Strong quake and tsunami hits Japan

[Berk]

I'm gonna borrow something someone wiser than me said in another forum, to keep the nuclear plant situation in perspective:

Even if everything went to crap, and the pumping systems all failed and the power went out permanently and everyone on site was killed by a mysterious virus and Great Cthulhu rose out of the Pacific to drive everyone at TEPCO mad, the absolute worst thing that could happen at the Fukushima site is that the last of the water boils off the core, the decay heat causes it to melt, and it ends up melting through the bottom of the containment vessel into the concrete that was placed below just for this sort of problem.

This would require a huge cleanup job and cost billions of dollars, but the effect on the surrounding area would be minimal. You might have a couple of kilometers which were slightly more radioactive than usual for a while; the rest of Japan would be unaffected. It would be a catastrophe, but not nearly as bad as other ones which barely make the news when they happen.

- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead