# Nuclear meltdown! Holy Godzilla NOOOO!!!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [March 12, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389 "2011-03-12T08:19:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 12

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/221 "2011-03-13T05:15:31Z")

</div>

> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> Couple of things. I’m guessing that you are an engineer by trade because you seem to have no sense of humor at all and missed a whole thread of sarcasm.

No, everyone got your use of sarcasm. We all realized you don’t actually believe reactors can’t melt down. The problem is, you’re using sarcasm to belittle an argument no one with actual knowledge of nuclear power ever made in this thread, a claim no one involved in actually dealing with the crisis has made, and a belief completely unrelated to the actual statements of those of us in this thread who aren’t talking out of our assholes.

In short, your “humor”, much like your arguments here, is fucking retarded.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/222 "2011-03-13T05:21:13Z")

</div>

Well, for one thing, both of Japan’s lawyers are going to be busy.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/223 "2011-03-13T05:26:11Z")

</div>

> [@YogSosoth](#):
>
> I feel the possibility of a Godzilla-like mutation outweighs any fears regarding nuclear safety

Possibility? This is Japan we’re talking about… I’d say it’s a downright certainty.

But don’t worry. The same radiation that causes that little lizard to mutate into a Godzilla will also result in a random dolphin becoming a _ **Flipperzilla** _ that can shoot cosmic rays from its eyes AND swim backwards on its tail while it laughs at you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/224 "2011-03-13T05:51:20Z")

</div>

> [@gonzomax](#):
>
> Japan has lots of earthquakes. Like California they have been waiting for the big one. This scenario was not only anticipated ,but expected.  
> Tsunamis hit Japan too. That is also not a shock. But often, the decision comes down to whether the potential is real enough to justify the extra expense. As we see in these events, we err on the side of money sometimes and the cost turns out to be enormous.

My point is you could spend money on everything possible contingency, and still have a bad outcome. I’m not disagreeing with your above assertion, I’m just saying that system complexity can be a source of a lot of minor heartaches all the way to the one or two catastrophic “acts-of-God” that no one could have known or predicted. But human nature being what it is, we need to “blame” somebody in order to bring resolution for the “cause” of it. Most of the time, it’s justified. In a few cases, OTOH it amounts to scapegoating.

Let me give an example: By adding a “safety” systems, you can _increase_ the chance of a system failure, because they safety systems themselves can interact with the system you’re trying to protect in ways you cannot anticipate. For example, (I can’t produce the cite at the moment) it was decided that a previous core reactor design had a problem with the cooling channels clogging up with debris from the bottom of the reactor. This would lead to core rods getting bent out shape which made refueling a more of a pain in the ass. So it was decided to attach a plate to the bottom of a nuclear core to keep debris from being suck up through the cooling pipes of the reactor core. Great idea! Prevent a nuclear infarction, of sorts. Except the mechanism for holding the plate corroded away, got sucked up, blocked all of the cooling passages _en masse_ and damaging most of the rods in the core.

You have understand **gonzomax** that’s the nature of the beast that we know as the complexity of systems.

This is not a theoretical question for me, BTW. My parents live downwind of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant near Avila Beach, CA. The plant is rated for a 7.5 (Moment? Richter?) This area of California is riddled with faults and one, called the _Hosgri fault_ is about 10 miles offshore from the plant and is theoretically capable of generating a 7.5 (ouch). They found another about mile offshore conveniently called the _Shoreline fault_ capable of a 6.5, just recently (last year, I think). When a quake hits Diablo Canyon more likely than not, a chain of events will occur that they did not anticipate. Hopefully, that doesn’t lead to a loss of life and/or property, but I know that its possible and until the plant shuts down, that’s the risk everyone takes knowingly and unknowingly.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/225 "2011-03-13T05:54:57Z")

</div>

> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> Couple of things. I’m guessing that you are an engineer by trade because you seem to have no sense of humor at all and missed a whole thread of sarcasm.

Hey, hey, HEY! This is one engineer that doesn’t take shit from no one \>\> Byte me!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/226 "2011-03-13T05:55:54Z")

</div>

> [@billfish678](#):
>
> It sure as hell won’t in a short period of time (like the time it takes to “explode”). It CAN NOT DO IT. The physics won’t allow it.
> 
> Who gives a flying fuck if it can release a shitload of energy over a period of years? Hell, thats the good thing about the whole thing.

Explosions are very over-rated. So what if it won’t explode? That isn’t like it isn’t a huge, huge, huge clusterfuck. It release contamination that must be contained at the general taxpayers expense.

I get it that of course it is a good thing that the heat from the reaction is used to create steam used to drive a turbine to get electrons flowing. There are less risky and less expensive ways to do exactly that.

