Despite what you’ve read about radiation being detected in Fukushima milk and Ibaragi spinach (not lethal levels, not consumed by anybody, and immediately pulled from market), a Japanese government cover-up of key information (yet said government reporting throughout the day readings that were confirmed by non-government testers), and a fire that won’t go out (but isn’t spreading and hasn’t caused further degradation), the nuclear crisis is about to take a turn for the better.
Why? Because real cooling pumps will come online tomorrow thanks to power having been reconnected. That will get us beyond firetruck efforts from the ground and helicopter drops from above, which did help by putting some water back into the cooling system but could not be as effective as the real system, of course. That real system is almost back. No, it won’t be perfect and, no, it won’t be the end of the crisis — but it will be progress. Enough progress back-to-back will get us to a safer place.
America’s radiation detection over-flights of the Fukushima Daiichi plant showed that the worst of the radiation remains contained within 19 miles of the plant, making Japan’s evacuation zone look reasonable.
Meanwhile, outlying area radiation levels continue to fall.
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I just sent a large box of socks today with hopeful notes in each pair. Thanks for doing this and I hope they offer a little brightener to a day.
I assure you they will, Karen! We’ll send you a note when they arrive. Thank you for helping!