I don't think that Japan is worried as much about their stocks as they are about the Nuclear Disaster!

America on radiation alert: Japan faces world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl as experts warn fallout may reach U.S.

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE, RICHARD SHEARS and DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 3:56 AM on 15th March 2011

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• California 'monitoring situation closely' amid dramatic escalation of disaster
• Japan's nuclear crisis now appears worse than the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979 - but not yet as bad as Chernobyl in 1986
• Japan PM tells people within 19 miles of plant to stay indoors as radiation reaches levels that could impact human heath
• Radioactive wind could reach Tokyo within hours
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission admits it is 'quite possible' radiation could reach the U.S.
• 'Worst-case scenario' could see 30,000ft winds sending nuclear cloud across Pacific - possibly hitting by Tuesday night

Fears that America could be hit by the nuclear fallout from the Japan earthquake have dramatically increased as workers prepared to abandon a reactor crippled by the earthquake and tsunami tonight in the face of what is set to become the world's second worst nuclear disaster - topped only by Chernobyl. 

Damage at the number two reactor at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power complex is worse than thought, the Japanese government admitted tonight, sparking fears for human health both in Japan and the U.S.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has admitted it is 'quite possible' the fallout could reach America. 

Now scroll down to see the video

Disaster: A satellite picture shows the remains of four reactors - by last night three of them had been hit by explosions. Nuclear experts were battling to bring the situation at the Fukushima plant under control

Predictions: Left, this jet stream forecast diagram shows that if the radiation material was to reach the upper atmosphere, it could be carried over the Pacific Ocean in high altitude wind currents. Right, crew on helicopters returning to the USS Ronald Reagan were contaminated after delivering aid

Graphic 2.jpg

The dramatic escalation in the severity of the disaster came after an explosion at the number two reactor at 6am in Japan on Tuesday morning. 

initially authorities downplayed the explosion. However industry executives told the New York Times that the explosion damaged a containment facility - and now the situation has spiralled out of control. 

Japan's prime minister warned those within 19 miles of the plant to stay indoors. 'It’s way past Three Mile Island already,' Frank von Hippel, a physicist and professor at Princeton, told the New York Times.

A fire in the plant's fourth reactor also sparked fears tonight but has since been extinguished, the AP reported.

Scientists in the U.S. warned yesterday of a 'worst-case scenario' in which the highly radioactive material could be blasted into the atmosphere and blown towards the West Coast.

They said it could be picked up by powerful 30,000ft winds, carrying the debris across the Pacific and hitting the West Coast. Some estimates claimed the radiation could arrive on America's shores by Tuesday evening, according to the AFP. 

The French Embassy in Tokyo warned tonight that a 'radioactive wind' is set to reach the city of more than 13million people by around 8amEST on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile meteorological agencies warned tonight that winds over the stricken plant are due to shift to the west later Tuesday. 

"Right now it's quite possible that there could be some radiation floating over the United States,' said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre.

Chaos: The view from a U.S. navy helicopter as it surveys the devastation caused by the tsunami and earthquake in Sendai

Right: Sailors assigned to the Black Knights of Anti-Submarine Squadron load supplies on to an HH-60H Sea Hawk helicopter aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan while left a house bobs along in the Pacific Ocean - such is the chaos caused by the tsunami

A second explosion rocks the crippled Fukushima Dalichi nuclear plant yesterday (1), (2) smoke starts to pour from the building housing the plant's third nuclear reactor before (3) as the building collapses, the black plume stretches up into the sky

Officials downplayed the danger to humans, saying they did not believe the radiation would be 'particularly harmful'. 

A desperate race against time to avert a nuclear disaster was under way in Japan last night. Officials revealed fuel rods are melting inside three damaged reactors at the Fukushima plant, triggering fears of a serious radiation leak.

Japan has appealed to the U.S. for help to control three overheating reactors crippled by Friday’s devastating earthquake.

The plea came yesterday as a second and third explosion rocked the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, damaging two reactors. Late last night a fourth 

A senior Japanese politician said there were signs that fuel rods were melting in all three reactors. ‘Although we cannot directly check it, it’s highly likely to be happening,’ said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

Rescuers walk through flattened buildings after the recent tsunami in Natori City, Miyagi prefecture

Resilience: A man in a suit walks calmly through a scene of devastation in Sendai, Japan

Experts said the nightmare scenario was of a meltdown which triggers a massive build-up of pressure inside the containment unit. If the unit cracks, a plume of radioactive dust and gas would spill hundreds of miles into the air.

Fears of that meltdown at a Japanese power plant rose sharply last night after a new explosion was reported in the complex.

It is understood the blast was in the Number 2 reactor, where fuel rods had been in danger of overheating. Explosions have already occurred in the Number 1 and Number 3 reactors.

The new drama occurred because the explosion in the Number 3 reactor had damaged the cooling system in the adjoining reactor, resulting in last night's third blast.

Others have suggested any radioactive cloud would be likely to blow out east across the Pacific.

WHAT WOULD WE DO IF NUCLEAR RADIATION FROM JAPAN DOES REACH THE U.S.?

If the radiation risk rises significantly, tablets could be distributed to prevent iodine-131 from being absorbed into the body.


Radioactive particles, which attack or impair cells, can be taken into the body through breathing, eating or drinking.


Atomic expert Dr Peter Weish said after Chernobyl that good practice for nuclear accidents includes sealing flats with adhesive tape, covering your mouth with a mask or wet cloth and having little contact with rain.


California is watching Japan's efforts to contain leaks and looking at its own air, water and food supply - but public health officials said there is currently 'no danger'.