And now someone tells me it was only designed for a 7.9 earthquake? In fucking Japan? Well, we now know that Japan can have at least a 9.0 to 9.1. I’ll speculate that Japan can have a 9.3 or more. The quake was hundreds of times more destructive in power than the Haiti quake. The Japanese of all people on earth are more prepared for earthquakes and tsunamis. Yet their smart people fucked up on this one. Hubris is in. And has anyone met an engineer in real life? Are there any more arrogant head-up-their-ass-know-it-alls who are more fucking clueless as to human nature than engineers? I know lawyers are bad, but at least any seasoned lawyer knows that human beings are by and large screw ups.

And I’m not particularly against nuclear power. I’m all for seeing how the pebble bed works, despite it’s track record. But it isn’t put into general service because it is not profitable enough. It had an accident, incident, discrepancy or whatever you want to call it, but the design seems to me to be a bit safer.

And as much as I think the US Navy is filled with screw ups, I think every single large navy ship should use nuclear as fuel, despite its dangers. Oiling a fleet of ships in wartime is just mindlessly stupid. It requires enormous expertise to have so many reactors, but with internet connections we can probably hire retirees from the nuke service to remotely help out the newer crews. And the risks can be buried 20,000 feet underwater. Not that that is without problems too.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/227 "2011-03-13T05:59:51Z")

</div>

> [@user\_hostile](#):
>
> Hey, hey, HEY! This is one engineer that doesn’t take shit from no one \>\> Byte me!

Engineers are a necessary evil. Like lawyers. It’s important to know the limitations of the individual that you have at hand. But everything and engineer makes human failings or mother nature will take down. It’s all been downhill from Imhotep.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/228 "2011-03-13T06:19:38Z")

</div>

> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> Couple of things. I’m guessing that you are an engineer by trade because you seem to have no sense of humor at all and missed a whole thread of sarcasm. Why sarcasm? How could you have missed that? Because you are a completely humor-deaf doofus.

When people have trouble telling your sarcasm from your dead-serious contributions, and also have trouble telling either of those things from the ravings of a drunken lunatic, you should probably put down the liquor bottle and take a nap.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/229 "2011-03-13T06:27:01Z")

</div>

> [@levdrakon](#):
>
> Makes perfect sense.

Very poor dodge. You weren’t responding to someone’s straw man, the first mention of nuclear explosions was by you. So either you thought reactors could go all mushroom-cloud or you hysterically started shrieking about nuclear explosions for no apparent reason as you knew it had fuck-all to do with anything.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/230 "2011-03-13T06:29:55Z")

</div>

> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> Engineers are a necessary evil. Like lawyers. It’s important to know the limitations of the individual that you have at hand. But everything and engineer makes human failings or mother nature will take down. It’s all been downhill from Imhotep.

Pffft. Doctors are a necessary evil…Cops are necessary evil…soldiers are a necessary evil… _ad nauseum_ and _ad hominem_. You’re tired **TSS** , go to bed; I’ll crack brewski for you in your honor.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/231 "2011-03-13T06:31:44Z")

</div>

> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> And I’m not particularly against nuclear power. I’m all for seeing how the pebble bed works, despite it’s track record. But it isn’t put into general service because it is not profitable enough. It had an accident, incident, discrepancy or whatever you want to call it, but the design seems to me to be a bit safer.

Bull! Every time something that looks remotely bad for nuclear power, you’re here to rant about it. You’re about as neutral as Snowboarder Bo on the issue (speaking of whom, I’m surprised he hasn’t shown yet).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/232 "2011-03-13T06:37:02Z")

</div>

> [@Ike\_Witt](#):
>
> Would it be wrong to encourage people to take lizards, turtles and moths as close to the site as possible?

BAD Ike!!! Slaps you with a rolled up newspaper.

(I’ll take a turtle, tho. It would make my work commute much faster)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wowellness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@wowellness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wowellness)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/233 "2011-03-13T06:37:37Z")

</div>

> [@Walmarticus](#):
>
> HAHAHA- OH MY GOD!  
> A truly devastating earthquake leads several dopers into arguing, for bizarre reasons I can’t quite follow, about socialism vs. capitalism. Let’s all talk about how much better shit would have been if Japan had only practiced the right kind of politics. If Japan had socialized profits as well as losses (because it’s relevant somehow), this wouldn’t be happening.
> 
> The moon is exploding and everybody’s hair is on fire. Quick, let’s talk about how much my politics would have improved the situation!

Hey, I just found you folks outa the gazillions of comments on what is happening in Japan. You’ve added some humour, much needed ha-ha’s.

