Live press conference; official indicating more explosions possible, because they said they are working to “…prevent further explosions”.
Reporters asking for officials to clarify radiation level reporting, because they use different terminology each time in regards to levels officially reported.
Officials now saying get inside, try to get inside concrete buildings. Telling people to “dust off” themselves before going inside.
At a press conference going on live as I write this, officials admit that they are detecting neutrons in leaking radiation.
Japanese government officials say Fukushima plant 1, reactor 4 is on fire. A hole has been found in reactor 2, which was earlier reported that a loud bang, or explosion sound, heard from inside.
Reactor 4 was being shut down at time of the quake/tsunami. Exposed rods were spent, but are still radioactive. Overheating might have caused fire that is currently burning inside the reactor.
Hole in reactor 2 might have been a result of the explosion sound heard from inside reactor. They speculate there was a hydrogen explosion.
Prime Minister has expanded evacuation area, to 30km. Japanese asked to stay inside, doors and windows shut, asked not to use air conditioning or any ventilation system. Japanese government holding emergency meeting to figure out what to to.
Japanese reporters are asking for clarity, because officials seem to be down playing situation, on one hand saying not to worry, but on the other telling everyone to stay inside. The implication from Japanese reporters is that officials are not telling truth about damage at nuclear reactors. Officials also say people should stay inside, but, if they can leave to leave. Reporters pointing out that other sources for radiation readings say radiation readings are “quite high”. Officials are talking around radiation readings. Officials now saying that high radiation readings coming from reactor 4, which is on fire.
“It looks like the situation is creeping towards a radiological disaster,” said John Large, a nuclear consultant. He also says that he believes Japan will experience a worst case scenario. Partly due to officials not being honest about the situation.
Another problem is that the weekly weather forecast is predicting the winds will shift southward, which would blow radiation clouds onto Japan. Currently the winds are blowing eastward.
Retail pharmacies in Japan report they have run out of anti-radiation Iodide pills.
Richard Thornburgh, who was Governor of Pennsylvania during the Three Mile Island incident, says “You can’t assure against every kind of natural disaster.” He also admitted that officials are helpless in the face of natural disasters.
“The immediate action was to get out of the area,” said USN Commander Jeff Davis. This was part of the explanation of why U.S. ships were moved away from Japan.
In just a few minutes 17 personnel were exposed to a months worth of radiation, even though the helicopters they were in were 60 miles away from the Fukushima nuclear plants. The radiation clouds are moving eastward, away from Japan, which could explain why radiation levels being taking onshore in Japan look low.
Gregory Jaczko, of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, claims there is little threat of radiation spreading to U.S. territories.
If anyone is keeping track of statements made by government officials in the past few years, the track record shows their statements can not, and should not, be trusted.
NHK confirmed that Japan has asked for international help in averting a major nuclear catastrophe. They need help cooling the reactors.
It’s interesting that most nuclear “experts” being interviewed around the world keep saying this could not turn into another Chernobyl. It sure looks like it’s possible to me.
Officials are reporting that a loud bang was heard from inside reactor 2, at Fukushima nuclear plant 1.
It is believed that it is the “Separation Chamber” cracking (some reports call it “Suppression Pool”, some called it the “Pressure Suppression Room”). Workers at the plant have been moved to “safer” positions, workers not directly involved with cooling efforts have been evacuated. An official said this chamber is a last line of defense for preventing higher levels of radiation leaking. He also said this could be the worst case scenario taking place.
It was explained that if the separation chamber is breached then contaminated coolant/water with higher levels of radiation can leak out. The chamber may have cracked due to the intense heat from the exposed fuel rods. The fuel rods had been fully exposed, more than once. Workers have been having trouble maintaining levels of coolant, even with pumping in sea water. Officials claim that the water levels have been brought back up, but at least 2 meters of the rods are still exposed.
Officials keep saying that radiation readings are safe, there in Japan. They fail to point out that the winds have been blowing the radiation clouds over the Pacific, towards Hawaii. If the winds shift, and blow the radiation towards Japan, then the radiation levels there would increase greatly. The U.S. Navy has moved their ships further away from Japan after several aircrews, on helicopters, were exposed to radiation.
NBC news reported that the reason the back up generators failed is because the fuel tanks were above ground tanks, and were swept away by the tsunami.
NHK reporting that reactor 2, at Fukushima plant 1, is no longer venting and attempts at cooling have failed. The reactor’s vents closed automatically and can not be opened. Sprayers spraying water on the rods stopped working.
U.S. Navy says U.S. helicopters were hit by radioactive plume while flying over coast line of disaster area. 17 service members tested positive for radiation contamination. The U.S. Navy is now moving their ships further away from Japan. At the time the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was 160km (100 miles) away.
Reuters is reporting that Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor, has suspended an agreement that was meant to delay the closing of Germany’s older nuclear plants.
Merkel points to the nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan as the reason. She has decided that Germany’s old nuclear plants need to be shut down, by their originally planned closure dates. Another German official suggests that the events in Japan may result in all nuclear power plants, in Germany, being shut down.
NHK is presenting an official ‘explainer’ of why the nuclear safety and backup systems failed. I’ll try to put it simply.
1: Earthquake triggered automatic shut down procedures, which involves raising/exposing fuel rods. This still requires cooling of the rods.
2: Cooling of raised rods failed because main power supply cut. Back up generators came on, but failed when tsunami hit the plants. They could not be restarted.
3: A third backup cooling system failed. This is a steam reclamation system that collects steam off the hot rods, condenses it to water, then sprays the water on the rods. It failed because coolant levels dropped too much for steam to be created. Officials say coolant levels might have leaked due to structural damage caused by the quake and tsunami. They can not be sure what happened to the coolant, until they can inspect the structures.
The failed safety & back up systems are causing the raised fuel rods to partially melt down. The report suggests that all the reactors along the coast line hit by the quake/tsunami are in partial melt down. An official now says they obviously didn’t expect such a powerful natural disaster when they planned the safety/back up systems. In Fukushima Prefecture alone, one of the hardest hit areas, there are 10 reactors.
There are a total of 55 plants, with anywhere between 2 and 6 reactors each, in Japan. There are 2 plants under construction, with another 11 planned. In the United States there are at least 104 commercial nuclear plants. Most of the plants are east of the Rocky Mountains, in highly populated areas.
The failure of all these systems, in Japan, will give anti-nuclear activists plenty of ammo for the demand to end the use of nuclear power plants.