Hacker News Reader

I'm no "atomic troll" and radioactive contamination at Fukushima is potentially a significant problem. But the detected plutonium levels are almost insignificant compared to the detected Cs-137 contamination (whose half-life is 30 years, not months):

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com/release/betu11_e/im... (Pu) http://www.mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/afieldfil... (Cs-137)

The activity of Cs-137 is orders of magnitude greater.

View on HN

Since day 1, I've been reading things like "Unless something catastrophic and unexpected happens, things are ok."

The problem is, catastrophic and unexpected things keep happening. I find the whole thing really depressing, as I think long-term, nuclear power is the best source of energy. But how do you implement it properly? That I don't know.

That probably has something to do with why you aren't a nuke plant designer.

The plutonium leak confirms a meltdown and containment breach. That is what is significant.

Are you sure the presence of plutonium indicates a containment breach at a reactor? Remember that the fuel at the reactor 4 SFP is probably damaged and was sprayed with water.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com