NHK is reporting that Fukushima plant 1 (Daiichi), reactor 4, is on fire for a second time. NHK is also reporting that currently no flames are visible.

Late last night/early this morning officials said the fire burned itself out.

Plant officials are saying they can not fight the fire because of the high levels of radiation. They are asking for firefighting help from the government.

There is a growing number of nuclear experts, around the world, that are becoming extremely concerned over the fact that spent fuel rods are exposed and/or burning.

Earlier today NHK reported that reactor 4 has 783 spent rods stored in a “pool” above the reactor.  Spent rods are still highly radioactive.  It has also been admitted that the survivability of the spent fuel rod pools, in event of natural disaster, was never taken into account.

An official interviewed by NHK admitted that they don’t really know what is going on.  This makes sense because there is a skeleton crew at the plant (which probably have been exposed to deadly levels of radiation), and the “officials” are not at the plant.  Most employees evacuated the plant after the earthquake.

Officials now saying that reactor 4 spent fuel rod fire, burned itself out.  The temperatures had risen to twice the limit. This, along with possible hydrogen explosion, caused the 783 spent fuel rods to catch fire.

Officials admit the spent fuel rod storage areas are not equipped with any type of “back up” systems to prevent overheating and fire caused by natural disaster.  The design of the nuclear plant has the spent fuel rods stored above the reactors. Workers at Fukushima plant 1 (Daiichi) are now focusing on reducing spent fuel rods from overheating. There is now concern with the Spent Fuel Rod storage above reactors 5 & 6, their temperatures are rising.  Officials say they have begun flooding the storage areas with sea water.  Reactors 5 & 6 were down for maintenance when the quake/tsunami hit.

Atsushi Takeda, an official with Japan’s Nuclear Safety Research Association, says that most of the back up systems did not work properly.  The primary concerns are to keep reactors from overheating.  Takeda believes most of the problems with the Fukushima plant happened after the tsunami, not because of the magnitude 9 quake.

Reuters is reporting that the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) has been told that a spent fuel rod pound is on fire.  Spent fuel rods are still highly radioactive, and the pools contain years worth of rods.

At the Fukushima plant 1, the spent fuel pools are on top of reactors. The problem is that reactors 1 & 3 exploded, literally blowing their tops. So where did the spent fuel rods that were on top of the buildings go?

Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer at Fairewinds Associates, said a spent fuel rod fire “…would be like Chernobyl on steroids.” Gundersen is also a member of the public oversight panel for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

Fukushima plant 1 might have as many as 7 spent fuel pools, with 20 years worth of rods.

Gundersen pointed out that the design of the Fukushima nuclear reactors are based on a General Electric plan, and that plan put the spent fuel rod pools on above of the reactors.  Can you say “dumb & dumber”?  What’s GE’s slogan, “We bring good things to life”?  Yeah buddy!

NHK reporting that reactor 2, Fukushima plant 1, exploded when workers tried to open closed valves.  Plant officials say highly possible that fuel rods are melting.

RT reporting that the fire in reactor 4 was a result of an explosion.  Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano says probably caused by hydrogen gas build up.

More reasons for confusing radiation level reporting.  Officials are giving readings for each reactor, not for the whole plant.  The problem is that there are 6 reactors at Fukushima plant 1.  4 reactors are now spewing radiation.

Radiation levels from just one reactor has reached levels that cause immediate and noticeable damage to humans. There are reports of people showing signs of radiation sickness.

Prefectures more than 240km from Fukushima plant 1, have reported increases in radiation readings.

Nuclear plant officials say they were successful in replacing pump motors on other reactors, which is resulting in dropping temperatures.