This is the thing about nuclear power. It doesn’t just go away when we’re not looking.
Long story short, fuel rods are waiting to be removed to a slightly safer location. Company doing the removal is probably going bankrupt and the government is probably incompetent. If the rods touch, here comes Zuul. We might not have a Tokyo anymore. And in the meantime, cesium detectors might be a useful addition to sushi bars, especially the good ones that fly in their fish…
If you’re thinking, “hey, what if there’s an earthquake somewhere near where I live and the same thing happens again?”
Good thinking! Here’s a handy map of nuclear plants and earthquake zones:
http://maptd.com/map/earthquake_activity_vs_nuclear_power_plants/
Which makes me think that all those people prepping their little post apocalyptic shelters against evil bandits (after the downfall of civilization, or Obama’s third term) might want to rethink their security plans.
If civilization goes down, so do the people maintaining these nuclear plants. So do the deliveries of fuel to keep the water pumps running. We’d be relying on plants whose fundamental safety plans may be based on the assumption of everything else working just fine.
Personally, I’d be more comfortable with nuclear power if the plants could demonstrate that they’d be the last ones standing (and still generating power) after any number of catastrophes outside.
Otherwise, we might as well draw a map of every nuclear plant in the world being a massive emitter of radiation at once and note the Extinction Level Event we built to power your son’s night light.
Or, you know, we could fix it. We have plenty of time and ample cause for action.