March 12, 2011 Editor’s note: Forbes posted the following
yesterday: “Without cooling water, the irradiated nuclear fuel
could spontaneously combust in an exothermic reaction. Since the
storage pools are not located within containment, a catastrophic
radioactivity release to the environment could occur. Up to 100
percent of the volatile radioactive Cesium-137 content of the
pools could go up in flames and smoke, to blow downwind over
large distances. Given the large quantity of irradiated nuclear
fuel in the pool, the radioactivity release could be worse than
the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe of 25 years ago.” A
large explosion at Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiich nuclear
power plant reveals that a meltdown is now underway following
the exposure of the core following an 9.1-magnitude earthquake.
The media in Japan is not reporting this fact in order to
prevent mass hysteria. Prior to the explosion today, the media
reported the radiation level was 1000 times higher than the
permissible level. Kyodo New