Been seeing a whole lotta sensationalism news this morning about the Fukushima plant going Chernobyl and all. Likely not going to happen. Many of the "experts" are - how does one say this without being politically incorrect... They are, let's use, Misinformed.

Also, saw a story of USN helicopter personnel performing Search & Rescue and showing slightly elevated radition levels upon return to the USN Reagan. Funny, that same story said that, "as a precaution they are moving the ships down wind."

The Fukushima plant is a late '60's General Electric design with a containment vessel, Chernobyl had no real containment vessel.

The Fukushima containment is built to withstand a large passenger jet impact. Testing of this design had a jet fighter at 450+mph crashing into the test wall (old school style, not some computer sim) and putting a two-inch scratch on the wall.

The building we have seen time-and-time again popping its top is the "weather structure" that keeps out the elements. It is not the containment vessel. Steam/gas was released into the building from the reactor in an attempt to lower reactor pressure and still contain the steam/gas. Didn't all work out, but better than the containment rupturing. Also, note that the seawater infusion to cool the reactor(s) is likely more precautionary rather than a "Hail Mary" or last ditch effort. This would be in anticipation of further earthquakes/aftershocks that could possibly undermine the containment vessel. The Japanese are convinced that this 8.9 quake was not the Big One. The Japanese are much more concerned about another quake even larger than the last one.

People in Japan are losing their lives from the tsunami, and dams breaking, and things falling on them from the aftershocks that are as big as, what might be considered as, normal earthquakes in the rest of the world.

Yes, radiation is dangerous. Will Japanese people die of radiation... likely not, given the information being made public at this time. When there is a TEPCO (Tokyo power company) notification that radiation levels are much higher than normal, realize the radiation standing next to the reactor is less than standing out in the sun. So, the notice may be something like having a few x-rays.

Granted, things could change in a heartbeat. Another big quake and that could be the it, with the "Fat Lady Singing" and all.

Disclosure: Some of this I learned from my brother, but most from the internet. My brother graduated Cal (UC Berkeley for those not knowing the insider's name) and has been involved with the US Nuclear Navy. Pretty sharp kid brother. He gave me reason to go back to school as a (much) older student trying to keep up with all of the curve-busters at UC Davis, College of Engineering. I'm an un-Civil Engineer.