I will have to come back to this rant forum, it’s pretty cool - compared to the forums on the local board I visit often. Hailing from Port Alberni, BC Canada - where the heck are you/this place, lol?😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/234 "2011-03-13T06:44:32Z")

</div>

> [@user\_hostile](#):
>
> By adding a “safety” systems, you can _increase_ the chance of a system failure, because they safety systems themselves can interact with the system you’re trying to protect in ways you cannot anticipate.

I wonder if they had anticipated the explosion when they thought through the emergency cooling procedures that most likely ended up causing the explosion?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/235 "2011-03-13T06:54:48Z")

</div>

> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> Couple of things. I’m guessing that you are an engineer by trade because you seem to have no sense of humor at all and missed a whole thread of sarcasm. Why sarcasm? How could you have missed that? Because you are a completely humor-deaf doofus.

I didn’t miss the sarcasm. Hell, if you lay it on any thicker, I’ll have to pull on hip waders.

> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> A nuclear reactor is uranium undergoing fission. So is a nuclear bomb. Other than the time factor, they are the same thing. When the reactor gets out of control it is never going to be as efficient as an atomic bomb, or as quick, but it is the very same phenomena of physics. Little Boy converted 25 kg of highly enriched uranium, about 90 percent, into energy at 8 to 15 percent efficiency in a fraction of a second. (Hey pocket protector boy, I did that from memory!) A reactor uses much less enriched uranium, but a lot more of it, to release much more energy over a period of years. Assuming it doesn’t get out of control. It’s not going to go “boom”, but it will release more energy than a bomb. It will contaminate the environment. And it will need to be cleaned up by taxpayers. That is never any concern to the pro-nuke people because they do not want to draw any attention to the costs of clean up and quarantine, so they ignore it. Any environmental clean up is outrageously expensive. But most kinds have some place where the dirty materials can legally be taken. Not so with nuclear clean up waste.

I sure am glad that we have you around here to explain this all to us. :rolleyes:

> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> …Second. You claim that there are no US nuclear submarine reactor accidents. If there had been, they would be classified. Were there? Maybe. [Site Disabled - FreeServers](http://oc.itgo.com/kitsap/nuclear/clymer.htm) In the early 1990s I attended the deposition of a Mare Island shipyard worker who many years earlier worked about a nuclear submarine doing repairs that had to take radiation precautions because he was under the belief that the reactor had a problem. Anyway, check out the link. Navy has never admitted a reactor accident is not the same as never having one. They are in fact quite common according to the link.

Your link goes to a nearly 30-year old article about a number of so-called “incidents,” including accidental spills of radioactive coolant.

In any event, I see that the article does make a point of noting the Navy’s excellent safety record:

> [@](#):
>
> Nevertheless, the U.S. Navy has fostered what does appear to be a safety record superior to that of the commercial nuclear industry. Critics and advocates a like point to Rickover’s navy as the finely tuned example of how nuclear energy can be safely managed, the model of technical efficiency for the civilian sector. Even Bill Clymer agrees that the navy is far safer. “The utilities don’t know how to handle nuclear power plants,” he once said. “The navy’s different. They have to live with their reactors.”

The article dances around the issue, but there is an defined difference between “incidents” and “accidents,” summarized by the [International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Nuclear_Event_Scale).

The scale is intended to be approximately logarithmic, from INES Level 1 to Level 7. Levels 1-3 are “incidents,” whereas Levels 4-6 are “accidents.” Chernobyl was Level 7 (Major Accident). Three Mile Island was a Level 5 (Accident with wider consequences).

Hallmarks of nuclear “accidents” are damage to the nuclear fuel assembly and human fatalities. You can’t really hide nuclear accidents. I’m certain that if a U.S. naval reactor ever had an actual accident, you would know about it. To the best of my knowledge, this has never occurred.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/236 "2011-03-13T06:59:04Z")

</div>

> [@Dissonance](#):
>
> Very poor dodge. You weren’t responding to someone’s straw man, the first mention of nuclear explosions was by you. So either you thought reactors could go all mushroom-cloud or you hysterically started shrieking about nuclear explosions for no apparent reason as you knew it had fuck-all to do with anything.

Who gives a fuck but you? If you want to believe that I believe there’s a Little Boy nuclear bomb inside the core, by all means believe it! You’ll sleep better or something.

They’ve already had an explosion. The Japanese called it a blowup. I’m sure you’ve seen it by now. How do you think these people are supposed to feel when they bought their homes and started raising their children there and were promised by the nuclear plant operators that everything that is happening right now, could never happen, and never would happen.

How many accidents that can never happen, have to happen before we accept that they do happen, and nuke plants are not the safest creations on Earth?

