CNN: "Japans nuclear situation nearing severity of Chernobyl"

Radiation threat levels have moved up to 6 out of 7 on the INES scale, up from the 4 given on Monday

Another fire has broken out in reactor 4, and all 6 reactors are now considered "unstable"

I am guessing this has gone past the point of hiding, since the MSM is now reporting much more severity in the situation than they have all week.

edition.cnn.com...

My personal concerns are that there are so little workers (~50) trying to contain 6 of these unstable reactors. The company has pulled all other workers, and if the fire in reactor 4 leads to a meltdown, chances are they will pull all of them, leaving all the other reactors to overheat.

This, obviously, would lead to an even more catastrophic event than Chernobyl, 6 times if you will.

This is my first thread.

I wonder at what point they will pull the rest of the workers. It's a scary thought and would love for somebody to give us an insight as to what would happen then.

Below I have given a photo of the INES scale. Please note the 3 mile island incident was a 5 on the scale, with Chernobyl being a 7.

reply to post by LoveSoldier


I think they are systematically admitting the cover up. I believe they knew the severity of the situation the whole time but have not been telling us the whole story. Clearly I am not the only one with this idea, but I hope we are all wrong. The people of Japan have been through enough, and if this escalates past the Chernobyl incident the whole region if not the whole wold will be suffering the side effect of this disaster for a very long time. Only thing we can do is hope for the best

Unfortunetly it will be much more than times 6 as this is a densely populated area, which as has been discussed here on ATS would be near impossible to evacuate, i think Tokyo alone has 30Million inhabitants. Also the economic impact of a complete melt down of all 6 reactors would be a devastating ripple effect that the world economy might not be able to handle. Not to mention the riots in the middle east, Marshal law in Bahrain, and Civil war in Libya, the economy is already strained due to the crippled oil transport lanes.

My understanding is that how Japan handles the spent fuel rods poses the greatest threat.

Storage facility four now in Fukushima is under threat.

MG

Chernobyl spread radiation throughout the entire northern hemisphere, The implications which could arise as a result of this impending disaster are beyond the imaginations and scientific analysis of most all here...

Perhaps because it is so far beyond our ability to speculate (fathom?) the reality of such outcomes, many inour society are quickly giving into the western media reports.

I find it VERY interesting that the United Kingdom's are NOT playing this down, yet we (America) are.

Greatly in fact.

It was mentioned previously in ATS that perhaps this could be because we are in the direction of the jet streams which would possibly carry vast amounts of the radiation to this continent (apart from it being distributed all across the earth itself)

CNN last night did indeed report if it got into the upper jet streams not only would it spread across the globe, but, depending upon the direction of the streams, could possibly come *in abundance* to America's western front.

I have seen this refuted on here and the internet in general too much, we should bring awareness to this possibility and spread word for what to do in case of such an outcome.


seriously.

reply to post by 5StarOracle


Well as a chemist, I would say the people around the site are the ones in trouble. Thank God there is mostly open ocean, unlike Chernobyl. The sea will absorb a lot of this. There WILL be some radiation make it to the West coast of the US and Canada but it could not be enough to cause any deaths here. However, Tokyo is f'ed! They are too close and the nuclear material, being a HEAVY metal in the truest of sense, will fall close to the reactor. Wind will carry some material a long way but the micro droplets over the ocean will swallow most and dilution really IS the solution to this pollution. Now if you ate this on your cornflakes, sure your going to invite sickness and death. But to have radioactive material in say the parts per billion range will have minimum potential hazards compared to parts per million or higher like a Tokyo location might get.

Chernobyl did go downwind and have an impact but this was basically over dry land. So the fact that the wind is most likely to blow as traditional trade winds do over oceans, should protect the West coast. As bad as it will probably be in Japan, It shouldn't be doing much harm here.

We just need to pray for Japan.

Originally posted by LoveSoldier
Perhaps because it is so far beyond our ability to speculate (fathom?) the reality of such outcomes, many inour society are quickly giving into the western media reports.

I find it VERY interesting that the United Kingdom's are NOT playing this down, yet we (America) are.

Greatly in fact.

It was mentioned previously in ATS that perhaps this could be because we are in the direction of the jet streams which would possibly carry vast amounts of the radiation to this continent (apart from it being distributed all across the earth itself)

CNN last night did indeed report if it got into the upper jet streams not only would it spread across the globe, but, depending upon the direction of the streams, could possibly come *in abundance* to America's western front.

I have seen this refuted on here and the internet in general too much, we should bring awareness to this possibility and spread word for what to do in case of such an outcome.


seriously.

I truly think it will be hard for that material to get into the jet stream. It needs a propellant to get high enough. Trade winds are going to be the primary source. A Hurricane or Tornadic cloud could lift some up that high.

reply to post by Justoneman


I see, that does make sense. I have heard that if the radiation were to be released in the form of a reactor exploding, that that could do the job of getting it into the jet stream.


speculation?

If the used rod storage melts down there will be an explosion to dwarf Chernobyl I asume, saying nothing of the numerous abandoned reactors in peril of course. I do agree that that radioactive materials to the ocean is for the best, however if all were to meltdown we would be dealing with unprecedented lvls of radiation.