For all the Chicken Littles out there:
The MSM loves to jump on stories like this because that’s how it captures and holds historically ignorant people with short memories and attention spans. The comparisons to Chernobyl and Three Mile Island are fatuous and stupid. The nuclear facility at Chernobyl was constructed with the usual Soviet shoddiness. The reactor was not equiped with proper containment vessles. Every nuclear reactor in the United States has them. The Russians decided to push their reactor, in a test, to see how far it would go. The resulting disaster let them know in no uncertain terms. Over 9000 people died as a result of radiation. As for the “it could happen here” crowd: how many people died at Three Mile Island? Zilch. Nada. Goose Egg. No. One. Died. At. Three. Mile. Island.
There have been no “nuclear explosions” in Japan. The last one happened over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. There have been no reports of confirmed damage to containment vessels in the Japanese reactors, and even a meltdown wouldn’t produce enough heat to damage them. The radiation levels in the surrounding areas will be high, but it will not spread around the planet, causing people to drop dead.
Instead of engaging in the usual sensationalistic bullshit over nukes, the people of Japan need rescue. There are more important things to worry about than contrived fears. At last count, at least 10,000 people are missing and presumed dead because of the earthquake and tsunami. They need food, fresh water, medical supplies, and evacuation until the tectonic plates quit doing the electric slide. Not to mention the possibility of disease due to unsanitary conditions. Their economy also took a 9.0 seismic hit, and that, along with their infrastructure, will take awhile to recover.
In the meantime, it would be the sane and responsible thing to do to focus on the destruction caused by nature and get busy repairing the damage.
Related Articles
- Fukushima Is No Chernobyl (livingstonbuzz.com)
- Why Japan’s Nuclear Meltdown Is No Chernobyl (thedailybeast.com)