We got our electricity back in the middle of the night last night. I went to work today. When I returned, I finally was able to see the devastation.
A new worry comes today, but it is still at a significant distance, about 300 miles away.
Radiation in Japan
One of the six power plants next to each other in Fukushima exploded at 4 PM this afternoon. The authorities are still “measuring”, but have expanded the area of evacuation from 10 km to 20 km radius.
Currently the radiation emitting is about 1,000 microseiverts, or 1 seivert, per HOUR. Normally there is about 1 seivert per YEAR. Each Seivert is equal to 100 rems. That is about 10,000 xrays. (1 chest xray = 10 mrem, or .01 rem)
There is a long history of the authorities massaging the data and outright lying to the public in cases like this. We are all watching carefully.
They may have to cut our electricity about 3 hours each day because they have closed most power plants. Nuclear accounts for about a third of electric power in Japan. Gas and water are also rumored to be under discussion for rationing, but those are only rumors.