Page 2 - Core Melting News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Unchartered waters right now. >> we are. i think that's right. there's only been one event in nuclear history where there was a substantial degree of core melting and that was at three mile island, so there is a very small experience base if you like to predict how this crisis is going to unfold from here. >> james acton, thank you for your time. >> my pleasure. >> appreciate your expertise as this breaking story unfolds. for those in other parts of the country, rolling blackouts and empty supermarket shelves. that's common. in the hardest hit areas of northeastern japan we're still getting th...

Accident. three mile was very difficult. it was caused by operation error. this was following by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. nonetheless the nature of cooling the reactor was the same. three mile island was the expense x tense sieve meltings of the core. what we have to hope is there's a similar outcome on this occasion. any time you have a core melting there's a substantial increase for radio activity but there's no guarantee. >> you can find out more about the impact the earthquake has had on our website. i know you've got a lot of questions about that as have the rest of us. got i...

Basic. preferred. at meineke i have options on oil changes. and now i get free roadside assistance with preferred or supreme. my money. my choice. my meineke. joining me now, james acton, a physician cy . >> 24 hours, they started pumping sea water into the course of the first of the reactors. you only do that if you basically decided to write off the reactor anyway. >> because it rested out and no longer useful. >> correct. so you're only going to do that if you're seriously worried about the possibility of significant core melting. overnight, they then started a similar procedure in reacto...

Of possibilities. we have seen the japanese authorities already acknowledged there has been some partial melting of the core. which is the better end of this bad spectrum. a whole specter of possibilities. melting of the core might release substantial amounts of radioactivity into the environment. but it does not necessarily do so. the three mile island accident, there was a very large degree of core melting. actually remarkably little quantity of radiation released into the environment. both significant uncertainty about what's going on at the moment and significant uncertainty about the poss...

The largest earthquake in its history. dealing with a massive tsunami follow-up. and on top of the nuclear power plant there is the entire country is having to deal with this enormous catastrophe. so there is no -- they wouldn't be doing this if the situation weren't serious. but i think it is necessary to distinguish here between a serious situation because it has the potential to get worse and it actually he getting worse. we haven't yet seen a significant core meltdown. and hopefully we won't. >> but if the unthinkable did happen and there were a meltdown, i mean what would be -- what would...