These reactors will NOT blow up like a nuclear bomb. Not designed that way, not refined to the point of being able to do that, and -one of the biggest factors- the reactors are not operating so the worst that could happen is a meltdown.
Worst case scenario the reactors melt down and you have radiation contaminating hundreds (if not thousands) of sqare kilometers. This includes land and sea. Anything drifting on the wind will be limited to heavy metals and short half-life isotopes that really won't travel with enough concentration to be a threat to anyone out side of the immediate effect zone in Japan.
Also, I'm not sure where people are getting the idea that there are two plants. Even the people I know in Japan are saying there's problems with ONE nuclear plant, containing (I believe) 4 reactors. Three of the reactors were "live" in that they have fuel in them. The fourth was being used as storage of spent fuel.
In terms of using sea water to cool, consider this. If they don't use seawater to cool the reactors, then the cores melt down and the seawater is contaminated anyway as well as a lot of land around the area. So the alternative of not using the sea water is much worse.
|