What, Exactly, Is a Meltdown and is Fukushima the Next Chernobyl?
Photo: Wikimedia Commons The word is easily tossed around, but what does it mean? Is it imminent in Japan ? And is this Chernobyl re-visited? So many questions. As I sit here and watch the news coverage of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, and see terrifying YouTube videos like these , I wonder what could possibly happen if the situation with the Fukushima nuclear power plant gets worse. Whats going on there? Is this comparable to Chernobyl? Just how bad was Chernobyl? And what, exactly, is a nuclear meltdown? I did some digging around and thought Id share some of what I learned here, if youre wondering the same things as me. 1. What happened in Fukushima? As soon as the magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck, 11 of Japans nuclear reactors were automatically shut down . These included reactors 1, 2, and 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant (4, 5, and 6 were not operating as they were under maintenance). Due to the quake, the plant lost power from the electricity grid and, to make matters worse, ...