake, people are saying it could be in a runaway state right now.

In short, I wouldn't trust jack shit the government of Japan says, or TEPCO (They have a monetary interest in making things sound less dangerous).

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/2011/prn201106.html

I like how when the reported asked if the reactor was like a nuclear bomb the "expert" failed to address that you don't get a nuclear explosion in a meltdown. Pretty much the worst case scenario is that the fuel rods melt, pool on the bottom and bore their way through containment, through the concrete and into the earth. That would certainly cause very long term environmental damage.

There has clearly been some escape of radioactive material. I mean, the rods were being cooled by pumping water onto them, and god knows where that water went afterwards. The rods were also exposed for some time, radioactive gases will also have escaped, but to compare that to chernobyl is just stupid. Chernobyl reactor core was blown clean open while the reactor was running. The nuclear reaction actually continued after containment was broken. The fuel was exposed to the air and caught fire pumping radioactive gases and ash high into the atmosphere. Pripyat was evacuated too late. I have a hard time seeing how Fukashima is worse than Chernobyl...

Long story short, this interview is a joke.

I'm concerned more about the title of the video seeming to indicate that this video is current. Whatever the magnitude of the crisis, the information shown in the video is out of date, and should be reflected as such in the title.

I'm now downvoting on the basis that the title of the post does not reflect the content of the video in any manner. Please stop misleading viewers and change the title to reflect when the video was made.

>> ^MaxWilder:

I'm concerned more about the title of the video seeming to indicate that this video is current. Whatever the magnitude of the crisis, the information shown in the video is out of date, and should be reflected as such in the title.
I'm now downvoting on the basis that the title of the post does not reflect the content of the video in any manner. Please stop misleading viewers and change the title to reflect when the video was made.


Good point. I admit when I posted the video I thought it was from May 16, not March 16.

Expert: Despite Japanese Gov’t Claims of Decreasing Radiation, Fukushima a "Ticking Time Bomb"
13 April 2011

DR. MICHIO KAKU: Well, Tokyo Electric has been in denial, trying to downplay the full impact of this nuclear accident. However, there’s a formula, a mathematical formula, by which you can determine what level this accident is. This accident has already released something on the order of 50,000 trillion becquerels of radiation. You do the math. That puts it right smack in the middle of a level 7 nuclear accident. Still, less than Chernobyl. However, radiation is continuing to leak out of the reactors. The situation is not stable at all. So, you’re looking at basically a ticking time bomb. It appears stable, but the slightest disturbance—a secondary earthquake, a pipe break, evacuation of the crew at Fukushima—could set off a full-scale meltdown at three nuclear power stations, far beyond what we saw at Chernobyl.

...

So, when the utility says that things are stable, it’s only stable in the sense that you’re dangling from a cliff hanging by your fingernails. And as the time goes by, each fingernail starts to crack. That’s the situation now.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/world/asia/18japan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=afternoonupdate&emc=aua2
17 May 2011

'Tokyo Electric in recent days has acknowledged that damage at the plant was worse than previously thought, with fuel rods most likely melting completely at Reactors 1, 2 and 3 in the early hours of the crisis, raising the danger of more catastrophic releases of radioactive materials.'

Rapid meltdown in No.1 reactor: Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, says most of the fuel rods in the No.1 reactor had dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel within 16 hours of the earthquake on March 11th.

TEPCO to change reactor cool down method: TEPCO also says the gauges at the No.2 and 3 reactors might not be showing the actual water levels and that both reactors are likely to have undergone meltdowns.

Fukushima reactor has a hole, leading to leakage: TOKYO/NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) - One of the reactors at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has a hole in its main vessel following a meltdown of fuel rods, leading to a leakage of radioactive water, its operator said on Thursday.

Japan Finally Admits TOTAL Meltdown at 3 Nuclear Reactors Within Hours of Earthquake ... And More Than DOUBLES Estimate of Radiation Released After Accident