I confess to not knowing what the hell is going on

[bluestateguy]

I remember feeling like this during the Deepwater Horizon spill. I certainly don't know dick about nuclear engineering and all of the jargon is confusing the hell out of me, as well as the roller coaster news reports.

[frazzled]

1. The experts don't even seem to agree ...

I have been reading as many reports as I can, since I have family in Tokyo. And all the articles seem to contradict one another about possible outcomes and dangers. So you're not alone.

[JCMach1]

3. And the gov. is being vague...

[riverwalker]

2. Google "GE and nuclear plants" my head is exploding! n/t

[Raschel]

4. Anderson Cooper said he didn't know what was going on either. Conflicting reports, etc.

And if he doesn't know, with all of the resources that CNN has, I guess there's no way we could know either.

[grasswire]

5. our DU-er Stinky said that Rachel Maddow was very informative tonight

Maybe you could catch a replay of that. She's a natural teacher.

[W_HAMILTON]

6. Yes, she was.

Her introduction was very helpful to my understanding of how exactly nuclear reactors work, what happens in a meltdown, etc.

I would advise catching the first 15-20 minutes of her show if you can.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. +1000

she was excellent

[shireen]

15. +1

[lonestarnot]

18. Got a link to the stink?

[pinkkillersheep]

7. You can try this

http://ringshadow.deviantart.com/art/Nuke-for-Dummies-Page-1-154180410

I made it to page 21 before my head started hurting. I should probably be saving all my brain power for my Digital Signal Processing final Wednesday...

[k2qb3]

11. Huge PHOG at the moment....

Fire at #4 was reportedly caused by hydrogen explosion from spent fuel pool running dry.

Fire reported out. (but NHK is still reporting it needs to be put out right now)

There were huge radiation spikes that accompanied the fire, and the #2 plant had some kind of event with the primary containment while the fire was burning.

That's the situation as of a while ago, haven't heard anything new. If it was a spent fuel fire it seems unbelievable they managed to get it out right after finally reporting on it.

If it wasn't a spent fuel fire then #2 is putting out a ton of radiation.

That whole news conference seemed completely out of whack, but I can't tell if that was just the translation or what.

[Iwasthere]

8. Google MOX

#3 reactor used MOX (a plutonium mixture). VERY nasty stuff. I just ordered a bunch of high dose Iodine/Kelp pills (Iodide P pills are getting hard to find), I am in Salem, Oregon.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. US News, except for the RMS has been not very good

Reuters blog is good... AJE blog is good, Watch the RMS from tonight

I have been listening to NHK

[ljm2002]

12. What's going on is this:

We are watching a major catastrophe unfold.

In the meantime, the bright boys and girls are telling us it's not really all that bad. Okay, so a few buildings blew up -- so what? It wasn't a hydrogen explosion, it was a hydrogen gas explosion, so stop whining about it already. It's not the reactor itself that was breached, it's just the building around it. Okay, sure, the water levels went down; and they can't explain it, and the radiation levels are going up; and they're not really sure about the reactors anyway because they can't really get anywhere near them...

...but no worries, even if there's some radiation leaks, the radiation won't get high in the air -- well, unless by some extremely improbably sequence of events, it does; and it won't get to the US's West Coast -- unless by some freak of nature it does; and the doses won't be that high anyway -- unless they are.

Oh, and nuclear power is really, really, really clean and safe.

Until it isn't.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

13. so with you

I can't even tell if I am watching real, live news, or repeats on the cable stations. I just feel dazed by all of the information coming at me.

[shireen]

17. +1

it's exhausting and scary. :(

[shireen]

14. me too ...

i'm listening, trying very hard to sort solid info from the media hysterics. TRMS is doing really good -- i wish they were on the air more to provide their high quality of solid reporting. (Try to catch the video online later, it's very clear and concise. NYT graphics has been producing good info too.)

things are bad. very bad. that's clear.

anyhow ... there's not much i can do about what's going on in Japan except donate some money and feel sad for the people and animals who are suffering. :cry:

[lonestarnot]

16. Hang in there. You're not the only one. Robert Bazel or whatever his name is

just splained it, but don't know much more than before he spoke. :shrug: :scared:

[ohheckyeah]

19. I seldom know what the hell is going on.

You aren't by yourself.