Strong quake and tsunami hits Japan

[ordnance11]

Is that for one reactor or six? Believe me Berk, I'm not going into "Chicken Little" mode here. But any construction engineer at GE worth his salt would tell you this sort of scenario was not what they had in mind when they designed those reactors in the 70's. Anymore than we would had imagined someone doing a kamikaze attack on buildings here in the U.S using hijacked jetliners in the 70's. Now, you state the concrete pad below the containment vessel should hold it the mess. I'd agree with you..where not for the fact that the entire region been with with a 8.9 quake, followed up by numerous aftershocks, one of which is 6.4. What impact would that have on 40 year old plus concrete (that may or may not had been in good condition when the earthquake hit)? Is there any surety that the integrity of the pad will hold once the mess gets dropped?  And that's for 1 reactor....and all 6?
Anyone over there had done x-ray scans of the floor to make sure of the integrity?
Then you have the human element in this crisis. Typically, in this sort of crisis, you have multiple options at the onset. The longer the wait, the number of options diminishes. I would not be surprised if there were suboptimal responses to this crisis at the beginning that won't have major ramifications a few days from now.
Hope for the best, but prepare for the worse. I'll breathe a sigh of relief if it passes with out a major catastrophe, but it does happens I wouldn't be surprised by it. 
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
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