After Tokyo Electric Power Company reported that they had stopped the leak in Reactor 2’s pit, an NHK helicopter took video of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, showing not only smoke coming from the reactors, but water still pouring into the ocean.
Today, TEPCo admits that plugging the leak in the pit will only cause new leaks to show up. That’s because they don’t know exactly where the leaking water is coming from, or how it made its way to the pit.
NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) interviewed a nuclear analyst who said that Tokyo Electric Power Company’s reactionary actions have actually made the situation with their Fukushima Daiichi plant much worse.
Also, he warned that hydrogen gas build up in the Reactor 1’s core is much much worse that the hydrogen gas build up the resulted in the reactor’s outer buildings to explode. TEPCo is going to try using nitrogen to counteract the hydrogen gas build up.
If a reactor core, or containment vessel, explodes it will result in a constant stream of deadly radiation being spewed into the air.
Tokyo Electric Power Company admitted that they are still detecting plutonium contamination in the dirt around their Fukushima Daiichi facility.
This is the second time they’ve announced such detection. It is an indicator that plutonium is being constantly spewed from the reactors. Plutonium is a byproduct of reactors that use uranium enriched fuel rods.
Besides being radioactive, plutonium is highly toxic (poisonous).
Iitate village in Fukushima Prefecture, announced they will start evacuating pregnant women, thanks to increasing radiation levels.
Iitate is 40km (24.8 miles) from the damaged nuclear power plant, and outside the official danger zone, but local officials say they’ve picked up high radiation readings in their area.
Radiation levels exceed standards set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. So the town, on its own decision with no help from the central government, is going to evacuate pregnant women, children younger than 3 and their guardians. Pregnant women will leave first, by the end of the week. Town officials are still trying to make arraignments, regarding where they will evacuate the people to.
NHK interviewed a nuclear analyst who said a cold shut down of the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi can’t be done.
He explained that the reactors are too unstable, and TEPCo is still having trouble getting electrical power to the control rooms. He also said the situation is so dangerous that officials must keep everyone constantly updated.
On 22 March 2011, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency reported rain water contamination numbers for Idaho. Do you understand them?
The EPA reported 242 pCi/L of I-131. Understand? pCi means Picocuries. I-131 means iodine-131. L means liters. 242 Picocuries per liter of iodine-131. Should you be worried? Yes!
The Federal government set safe levels of iodine-131, in drinking water, at 0.111 Becquerels per liter. Using a Picocurie to Becquerel conversion program I discovered that the March 22 readings worked out to 8.954 Becquerels per liter, more than the government’s safe limits.
The EPA levels were in rain water, but rain water is used for livestock, and ends up in many municipality’s water systems.
Tokyo Electric Power Company saying Reactor 1 showing signs of damaged reactor core. They believe hydrogen gas is building up inside. An explosion is immanent unless the hydrogen gas can be counteracted.
They plan on injecting nitrogen gas into the reactor core tomorrow morning.
So far TEPCo does not have a good track record with any of their attempts to control the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Who better to know when a nuclear situation is real bad, then those who dealt with Chernobyl. Russia, back then part of the now extinct Soviet Union when the Chernobyl disaster happened, says Japan is in trouble.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says the situation at Fukushima Daiichi is showing no signs of improvement. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says the situation is still out of control.
From the very beginning of the nuclear disaster in Japan, Russian nuclear engineers have warned that the type of design used at Fukushima Daiichi (by the way, designed by General Electric) is dangerous if damaged in a natural disaster. Basically it can not be saved.
NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) has run several reports that show local prefectural governments, near the damaged nuclear pant, but outside the 20km (12.4 miles) evacuation zone, are encouraging their residents to evacuate.
Some residents are leaving. Some local governments have even booked hotels for mass evacuations to begin next week. One hotel said they were booked up for two months.
NHK reporting that one of their helicopter news crews took video of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, after Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that they stopped the contaminated water leak from Reactor 2 pit.
Not only does the video show water still pouring into the ocean, but it shows smoke coming from reactors 2, 3 & 4.
An analyst interviewed by NHK said the water still pouring out could be from other leaks not yet discovered.
TEPCo admitted that the smoke might be caused by continued build up of hydrogen gas inside the containment vessels. They are going to try to inject nitrogen into Reactor 1, to prevent an explosion by hydrogen gas. If another explosion happens, this time it will rupture the reactor’s containment vessel.