User blog comment:Phoenixlight13/Japan Earthquake/@comment-1393830-20110317212135

Alright let me clarify a few things about the nuclear situation there. It is not something to really worry all that much about. It is being called the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl but nothing has happened yet. What is wrong is that the water is low. Inside a nuclear reactor there are uranium rods with water covering all but about the top two or three inches of the rod. When the earthquake hit, that water started draining. The water keeps the rods from overheating and building up pressure into an explosion. Normally when the water gets too low, the plant goes into shutdown but the main computer system is down as well as the backup thanks to the tsunami. They are currently working to fix the computer system and when that happens, the plant will shut down safely and the nuclear crisis will be averted. All will be fine.