After indicating my desire for REAL information vs the crap on cable news, a friend of mine sent me this link to the MIT Nuclear Science and Engineering blog...
When I was getting my Masters degree in Real Estate Development my class spent two weeks at MIT in the spring and they spent two weeks with us in the fall. We also spent another two weeks together in Vegas at the ULI convention. Most of my class is still unemployed, while most their class is working in corporate American including one woman who is now the head of real estate for Sony worldwide. MIT is awesome!
Thats a great illustration of how you can't trust "news" organizations for solid information. Some business researcher at MIT posts something and the press runs with it making him out as an "expert". This is why I much hard core information from really smart engineers.
I fairly certain that Operation "Extension Cord" is an attempt to keep people calm. I don't see how any of the plumbing or pumps are going to be intact. I also certain that spent fuel rods are strewn all over after the explosions. I'll try to dig up some more links.
Very low radiation detected on US west coast-sources
VIENNA, March 18 | Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:17am EDT
VIENNA, March 18 (Reuters) - Very low concentrations of radioactive particles believed to have come from Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant have been detected on the U.S. west coast, diplomatic sources said on Friday.
The level of radiation was far too low to cause any harm to humans, they said.
One diplomat, citing information from a network of international monitoring stations, described the material as "ever so slight" and consisting of only a few particles.
"It is very low level," another source in Vienna said.
Interesting note on Operation Extension Cord- turns out TEPCO had to ask a competing electric co to supply the juice. Guess it is a save face situation, explains why it is taking so long.