'The wind direction for the time being seems to point the (nuclear) pollution towards the Pacific,' Andre-Claude Lacoste, of the French Nuclear Safety Authority, told AFP.

The NRC downplayed the threat to Americans, however. Mr McIntyre told the AFP: 'We don't think that it would be particularly harmful... even in a worst case scenario.'

'We see a very low likelihood, a very low probability that there is any possibility of harmful radiation levels in the United States or in Hawaii or in any other U.S. territories,' added an NRC statement.

And University of Washington Professor of Atmospheric Science Dan Jaffe told Q13 Fox earlier: 'Based on what we're seeing in terms of the radiation that's being released now, there is no risk at all.

'Even in the worst case scenario there is a low likelihood of much risk over the Pacific Northwest.'

Nuclear regulators say the General Electric-designed reactors involved in the emergency are very similar to 23 reactors used in the U.S, reported MSNBC.

'The worst case scenario is that the fuel rods fuse together,' nuclear expert Joe Cirincione said.

'The temperatures get so hot that they melt together into a radioactive molten mass that bursts through the containment mechanisms and it is exposed to the outside so there's spewed radioactivity into the ground, into the air and into the water,' he told Fox 43.

'Some of that radioactivity could carry in the atmosphere to the West Coast of the United States.'

After Japan’s request to the United States for help cooling the reactors, the Commission said it was considering providing technical advice.

President Barack Obama offered any help the U.S. could provide to help recover from its ‘multiple disasters’.

Officials have been struggling to pacify the public's concerns about radioactive material escaping into the atmosphere.

With serious questions now surrounding the safety of the three crippled reactors, many people believe the chances of the material escaping have increased dramatically.

Workers at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant fled last night after a third explosion raised serious concerns about a meltdown.

Embarrassed officials of the Tokyo Electric Power company called a hurried news conference in Tokyo to apologise to the public for 'the inconvenience'.

But they were hesitant in disclosing details about the full extent of the danger to the public.

Leading nuclear expert Dr John Large, who has visited the plant, said he is concerned that where the radiation ends up is ‘in the lap of the gods’.

Evacuation: Residents shelter in Sendai city in Miyagi after being evacuated from their homes following the blasts at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Hundreds of thousands have been evacuated amid growing fears that the plant could go into meltdown    

Devastation: Earthquake followed by tsunami has caused chaos in Japan and there are fears of a radiation leak from the Fukushima nuclear power plant

‘The exclusion zone keeps being raised. First it was 3km, then 10, now 20. This plant has gone through all the steps that occurred at Three Mile Island, and that led to total meltdown.

‘It looks like the reactors automatically shut down following the earthquake, causing a massive collapse of power to the grid,' he told the Sunday Express. 

The U.S. Navy moved ships away from the devastated north-east Japanese coast after a Navy crew delivering aid received almost a month’s worth of radiation in just one hour.

The U.S.S. Ronald Reagan was around 100 miles offshore when low-level radioactive contamination was detected from the stricken Fukushima plant.

Low radiation levels were detected on 17 members of the crew on three helicopters as they returned to the ship after delivering aid to the devastated city of Sendai.

HOW THE NUCLEAR 'MELTDOWN' COULD COME ABOUT

The Japanese reactors work by harnessing the energy of thousands of nuclear fuel rods that are normally kept cool in water.


But if the cooling system fails, heat generated by the nuclear reaction rises uncontrollably.


The nuclear fuel can then melt, forming molten pools on the floor of the reactor at thousands of degrees Celcius - known as a 'meltdown'.


These pools of molten fuel can melt through the reactor safety barriers - there is an inner and outer shield.


The worst case scenario is that the protective shield around the reactors is melted away, resulting in a serious radioactive material leak.

Most of the radiation was found on the clothing of the 17-man crew, but also on one's skin. The sailors were said to not have experienced ill-effects following the incident.

Contamination was found on the helicopters, which were scrubbed down on landing.

The U.S. Seventh Fleet has moved its ships and aircraft away from the Fukushima plant - hit by two explosions since Friday’s dramatic earthquake and tsunami.

The radiation fears were raised as the helicopters returned after delivering aid.

The helicopters sounded the alert around 60 miles from the coast and the ship’s sensors also sounded when it was 100 miles north east of the plant.

The fleet said the dose was around the same as one month's normal exposure to the environment’s natural background radiation.

The Reagan and several other Navy ships were later repositioned away from the wind coming from Fukushima as a 'precautionary' measure, a U.S. Navy spokesman said.

‘The maximum potential radiation dose received by any ship's force personnel aboard the ship when it passed through the area was less than the radiation exposure received from about one month of exposure to natural background radiation from sources such as rocks, soil and the sun,' Navy spokesman Jeff Davis said.

He told ABC News: 'We remain totally committed to our mission of providing assistance to the people of Japan.'

In a day of worrying developments in Japan:

• The official death toll rose to 2,800 but is expected eventually to exceed 10,000.
• Two thousand bodies were washed up in two towns in the worst affected area in north-east Japan.
• Strong aftershocks persisted in the stricken area, and a 4.1 magnitude earthquake jolted Tokyo at about 4pm EST yesterday.
• About 450,000 people have been evacuated nationwide – plus 180,000 from around the nuclear plant, where 190 have been exposed to some form of radiation.
• Almost 2million households are without power in the freezing north and about1.4million households have been left without running water.

Two other nuclear plants are also thought to be under threat. At Tokai there were also fears of overheating reactors as cooling pumps failed, while high levels of radiation were detected at the nuclear plant at Onagawa.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366341/America-nuclear-alert-As-Japan-begs-U-S-help-fears-fallout-reach-West-Coast.html#ixzz1Gdk3fMJj