The situation around the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant is not getting better.  Radiation contamination is spreading, and increasing.

Officials say the radiation levels at the damaged nuclear plant continue to increase, making it more difficult for workers struggling to get the facility under control.  Tokyo Electric Power Company says radiation levels at the nuclear reactor buildings are still to high for humans to approach.

Radiation levels are increasing outside the now mandatory evacuation zones.  The Fukushima state government has issued a warning to people outside the evacuation zones, saying they should limit their time outdoors.  School playgrounds and public parks are being monitored for contamination.  Already five public parks, outside the evac zones, are showing contamination at, or above, the safe limits set by the prefectural government.  Officials are telling residents, and visitors, to limit their time at those parks to no more than one hour per day.

The increasing radiation levels being reported by local governments contradicts the Japanese Prime Minister’s office, which said the risk of radiation leaks is receding.

Tokyo Electric Power Company admits Fukushima Daiichi’s Reactor 1 has a damaged core.

It would explain the high levels of radioactive water coming from the building.  TEPCo thinks the core is breached, allowing radioactive steam to enter the containment vessel.  That’s mixing with the water in the containment vessel, which is also leaking.  To make the problem worse, the fuel rods in the core are still partially exposed, and breaking down.

TEPCo wants to continue injecting water, which they are doing at a rate of 600 tons per hour.  The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is warning that they think Reactor 1 is damaged so much that it can not handle anymore water injection.  If TEPCo is injecting water at 600 tons per hour, and they still can’t cover the exposed fuel rods, obviously the water is leaking out faster than they can put it in.  That suggests sizable damage.

So, TEPCo is dealing with a conundrum; adding more water could further damage the structure, making things worse, but not injecting water will expose more fuel rods, making things worse.

Tokyo Electric Power Company is worried about Reactor 4, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant.  They think the spent fuel pool has been too damaged by the 9.0 quake, and the many aftershocks, that they can’t inject anymore water to keep fuel rods cool.

On 22 April, the temperature shot up 50 degrees Celsius, above normal, and 200 tons of water had to be injected.  TEPCo is now monitoring the structure of the building as well as the spent fuel pool temps.  The spent fuel pool holds more than 1,000 fuel rods, including active rods that had just been removed from Reactor 4, for scheduled maintenance, before the 11 March disasters.

Japan has gone through a lot in the past month.  But typhoon season is on it’s way.  Nishiyama Hidehiko, of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said nuke plant operators are now preparing for typhoon season.

They believe preparations will be complete by the end of the month.  Officials say the nuke plants are designed to withstand a typhoon, but isn’t that what they said about earthquakes and tsunamis?

Another factor is that some of those nuclear plants have been damaged by the 11 March, 9.0 quake and tsunami.  Wouldn’t that comprise their strength?  Even this morning, 22 April, Fukushima Daiichi was hit by yet another aftershock, 5.6 magnitude.

Fukushima Daiichi is right on the coast, and Tokyo Electric doesn’t think they can get the plant stabilized enough for a cold shut down for at least six to nine months. The Typhoon season is here, now.  Typhoons start hitting Japan as early as May, and the season peaks in September.

The prefectural government of Fukushima said no to allowing Tokyo Electric Power Company to resume any nuke plant operations.  ”A resumption of plant operations must be impossible.”-Sato Yuhei, Fukushima Governor

Governor Sato made the statement after a 15 minute meeting with TEPCo president Shimizu Masataka.  TEPCo had tried to meet with the state government of Fukushima twice before, and was unofficially told to take a hike both times.  This time Fukushima officials made it official.  They told TEPCo there is no way they will allow them to resume any nuclear power functions at the damaged Fukusima Daiichi plant.