widening nuclear crisis in Japan

This:

“TOKYO — Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were bracing for a second explosion, even as they faced serious cooling problems at four more reactors. An explosion occurred at the Daiichi nuclear power plant in northern Japan after the earthquake. The emergency appeared to be the worst involving a nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago.”

Up to six Chernobyls in Japan as a worst-case scenario.

Nuclear energy had been building up some momentum in recent years as a petroleum alternative. This will probably end such talk for another decade or more.