This is an alarming report from the former editor of the Japan Times –

This is a particularly good report and it reports the various arguments as to whether or not radioactivity will reach the United States.

America on nuclear alert: Could fallout from Japan explosion reach U.S. West Coast?

Officials revealed fuel rods are melting inside three damaged reactors at the Fukushima plant, triggering fears of a serious radiation leak.

Scientists in the U.S. warned today of a ‘worst-case scenario’ in which the highly radioactive material could be blasted into the atmosphere and blown towards the West Coast of America.

They said it could be picked up by powerful 30,000ft winds, carrying the debris across the Pacific and hitting America within four days.

From the New York Times – Obviously, the longer the leakage of radioactive material last, the more danger.

Radioactive Releases in Japan Could Last Months, Experts Say

More steam releases also mean that the plume headed across the Pacific could continue to grow. On Sunday evening, the White House sought to tamp down concerns, saying that modeling done by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had concluded that “Hawaii, Alaska, the U.S. Territories and the U.S. West Coast are not expected to experience any harmful levels of radioactivity.”

But all weekend, after a series of intense interchanges between Tokyo and Washington and the arrival of the first American nuclear experts in Japan, officials said they were beginning to get a clearer picture of what went wrong over the past three days. And as one senior official put it, “under the best scenarios, this isn’t going to end anytime soon.”

This is from the Daily Kos. I don’t think we are at a point of such certainty but I think a close monitoring of the situations is wise.

When the Radiation from Fukushima Reaches the US

I am sorry to have to report this, but it is clear that the efforts to contain radiation from multiple nuclear power plants melting down in Japan is failing and that the radiation entering our atmosphere is in all likelihood going to arrive in the United States in a matter of days or weeks. When Chernoby had its explosion and meltdown nearly a quarter century ago, the radiation reached the United States after it blew across the Pacific Ocean and came down across North America in the rain. The Nuclear Industry will obfuscate and lie and cover up as it has done for more than a half century, but the reality is that we need to be prepared for the fact that no matter what anyone does now, the nuclear genie is out of the bottle and the price will be high. Yet there are some steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones if the very worst happens.