My condolences to the people of Japan. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
On March 11, Japan had a very large earthquake hit it. The resulting tsunami damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant.
As a result, 3 of the six reactors were damaged, and the other 3 reactors were already shutdown for maintenance.
Of the 3 damaged reactors, 2 of them suffered nuclear meltdown, which caused a few explosions and released radioactive material into the air.
Fallout of this material is now circulating in the atmosphere.
According to a graphic simulation of the fallout from the reaction, all that fallout is going to end up dispersed as follows. The Aleutian Islands in America and the Kuril Islands of Russia will be getting more exposure to radiation than western North America.
Judging from the graphics, very few of the fallout will reach Vancouver. So we may get a slight amount of radiation exposure, but not enough to harm us immediately.
It'll take up to 20 years to see how the results of this accident play out.
However, California and Mexico may be exposed to very slightly higher levels of radiation. Still not enough to harm anyone immediately.
Again, much concern for the people of Japan.
Reference:
Fallout graphic of Fukushima nuclear reactor accident: http://aeronomie.be/multimedia/video/daiichi3-washout_bira-iasb_animated.gif
Fukushima 1 Nuclear Accidents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents
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