JAPAN’S RADIATION COULD BLOW IN

Expert: Nuclear Radiation Could Spread Far Beyond Japan
Michael Bowman, March 13, 2011 (Voice of America)

"An American nuclear expert says radiation from Japan could spread across the Pacific and reach the United States if a complete meltdown occurs at a Japanese nuclear facility damaged as a result of last week’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

"Nuclear expert Joseph Cirincione of the Ploughshares Fund says Japan’s nuclear crisis is in a critical phase [on the verge of an uncontrollable meltdown]…[T]he Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Japan’s northeast coast is one of at least three nuclear facilities at risk."

Those who live near the reactors are being checked for radiation contamination. (click to enlarge)

"Japan has evacuated civilians from areas surrounding the troubled plant, but Cirincione says radiation could spread far beyond Japan if efforts to contain the crisis fail…"

[Joseph Cirincione, nuclear expert, Ploughshares Fund:] "The worst-case scenario is that the fuel rods fuse together - temperatures get so hot that [they] melt together into a radioactive molten mass that busts through the containment mechanisms. So they spew radioactivity into the ground, into the air, into the water. Some of that radioactivity could carry in the atmosphere to the west coast of the United States."

click to enlarge

"Japan’s ambassador in Washington, Ichiro Fujisaki, acknowledged potential dangers, but said no complete nuclear meltdown appears imminent…[T]he head of the U.S. Nuclear Energy Institute, Marvin Furtel…praised Japan’s response to the nuclear crisis…[and] said a meltdown at a nuclear power plant does not always result in a massive release of radiation…At Three Mile Island…about half of the core melted…[but] resulted in no [radiation] releases off-site…[because safety systems…[and] containment…[kept] the reactor under control…

"Some U.S. legislators are suggesting heightened scrutiny of America’s nuclear energy program in the wake of Japan’s crisis. Independent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman says new nuclear facility construction should be placed on hold pending a full assessment of potential risks. But the Senate’s top Republican, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, says it would be a mistake to make domestic energy decisions based on fears [from the Japan quake]…"