That is not a word that anyone likes to hear even if you ARE talking about Charlie Sheen!  The kind of meltdown I am talking about here is the worst possible kind, and that is nuclear.  Apparently there are a several meltdowns or possible meltdowns occurring in Japan as a result of the recent earthquake.

Reports said the Japan nuclear crisis intensified Sunday 3-13-11 as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple reactor meltdowns and more than 170,000 people evacuated the quake-and tsunami-savaged northeastern coast where fears spread over possible radioactive contamination.

Here are some key details I came up with:

*Japan's prime minister says crisis is country's worst since World War II

*Police estimate more than 10,000 people have been killed in one area

*Second nuclear reactor explosion feared

*22 people confirmed to have radiation poisoning following first blast

Adding to the country's woes were concerns over a second nuclear reactor at the Dai-ichi power plant after one of it's reactors exploded.  The word is the blast did NOT damage the containment structure surrounding the reactor.  But still, the threat of widespread radiation exposure and poisoning is very real

Up to 160 people, including 60 elderly patients and medical staff who had been waiting for evacuation in the nearby town of Futabe, and 100 others evacuating by bus, might have been exposed to radiation, said Ryo Miyake, a spokesman from Japan's nuclear agency. The severity of their exposure, or if it had reached dangerous levels, was not clear. They were being taken to hospitals. And I read that at one point on Fraida 3-11-11 at that Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex that for several hours the rate of radioactive discharge was equal to the amount a human can be exposed to in a year!  And this was every hour for several hours!

 By now we have all had a chance to see the images out of Japan of the devestation wrought by this earth quake, by the blizzard of 2011, the BP gulf oil spill, and hurricane Katrina.  

You have to admit that this is an unprecedented time in the history of the world. Is there one place on Earth where you can find peace and quiet, or, are there problems in every corner of the planet?