zer0netgain wrote:
Vexcalibur wrote:
Chernobyl was very bad. The communists were in charge and they made it very hard to get information, but overall it did cause some global impact.
That and Chernobyl was basically an outdated "dirty" reactor with hardly any real standard in "containment" for the reactor itself. That's how most of the toxins got into the environment once it caught fire and burned.
If the Japan reactors are built the way they should be, the most that will get out in the air is some irradiated steam. Biggest threat is the reactor melting through the floor of the containment vessel and contaminating the groundwater. Nothing close to what Chernobyl was like.
Chernobyl was a dangerous piece of crap (as is and was most Soviet industrial produce) and was built to fulfill a five year plan to keep the Komrad Kommisars happy. A nuclear generator -without- a containment vessel is absolutely criminally negligent and stupid. The Japanese nuke plants are built according to the best available standards in the industry. Even so, things can Go Wrong.
Consider the Titanic. Well built, she was by the standard of her day, but the cold Atlantic water made here hull brittle and the stupidity of her commander led to a collision (totally avoidable, by the way) with an iceberg.
ruveyn