Fukushima: Radiation As Great As 13,000 Hiroshima Bombs Threatens Japan, US, Europe

That's right. If the remaining spent-fuel rods in the pool at Reactor #4 in Fukushima, currently suspended 100' in the air, are not lowered and cooled, or if there's an accident during the lowering and cooling, the zirconium cladding on the rods could spontaneously combust (remember the flashcubes your old camera used 40-50 years ago? those burned zirconium to create the flash), the radioactive fuel rods themselves could ignite and send clouds of radioactive smoke drifting across the entire Northern Hemisphere, carrying the radiation equivalent of 13,000 Hiroshima bombs and killing millions of people on three continents. Please read this post at FDL, and view the video by Harvey Wasserman above, for more information.

TEPCO, the Japanese power company which ran Fukushima when it was in use, as well as the Japanese government, has every reason to downplay the danger, and has shown no sign of having the technological capacity to perform the needed lowering and cooling of the rods, nor does Japan have the money it will cost. In light of the danger to the lives and/or health of literally more than half of humankind, an organization called nukefree.com is advocating that the US assume the technological challenge and the UN assume the financial burden. This org has floated a petition to that effect. It is hosted at MoveOn, but if you visit nukefree.com, you will see a direct link to the petition. Frankly, it's about all you can do. I've done it, and I hope you will too.

UPDATE a few minutes later: Here is a Guardian article about evidence of possible radiation poisoning symptoms— migraines, breathing problems, cancer— in Malibu High School. Californians, keep your eyes on the news.