Monday, March 14, 2011

Ravaged Japan facing possible nuclear meltdown

The 9.0 earthquake that ravaged through Japan on Friday and causing a tsunami has left behind in its trail nothing but death and destruction. Hundreds of thousands of people are left homeless and it is expected that the death toll alone will be more than 10,000. The damage alone projected to cost over $180 billion.

Now there has been a much larger threat.

The Fukushima Nuclear Complex north of Tokyo has experienced hydrogen explosions and falling water levels leading to the possible scenario that because of the coolents failing, the nuclear reactors could experience a meltdown.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has stated that the radiation released after the earthquake was limited and that nuclear plant workers are doing every thing in their power to prevent a meltdown from happening. Furthermore, the agency has yielded concerns that any meltdown would be similar as to what happened in Chernobyl. The agency is optimistic and says that in Japan’s nuclear situation there is a containment structure built to prevent radiation from blowing out into the atmosphere.

Nevertheless, the stakes are indeed quite high. When you consider that Japan is roughly 100 miles from coast to coast and if radiation does leak out into the atmosphere from a meltdown, this will put a decent portion of the country at risk from radiation exposure.

In short, Japan has experienced hell.

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