[Errant]

When Chernobyl melted down... did they evacuate all of Europe...

Chernobyl didn't have nearly the amount of fissionable material that exists at Fukushima. The size of any area of evacuation will depend on the amount of material released and direction of the wind.

[Popman]

Chernobyl didn't have nearly the amount of fissionable material that exists at Fukushima

I know...Fukushima is a much large "potential" problem than Chernobyl

Japan is 5,500 miles from California....I seriously doubt enough radiation will blow across in high enough concentrations to warrant an west coast evacuation...

But buy stock in iodine pills../S

[chimera]

Chernobyl didn't have nearly the amount of fissionable material that exists at Fukushima.

Fissionable material is of no concern. It takes high energy neutrons to induce fission in fissionable material, and you could probably count on one finger the fast neutron flux present in a SFP. Thermal neutron fission is induced in fissile nuclei.