Hi, Zoxo - I do try to keep up, but things have been really busy lately and I haven't had as much chance as I'd like. Anyhow - I've heard and read what Mr. Suzuki and others have to say on this matter and I've got to disagree. When I said on Art's show that a collapse of the spent fuel pool in Unit 4 would be bad I meant that it could cause local conditions that could be hazardous to the local environment and possibly (depending on the radiation levels) to emergency responders on the site. But the ill effects would almost certainly not spread beyond the local area on land, and not beyond the local part of the sea. There might be a slight risk (and it IS slight) to people living in the immediate area - but that area has been evacuated anyhow. Outside that area the risk is really minimal.
I just got back from a week in San Diego and I'll tell you that I didn't spend a moment worrying about this. And, for that matter, I don't have any concerns for the safety of my friends who live there. And no - I'm not a heartless bonehead! I just don't think there's anything to be concerned about. And with regards to moving - I hope you'll reconsider! I like most of the West Coast - you've got a nice climate and a ton of natural beauty pretty much from border to border (I'm thinking of retiring there one of these days). And I'd hate to see you lose money selling your place in a hurry. My best guess is that the pool and the fuel it contains will be stabilized in a few months, without having collapsed. But even if it does collapse there will be no health and safety risks even to the Japanese, Koreans, or Chinese - the West Coast is safe.
WIth regards to the amount of radioactivity that might be released if the pool collapses, the spent fuel has been decaying away for years and in that time most of the radioactivity has decayed away. Think about all of the radioactivity we have put into the environment from nuclear weapons testing, the Chernobyl accident, and the three reactors that melted down already - what's left in the spent fuel pool is nowhere near those levels. As with the other sources of radioactivity I mentioned, we don't want to see it enter the environment, but if it does the impact will be no more serious and no more far-reaching than anything else we've seen - and none of those events were as far-reaching as what Suzuki and others have been suggesting.
With respect to the fearmongers - to be honest with you, I'm not sure if they are well-intentioned but ill-informed, if they are simply trying to take any opportunity to advance an anti-nuclear agenda, or if they get off on the attention that comes from their doom-saying. Or maybe they even take a sort of glum satisfaction from thinking about disasters. But in any event, please don't sell your house on their account.
