We're still not talking anything like the radiation levels released from Chernobyl, because another difference is that the reaction was shut down when this started, and water-moderated reactors, by definition, can't support a nuclear reaction without water.
The terrible part is that Japan has so much to deal with that's going to kill people immediately.
I know it's bad, Hec. I'm not saying there isn't increasing danger. But as Ginger said, it's not Chernobyl levels of disaster. Yet.
And again, as Ginger points out--it's the other shit they're dealing with right now that makes this one so hard to get under control.
Nonian, are you still around? Could I e-mail you a quick question about the DUI probation violation?
Sure; I'm here
Eta: this is the part of DST I hate. I need to get up in the morning but I can't fall asleep. But it does give my sympathy for those with insomnia.
Oh my god, thank you. Insending to your profile addy.
Nonian, the cooling system that keeps circulating water to cool the reactor operates on electricity. the earthquake did not damage the plant, but it did disrupt the power supply so the plant switched to its backup power supply diesel generators. The tsunami swamped the generators. Without the power the cooling system failed.
From the Independent:
On a scale from zero to seven, the incident at Fukushima Daiichi has been rated as level four, meaning "accident with local consequences". The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale classified the Three Mile Island disaster in the US in 1979, which resulted from a partial meltdown of a reactor core, as level five, or "accident with wider consequences" – the same category as the Windscale fire of 1957. The Chernobyl crisis in 1986, when a reactor blew apart with a catastrophic release of radioactivity, was classed as seven, a "major accident".
But if they're saying it's beyond Three Mile Island that would be closer to level six.
The thing that's concerning me is that they don't seem to have the resources on site to deal with it. The loss of power and generators is crucial and I haven't gotten the sense that they have it under control.
Interesting bit on Japan's economy:
One of the great curiosities in the global economy is Japan's public debt; while we regard a debt-to-national income ratio of 60 per cent as a crisis, and the Greeks and Irish are running into the risk of default with a ratio of around 100 per cent, Japan has merrily chugged along with a ratio of close to 200 per cent for some years, a product of her slow growth and those official attempts to stimulate the economy through public spending.
Japan's gigantic mortgage has, so far, been easy for her to fund because she has almost exclusively funded it internally; Japanese salarymen still earn good money and they choose to save rather than spend it.
That could collapse in a hurry. Particularly if this event curtails nuclear power in Japan (which has few natural resources) and stifles production.