Japan earthquake: Ian Sample on efforts to contain the nuclear accidentAfter three explosions and two fires at the Fukushima nuclear plant workers seem to be losing the battle to contain the radiation. Day by day Ian Sample will be talking us through all the developments, starting with 15 March. Click through to follow the latest events ...
Once the fuel rods that contain radioactive Plutonium and Uranium begin to melt within the inner six-inch thick stainless steel vessel, tremendous amounts of nuclear material are released into the air surrounding the nuclear plant. This graph indicates that any air over Japan will come to the United States within days. It is for certain that nuclear monitoring stations on the west coast of the United States will be closely monitoring the atmosphere for any nuclear particles.