The Japanese reaction to this disaster is impressing the world and raising the bar for my judgement of disaster behavior. (Your reaction impresses me, too.) There is nothing but tremendous awed respect for everyone there.
I have not studied nuclear reactors since I was in school, but my friend is a French nuclear engineer and he said that the reactors are so old it is probably as much as most people know. The Japanese government doesn't appear to be telling people anything he does not believe, either. According to him, (and he is getting his news in France), the authorities are giving the right advice to people. The closer people are to the plant, the more precautions there are. The prevailing wind is blowing out to sea, which is good.
The plant workers are there now are real heroes, fighting fires and making pumps work. All the reactors are in cold-shutdown, and from what we know they are damaged but under control. The only question is when the military will encase the plant in concrete and boron to contain the reaction permanently.
*Hugs* keep it togther. Remember, the world wants to help. We all remember all the help Japan gave everyone when there were disasters in Mexico and Haiti.