Let’s not forget they were supposed to be so cheap energy wouldn’t even be metered? The experts talked out their ass then, and it would seem they’re still talking out their asses.

Who, exactly, is going to pay to permanently seal these reactors and clean up afterwards? How many times do we have to go through this before we realize nuke is not only really expensive, it’s ridiculously expensive and operators will not build and operate these things unless they’re insulated from risk, while keeping the profits and skimping on safety?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/237 "2011-03-13T07:02:32Z")

</div>

Hey why don’t you all just shut the fuck up? God.

That goes sextuple for you **Stone**. At least wait a few days to spout your inane tripe.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/238 "2011-03-13T07:14:18Z")

</div>

> [@mhendo](#):
>
> When people have trouble telling your sarcasm from your dead-serious contributions, and also have trouble telling either of those things from the ravings of a drunken lunatic, you should probably put down the liquor bottle and take a nap.

I like naps. And I am completely sober.

> [@pedescribe](#):
>
> Bull! Every time something that looks remotely bad for nuclear power, you’re here to rant about it. You’re about as neutral as Snowboarder Bo on the issue (speaking of whom, I’m surprised he hasn’t shown yet).

Fraid not. Use the search function and check my user name and pebble bed. I am very down on the attitude that this is safe and let the market regulate it. That is a recipe for the kind of disaster that happened yesterday. I have zero faith in private enterprise using the free market to keep this safe and almost zero for the government. I am highly skeptical of the costs of safely disposing of the waste, which are thrust on the taxpayers, not the investors. Nuclear power built and run as if it were potentially very dangerous without changes and neglect over a half century is fine. But human nature is to cut corners. Building a nuke plant in Japan safe to only a 7.5 was just fucking stupid. If there is anyplace in the world that could have had a series of 9.0 plus quakes before recording levels were invented, it was fucking Japan. Japan is one of the most seismically active places on earth in frequency and intensity. Only engineers under the influence of accountants would assume that Japan could not have the strongest quake measured in modern times. That is human nature.

The strongest quake ever measured was 9.5. [1960 Valdivia earthquake - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Valdivia_earthquake) Many times stronger than this quake or the 2004 quake. There is no reason to believe that we will not have stronger quakes in the future.

The 1906 San Francisco quake moved land 18 feet in Point Reyes. Maybe it was a 7.9. We are a lot more prepared now, but a 9.0 would kill hundreds of thousands. Diablo Canyon is not designed to withstand such a thing. The Pacific Rim and Sumatra have had at least 4 9.0 or higher quakes in the last 100 years. Friday’s earthquake moved the earth’s rotation on it’s access 10 cm. [Japan earthquake shifted the Earth’s axis by 10cm, experts say | Wales Online](http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/03/13/japan-earthquake-shifted-the-earth-s-axis-by-10cm-experts-say-91466-28326468/) This was not exactly Fat Bastard farting.

And it’s hardly everything mother nature has to dish out. Combined with human error and hubris we don’t want to put our safety into the hands of people like John Boehner and his crew who just last week wanted to cut tsunami warning funds [http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2011/03/11/gop-would-cut-tsunami-warning-funding](http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2011/03/11/gop-would-cut-tsunami-warning-funding) because it taxes the rich too much. Do you really want that emotional weepy basketcase and his butt buddies deciding safety isn’t important every election cycle?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/239 "2011-03-13T07:29:04Z")

</div>

> **[Nuclear plant explosion releases radiation, raises meltdown fears...](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/03/nuclear-plant-explosion-releases-radiation-raises-meltdown-fears-following-earthquake-video.html)**
>
> An explosion at a nuclear power station about 160 miles north of Tokyo Saturday tore down the walls of one building and caused a radiation leak of...

Above is a video of the explosion that cannot happen. Seriously, however, it is not the nuclear pile, but some other part of the plant. I am, however, assured that it is nothing to worry about and that the 12 km evacuation is just a precaution.

That video is the end of any possibility of new nuclear plants in the USofA.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389/240 "2011-03-13T07:40:28Z")

</div>

> [@wowellness](#):
>
> Hey, I just found you folks outa the gazillions of comments on what is happening in Japan. You’ve added some humour, much needed ha-ha’s.
> 
> I will have to come back to this rant forum, it’s pretty cool - compared to the forums on the local board I visit often. Hailing from Port Alberni, BC Canada - where the heck are you/this place, lol?😃

Dude, you should have been here back when Gabby Giffords was attacked. These guys pimped it for pages, scoring the cheapest shots for the most superficial gain for their politics and primarily personal pleasure.

Stay classy, Straight Dope.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389.md?page=11)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-meltdown-holy-godzilla-noooo/574389.md?page=13)
