Well as I hear once they have power they can bring the many safety systems back online. Some cores are still relatively intact and just need the normal cooling system restored.
There's a fair bit that's already been openly exposed, in the explosions depleted rods were projected thousands of feet in the air (which would have remained unknown if not for a japanese child with a video cellphone).
So, yes, I agree that once they get power back they will be able to contain the problem, HOWEVER, there's already been a heavy release of radioactive debris, and whatever of that debris gets caught in the jetstream (mainly the radioactive iodine since other radioactive debris like uranium and plutonium are so heavy that it can't disperse as far) will spread around the world... possibly for years... the issue then becomes the concentration of the stuff and that's the determination you would need before dosing yourself with iodine.
If we can bury an entire nuke plant, with bodies unrecovered, in the desert, then I'm sure we can remove contaminated structures.
Well, it depends on the outcome... which, from what I've heard there's 3 main possibilities :
1 - Complete meltdown, which just means the areas gotta be locked down (20-150 sq km)
2 - Coolant maintained with a slow leak of radiation.... essentially forever
3 - A nuclear explosion, which is less likely but would be ABSOLUTELY devastating for much of the world.
The BEST outcome would be as you said, getting power back and successfully repairing the coolant systems... then it's only what's been released that needs a cleanup.
I don't think it's accurate to paint the storage of spent fuel rods on site, in strict accordance with established procedure, as a "dump". Also, containment failed because the power eventually went out, not because anyone was doing anything wrong. This isn't the oil spill where a few people made catastrophically bad decisions. This was a natural disaster.
Strictly speaking you're probably right... the point was that they have kept 40 years of spent fuel rods on the site... and that got shot thousands of feet into the sky in the #3 explosion.
And no, I'm not placing blame as though this was human error...
We can expect them to recover, too.
Of course, this is far from a 'world ending event'... but at the same time we cannot downplay the severity of the problem.
Yeah this isn't Chernobyl. Not even close.
In many ways it is WORSE then Chernobyl... BUT, the overall implications will NOT be as devastating BECAUSE the prevailing winds and jetstream move into the oceans.
Don't forget your Y2K rations.
non-sequitar... but ya... it may become a prudent move to test radiation levels in food... and consider that this would be bio-accumulative, and so a cow eating radiated grass while being radiated itself and then you eat that radiated meat and drink the radiated milk... though, honestly, I don't expect the situation to be THAT bad...
It's the rule of 3... 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water or 3 weeks without food, 3 months left to your own devices in the wild (though there are many examples of people surviving longer).
My grandparents lived through the great depression, and they told me about what they had to do to survive as a family... and you better believe that they stored 3 months worth of non-perishable food... NOT because they were living in fear that there would be a shortage, but JUST IN CASE there was a shortage.
We aren't handling anything here. This is discussion forum, not an emergency team, and we're average Joes, not trained nuke engineers.
No, we aren't handling anything relevant to this disaster, but we STILL must handle ourselves... and I don't mean we should delude ourselves into thinking everything is just fine... it's better to be prepared and not need it then to be put into a situation where you are not prepared but have these needs.
