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Comment by pbreit | Hacker News Reader

It's now been 5 months of dire predictions and yet it apparently remains somewhat under control? Are there any decent summaries of that the genuine situation and implications? This article just sounds like more of the questionable-source, hysterical variety.

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There's no proof that anything is "under control" really. There's a 30km exclusion zone so there's not too much risk of radiation floating into populated areas (that we know of). so as I see it it's a matter of what information we're getting from TEPCO, which isn't a lot. There won't be any more explosions to send material into the air, and that's all we know.

If there won't be more radiation getting into populated areas and there won't be any more explosions... then that pretty much sounds like you're saying it is under control. The 30km exclusion zone might not be a control that we are happy with for the long term, but it is a control.

an exclusion zone is not a control; it's an acknowledgement of lack of control.

Well it certainly seems to have put the situation under control...

if by that you mean it has partially (and to what extent is unknown) isolated the thing we can't control at all and will be cleaning up for 30+ years (stated by nuclear expert in video fta), then yeah it's all fine. unless you can prove that all ill effects are contained within that exclusion zone, it's not control, it's the illusion of control to make yourself feel better.

so if they're finding radiation in rice crops hundreds of km away, is that still control?

As I said, we may not be satisfied with the control, but isolation is in fact a type of control.

Welcome to the HN reality distortion field...

"It is bizarre that people are upset about this. After all, nobody has ever died as a result of a nuclear accident, right?"

How many people have died of this one?

Downvotes, huh. I guess I'm not supposed to ask that question for some reason.

It's safe to say the many of the workers who tried to stabilize the reactors will meet early ends due to cancer, etc. Beyond that, we'll learn that from public health statistics.

i'm pretty amazed at the handwashing here. not absolutely sure there's anything to see here, so move along and don't linger...

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