Second Explosion at Stricken Japanese Nuclear Plant; Radiation Risk Is Low
March 16, 2011
Medscape Daily - 'Reactors are not like your car that you can turn off and walk away. They're going to continue generating a great amount of heat until the core is disassembled,' explained Ron Chesser, PhD, director of the Center for Environmental Radiation Studies at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
Another explosion has hit the Japanese nuclear plant damaged by last Friday's earthquake and resultant tsunami, raising new fears about potential meltdown and radiation exposure.
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"Reactors are not like your car that you can turn off and walk away. They're going to continue generating a great amount of heat until the core is disassembled," explained Ron Chesser, PhD, director of the Center for Environmental Radiation Studies at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. "Without cooling water, then you stand a real chance of a meltdown of core that could result in a large release of radiation, potentially."