Fukushima Daiichi Is a 'Ticking Time Bomb' (Democracy Now! interview)

[jpak]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/democracy-now/fukushima-daiichi_b_848770.html

The Japanese government is trying to calm fears about radiation levels and food safety in the region around the heavily damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, even as it has raised the severity rating of the crisis to the highest possible level.

"Radiation is continuing to leak out of the reactors. The situation is not stable at all," says Dr. Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York and the City College of New York, in an interview with Democracy Now! April 13. "The slightest disturbance could set off a full-scale meltdown at three nuclear power stations, far beyond what we saw at Chernobyl... you're looking at basically a ticking time bomb."

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.

<snip>

So what do you do? You drive the car into a river. That's what the utility did by putting seawater, seawater from the Pacific Ocean, in a desperate attempt to keep water on top of the core. But then, seawater has salt in it, and that gums up your radiator. And so, what do you do? You call out the local firemen. And so, now you have these Japanese samurai warriors. They know that this is potentially a suicide mission. They're coming in with hose water -- hose water -- trying to keep water over the melted nuclear reactor cores. So that's the situation now. 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.


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[madokie]

1. In hindsight I wish we hadn't stopped PSO from building blackfox nuclear power station

I mean we get no excitement like the Japanese or the Russians did with chernoybl. After all whats a little radiation compared to that?

in case :sarcasm:

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. As bad as it might appear that the Japanese are handling it, if this

had occurred on U.S. soil while a Republican president resided in the White House there would have been press releases encouraging people to go down and shop in the stores near the accident to help the business owners out in their time of need.

[bananas]

3. EPA head Christine Todd Whitman lied about safety after 911

and now she is a paid shill for the nuclear industry.