Well first, the whole deal with the Americans running out to buy iodine pills us just stupid. That only somewhat protects the Thyroid anyway.
The deal with the Nuclear Plants are a different story. At first, I really didn't think it was going to be that bad. Now though, 6 reactors are in distress and two of them they believe have been leaking out of the containment. One of the reactors fuel rods are now exposed fully. A meltdown is gonna happen at this point. One of the US Navy ships have detected radiation 60 miles out in the Pacific and they are also detecting small amounts of radiation in Tokyo which is about 150 miles South. The Japanese Government has tried to downplay this too, but they themselves have made comments to say there is a real threat.