Will the radiation from the nuclear explosion in Japan effect the U.S?

Question:

There's that whole big problem with the nuclear plant in Japan. Something about the bombs exploding...I don't really know all the details, but the main part of it all that im scared about is the radiation from the nuclear cloud. How will this effect America? How will it effect America? Has the bomb even exploded anyway! EXPLAIN IT ALL TO ME!

I will chose BEST ANSWER(:

Answer:

If anything, the situation shows how safe nuclear power is. Consider that forty year old plants were hit with an earthquake five times the strength they were designed for and yet they still shut down safely. The generators came on like they were supposed to when grid power was cut. Then the tsunami hit and the generators were wiped out. However, the battery backup still worked for the designed eight hours. The problem happened when no new generators could be put in. Even so the problems have been minimal--media scare mongering for ratings not withstanding.

Here is an informative article describing the situation:
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fu…

And here is where you find current, factual status information:
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsun…

And a slide presentation that describes the effects:
http://www.slideshare.net/iaea/fukushima…

And here is a chart that helps make sense of the numbers:
http://www.xkcd.com/radiation/

- How will this effect America?

It won't. The amount of radiation leaked was comparatively small. You'll get more radiation from your cellphone or local coal power plant than you ever will from Fukushima.

http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/tenorm/coala…
http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl…

- Has the bomb even exploded anyway

Yes, in 1945 two bombs exploded. One in Hiroshima and one in Nagasaki. Nuclear power plants cannot explode (in the atomic bomb sense) because they don't have the right materials to do so. What did happen was that when the overheated fuel created steam and hydrogen, it was vented outside of the containment vessel and the hydrogen explosion damaged the reactor buildings' exterior walls. The exterior walls are not part of the containment system.