How big would the impact be if Japan's nuclear cooling system were to stop altogether?

Ever heard about the Chernobyl disaster?

http://funadvice.com/r/14mu51d7r1s

I dont think it will blow up. Even if it’s nuclear, It’s not bombs. But I am thinking if it happens like in Tsjernobyl, Russia, then we’d have a whole lot nuke wast on our hands. But I guess, and hope, they have got better security systems now than they would back then.

I guess they don’t know the full impact yet.

In Chernobyl - Ukraine by the way, not Russia - the reactor burned down and emitted a lot of radioactivity into the environment. There were - and still are - many people who die of cancer because of the radioactivity. They also have a lot of genetically damaged and thus disabled children and animals born in that region. The radioactivity went all over Europe with the wind so several foods including mushrooms and venison from several European areas are still nor safe to eat.

is it true people aren’t allowed back there? ive only briefly heard of this…and didn’t it cause a lot of birth defects?

Yes, there is a large area around the disaster site that is still closed for everyone. There are several ghost cities and ghost villages. Sometimes people go there and take photos. This site here has photos from the closed area… http://funadvice.com/r/14u6ucp06al

i just read and it said that downs syndrome peaked 9 months after the Chernobyl disaster. btw….is Japans nuclear power plant bigger than Chernobyls? i haven’t seen Japans.

thats terrible…specially seeing all the gas masks in the school :/

As I understand it the cooling system failed but the reactors automatically shut down. A nuclear power plant doesn’t blow up like a nuclear bomb. The worst case scenario is a meltdown where uncontrolled nuclear reactions lead to nuclear fuel damage and eventually melting where the molten nuclear fuel collects in the bottom of the reactor. While it has been theorized that molten supercritical nuclear fuel could burn through the containment building this has never happened. The release of radioactive material is due to the steam and smoke generated when the core overheats.

Sorry about the Russia/Ukraina thing, but at the time, it was under USSR, hence the same country :) I know very well of that radioactive cloud over Europe. I live in Norway, and northern parts of Norway got a lot of downfall

I was lucky enough to have a geography teacher who insisted that we learn all the new states after the iron curtain dissolved. We also had to learn the complete geography of eastern Germany. Including major cities and everything. That was soo frustrating. One day there’s a large pink shape in the atlas, east of you, there was Moscow and the USSR. Next day you go to school and there are dozens of new cities and countries. :-( I was in kindergarten when the Chernobyl disaster happened.