quantity of radiation will be spewed. mr. acton, give us the worst case scenario right now. what s the worst case scenario and what does this mean for the survivors? well, the worst case scenario is there is extensive melting of the core. and at that point the core could effectively turn into a molten mush and burn through the bottom of the reactor vessel. the good news, if there is a good side to this, is that even under extensive core melting, a large release of radiation is not guaranteed. under the three mile island accident, for instance, there was very extensive core melting but only a small release of radiation into the environment. so i think that the japanese analysis that a large release, a very significant release of radiation into the environment is fortunately unlikely even though i don t want to underplay the seriousness of this unfolding crisis. so this is a game changer. this is as severe as it s been so far through this crisis. that s right. i mean, what is par
story is correct then it means the integrity of the reactor vessel itself is holding together. and that is going to potentially prevent, hopefully prevent the worst case outcome here. have we been given good enough information from the japanese government? you know, ed, it is very hard to assess that at the moment. i, like many experts, have been frustrated by the slow pace of information. but we ve also got to recognize that japan suffered the largest earthquake in its history, a massive tsunami, the operators all probably have their own personal tragedies, and they re having to deal with this situation in three reactors. so i think the in the investigation we re going to have to look at who understood what, when, and whether information was being withheld. but right now, given the extraordinary challenges that the japanese operators are working under, i do think it s too early to share the blame on that front. we are definitely in
turn to paul carroll. what can you tell us about the explosion? we talked about it earlier and the potential for more radiation being leaked. what can you tell us about it at this point? i can tell you what i have read and it sounds like indicative of the first explosion that everything you said in the prelude makes sense that water, oxygen if some of the fuel rods were exposed to air and are are mixing with water or steam it can produce hydrogen and build up pressure and readily explode. the question is how substantial is the explosion and did it weaken or otherwise compromise the reactor vessel or containment vessel and we just don t know, that is the frightening park. we are in the dark literally and figuratively. and it is possible that the reactor was not affected, correct? absolutely. that is what we would hope would happen that the hydrogen egg motio
uranium core in a nuclear power plant gets super hot it melts the fuel, the steel, this all becomes a super hot puddle and falls to the bottom of the reactor and then can actually melt through the bottom of the reactor vessel and burn through the concrete matt and down into the ground and if it hits water it will explode all this time there is a tremendous amount of radioactive gas coming off in this uncontrolled reaction. geraldo: let me ask dr. bob, bly do we call it the china syndrome? it went down through the floor and would go down through the center of the earthquakeficationally, of course to china. you have two radio active elements your worry about. one is iodine.
uranium core in a nuclear power plant gets super hot it melts the fuel, the steel, this all becomes a super hot puddle and falls to the bottom of the reactor and then can actually melt through the bottom of the reactor vessel and burn through the concrete matt and down into the ground and if it hits water it will explode all this time there is a tremendous amount of radioactive gas coming off in this uncontrolled reaction. geraldo: let me ask dr. bob, bly do we call it the china syndrome? it went down through the floor and would go down through the center of the earthquakeficationally, of course to china. you have two radio active elements your worry about. one is iodine.