An upclose (too close?) look at a Fukushima nuclear reactor

The Rockedyne facility above Simi, Valley California had a few melt downs in the 50's. At least two, but you rarely hear about it because it wasn't a commercial power plant. In the 90's it was discovered the portion of the city below the facility harbored large cancer clusters.

Only in the last few years did they remove the contaminated building of the runaway reactor. I used to live in Simi valley. They were trying to work on nuclear powered rocket engines. Strange coincidence before I moved to Simi valley ca. I lived one field away from the Enrico Fermi Breeder Reactor , the worlds first privately constructed breeder reactor. As a Kid , I helped put up the sign at the entrance and took my high school science class on tour of the plant as well as the Detroit Edison Trenton electrical generating station when I was Vice President of the high school science club. The first problem with the reactor happened when a zirconium plate on the reactor floor angled to disperse the nuclear pile in case of a meltdown broke loose and plugged the cooling sodium flow in the reactor causing it to overheat. The second accident I remember was when a heat exchanger broke down allowing liquid sodium to come in contact with the water in the heat exchanger which produced acetylene gas which exploded. When the reactor was decommissioned they simply stored the radioactive sodium in 50 gallon drums and left it in the containment vessel. The drums were only moved a few years ago when it was discovered that they were rusting. The new reactor in a different containment vessel in a different building is non breeder with a different cooling method.

The article was reported by Mike Krumboltz from the The Upshot. Yahoo is only retransmitting Upshot's article. Try directing your comments to the editor of The Upshot. Reading the article a little closer may help prevent you from spewing your wrath at the wrong party.

Also, the reactors weren't damaged by the earthquake... they were damaged when the earthquake-spawned tsunami disabled the power systems required to keep the reactor cooling systems operating.

I look forward to meeting our new ghoul and super mutant friends

The early stages of the Zombie Apocalypse.... Better invest in a lead jock strap.

As far as hot rain in Michigan goes...One article repeated by many, shall we say, less than mainstream media outlets Vs. a cover up of monumental size by every other news gathering source, and every college and/or business with a geiger counter...Call me a bit suspicious to the so-called Michigan Hot Rain...the odds seem a little skewed against it.

My friend works in nuclear industry,but even I found your attitude rude. Are you an expert in every discipline,unlikely.

CLM is correct, and Drew....you would be surprised what's out here.

Looked more like a steam seperator or steam dryer than a ladder to me.... just my humble opinion.

And maybe fill in your mom's basement.

and your dads loose #$%$...