Welcome to the New Week, As Bad as the Last Week

[Bob Kohm]

In today's news we have ongoing civil war in Libya, nuclear meltdowns in slow motion, US Navy helicopters getting irradiated,a thousand dead bodies just found on one shoreline and, just for kicks, Saudi Arabia is about to invade Bahrain at the invitation of the besieged Prince. Good god, can I get a drink, please?

[GwynnInTheHall]

In today's news we have ongoing civil war in Libya, nuclear meltdowns in slow motion, US Navy helicopters getting irradiated,a thousand dead bodies just found on one shoreline and, just for kicks, Saudi Arabia is about to invade Bahrain at the invitation of the besieged Prince. Good god, can I get a drink, please?

On me Bhob, but just think-- we're not in the middle of any of that crap....................yet.

[amcg]

I think we're now opening the bar 24hrs...

[johnnya24]

West coast is right in the firing line if there is a major disaster here.

Japanese authorities are saying everything is under control ... that's reassuring

[johnnya24]

It must suck being a Libyan Rebel right now ... one minute you have the attention and sympathy of the whole world as you stand up to a cruel dictator ... the next you are a side-story.

[johnnya24]

This is definitely not a winning comment:

"Japanese engineer Masashi Goto, who helped design the containment vessel for Fukushima's reactor core, says the design was not enough to withstand earthquakes or tsunamis and the plant's builders, Toshiba, knew this. More on Mr Goto's remarks to follow." BBC

"Mr Goto says his greatest fear is that blasts at number 3 and number 1 reactors may have damaged the steel casing of the containment vessel designed to stop radioactive material escaping into the atmosphere. More to follow." BBC

"More from Japanese nuclear engineer Masashi Goto: He say that as the reactor uses mox (mixed oxide) fuel, the melting point is lower than that of conventional fuel. Should a meltdown and an explosion occur, he says, plutonium could be spread over an area up to twice as far as estimated for a conventional nuclear fuel explosion. The next 24 hours are critical, he says." BBC

[nullnor]

im very impressed that none of the reactors had a meltdown... it's a close call, let the steam build up inside the building but outside the radioactive containment and wait for a short period of time to eliminate any radioactive elements before release, or risk an explosion that might or might not damage the steel casing. thats Japan tho. anywhere else and they would've released the steam, i think?

[onejayhawk]

It says something that $100 Billion in property damage, just for the reactors, is the lesser issue.

As nullnor says, given the scale of the earthquake, the containment has been impressive.

J