Sixty-six years ago, the US irradiated Japan. Today, however unwittingly, Japan may be about to return the 'favor.'
Japan earthqauke: Threat of meltdowns at four nuclear power plants
After an explosion on Saturday and reports of partial nuclear meltdowns at the Fukishima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant and the nearby Fukushima No.2 plant, authorities today reported emergencies at two more nuclear facilities.
At the Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant, which is only 120km north of Tokyo, the cooling pump stopped working, while at the Onagawa nuclear power plant, in the Miyagi Prefecture, a state of emergency was declared because of excessive radiation levels.
The incidents underlined the precipitous situation at the country's nuclear plants and particularly at the crippled Fukishima facility, where government officials admitted they feared meltdowns occurred within three of the site's reactors at the No. 1 plant and confirmed that radiation had leaked out.
JAPAN EARTHQUAKE - 'THE RADIOACTIVE WAVE IS SPREADING, WE ARE IN THE LAPS OF THE GODS'
...When Ukraine’s Chernobyl power plant went into meltdown 25 years ago, vast areas of Europe were coated in radioactive dust, putting farms out of business and leaving millions fearing long-term health issues. Even British farms felt the effects of the radioactive particles.
...Yesterday’s winds were blowing away from Japan’s most heavily populated areas but contaminated dust could be swept by the high-altitude jet stream across the Pacific towards the United States.
There are fears that billions of dollars worth of crops will have to be destroyed if a “poison cloud” hits America’s West Coast. The jet stream could carry any contamination into the prairie wheat fields that cover more than 50 million acres.
A former adviser on radiation to the UK government, Dr Christopher Busby, has told the BBC the situation at the nuclear plants is extremely serious. "Particularly concerning is the [Fukushima] number three reactor which I understand is in trouble now, because... it runs on a different sort of fuel; it doesn't run on uranium, it runs on a mixed uranium plutonium fuel, and plutonium is an extremely serious hazard so if this stuff comes out then it's going to make what's happened so far, in terms of the tsunami damage, look a little bit like an entrée to the real course."
(H/T Global Disaster Watch)
The economic fallout (pun intended) from this triple disaster?
Japan stocks plunge on 1st trading day after quake
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