Oh, thank goodness!

STORY

A bunch of jellyfish clogged part of the salt water cooling system used by a Japanese nuclear reactor. This lowered the efficiency of the system designed to remove waste heat. As a result, the plant reduced capacity by 30% or so until the jellys could be removed. Power production was restored to full later in the evening.

It's sort of a non-story, except for the fact that there's something humorous about jellyfish, I guess. But what caught my attention is a quote from the site spokesperson.

"No radioactive material leaked out due to the incident."

Gosh, I hope not! I guess when you work at a nuclear plant, you have to be sure to let everyone know everytime something goes wrong what their ACTUAL risk of radiation poisoning was.

"Birds flew past the site today. Because the steam from the cooling tower may have obscured their vision, we reduced operating capactity briefly. No radiation was released."

Perhaps some people would believe an absence of a radiation report might indicate a serious problem. "They didn't say ANYTHING about radiation levels? Quick! Into the yellow suits."