This morning while reading FishOutOfWater's latest diary Unsafe Radiation Found Near Tokyo, Vast Area of Japan Contaminated I began to ask myself some questions about how this contamination would look if it happened in the U.S.
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Once upon a time when I was young, stupid, and had a kid to feed, I took a job at the Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant that was then under construction at Burlington, Kansas. I worked there for two years until the job was completed. I became a Journeyman carpenter in the process.
All that said... Taking the smallest number of miles of radiation spread.... 90 miles... I figure radiation would would be into the heart of Kansas City, MO.
If you plug in the larger end of the scale - 125 miles - at 118 miles, radiation would be into the heart of Wichita, Kansas....
Topeka, the Kansas State Capital... Manhattan, Kansas - home of K. State University, and Lawrence, Kansas - home of K.U. - would all be within the contamination zone... Tulsa, Oklahoma, being 157 miles from the plant would be just outside the danger zone...
That is a HUGE area of contamination... millions of people, as well as thousands of acres of some of the best grazing land in the nation... The Flint Hills....Kinda puts it all into perspective, eh?
And, while we are on a roll here... The Wolf Creek Power Plant is 150 miles (give or take) from Joplin, MO. Ayup, that's right. The plant is right smack dab in the middle of "Tornado Alley"....reports say that it IS NOT fully tornado-proof.
People at KP&L claim that the plant was built to withstand large tornadoes.
People at TEPCO claimed that their plant was prepared for and safe from both earthquakes AND tsunamis... they lied.