[jackpirate]

But it could have been much worse, say like Chernobyl, and it wasn't due to good engineering.

[mitchty]

How could it have been like Chernobyl? The Fukushima reactors didn't have graphite moderators.

Totally different reactor technologies, equivocating them is spurious at best.

[tedunangst]

Using a totally different reactor technology strikes me as an example of good engineering.

[Daniel_Newby]

The Chernobyl reactor also had no containment vessel, so the initial core failure blew a cloud of radioactive fire into the air. The Fukushima containment vessel kept most of the crap in one place until it could melt into a cohesive mass.

[tsotha]

You wouldn't get the graphite fly ash that turned Chernobyl from a localized problem into an international headache, so no, it wouldn't have been as bad as Chernobyl. But it could have been much worse than it was.