Do not recommend this diary. Please recommend the Mothership instead.
This is another clearinghouse diary for discussion and commentary about the ongoing nuclear disaster(s) in Japan. Previous diaries can be found listed in the Mothership.
Please be kind to Kossacks with low bandwith and avoid video and photos, but any info and updates, from whatever sources are available to you, are what these diaries are all about. But PLEASE provide links to the original sources!!
Just a little reminder, the format for creating a link is:
<a href="PASTED COPY OF THE URL FROM THE ADDRESS BAR OF YOUR BROWSER WHILE YOU ARE ON THE PAGE"> Name you wish to give to the link in your text (the words that people will be clicking on)</a>
Be sure you include those quote marks!
Visit the Mothership for information on donations, live streams, places to get reliable updates, annnnd...
Much, much more!
[Roll credits]
Steam at Fukushima No. 3 reactor, massive water injection planned
Cooling down the spent fuel pools is a difficult task amid the high radiation level in the area, while fears of radiation among the public appeared to escalate as some companies refused to deliver relief materials to Fukushima Prefecture even outside of the government-designated warning zone.
The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the first priority should be pouring coolant water into the pools at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors, which are apparently boiling. Unless the spent fuel rods are cooled down, they could suffer damage and emit radioactive substances.
If cooling operations do not proceed well, the situation will ''reach a critical stage in a couple of days,'' an agency official said.
...
The U.S. militarywill also operate a Global Hawk unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, possibly on Thursday, to take images of the inside of the building that houses the No. 4 reactor, according to Japanese government sources.
The building housing the No. 4 reactor suffered what appeared to be a hydrogen explosion on Tuesday. A satellite image provided by TEPCO on Wednesday showed the crumbling concrete walls.
...
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Wednesday morning that the smoke from the nuclear plant was identified from about 8:30 a.m. and it was possible that ''steam has been released from the (No. 3) reactor's containment vessel.''
This is my reaction to that last bit (cribbed in part from my own earlier comment in ROV 7):
it was possible that "steam has been released
from the (No. 3) reactor's containment vessel."
Gee, ya think? Look at this shot (far right) down into the reactor building (be sure to hit the little magnifying glass and look at "All sizes" for the much larger original).
You think the Japanese government does not have satellite photo analysts poring over these DigitalGlobe images and others that are NOT being released publicly -- perhaps from US satellites that are said to be able to read license plates from space -- with their magnifying loupes and photo enhancing software?
They know a great deal about what's going on in that photo. They're just trying to slow down the public's accumulation of knowledge about the scope of the disaster. It goes like this:
"MAYBE the reactor vessel is leaking, but we think it's unlikely at the moment."
Then
"A reactor vessel leak might be occuring after all."
Then
"We have unfortunately concluded that there is a leak in the reactor vessel, but it is a small one, and unlikely to become more serious."
Then
"The reactor vessel leak seems to have widened somewhat during the last few hours, but we have every confidence that we can do something about it....as soon as we have a clearer picture about how serious the leak really is."
And so on and so forth.
It's not that they don't already know a great deal more than they are telling us...they just want to let it out slowwwwwly, letting people get used to each upward ratchet of the bad news before going on to the next.
Okay, rant over.
In other news:
Coquiero linked us to the BBC for these two snippets of information, which, Coquiero said, seemed to be evidence of "headbutting."
2035: US officials have concluded that the Japanese warnings have been insufficient, and that, deliberately or not, they have understated the potential threat of what is taking place inside the nuclear facility, according to the New York Times. Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, earlier said he believed that all the water in the spent fuel pool at reactor 4 had boiled dry, leaving fuel rods stored there exposed. "We believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures," he told a Congressional committee.
2046: Japan's foreign ministry has asked foreign diplomats and government officials to remain calm and "accurately convey information provided by Japanese authorities concerning the plant", according to NHK television.
Says Coquiero:
I haven't been able to find where Jaczko is sourcing his information--how can he say this when no one will come out and say it?
Now it looks like Japan is telling him more or less to back off.
Who is right??? Who is telling the truth? Is anyone?
Given these cheerful analyses, See Also:
FishOutOfWater's recommended diary, TEPCO: The possibility of re-criticality is not zero
IN TRANSLATION From Japan
A good news ticker: http://english.kyodonews.jp/...
Live streaming coverage:
NHK Japan Live
Other streaming sources:
Al Jazeera Japan Live
Guardian UK: Updated every minute
France24 Live: France24 Live
Global Voice Online
Crisis Mapping
OpenStreetMap Foundation Japan is using Ushahidi to map crisis information. Volunteers can submit reports through a form or by tweeting location information along with the hashtags #jishin (earthquake), #j_j_helpme (call for help), #hinan (evacuation), #anpi (safety status), or #311care (medical support). The hashtag for people working on the service is #osmjp.
Google Crisis Response Maps(Layers available)
Ushahidi Local Reports Color Coded for Trusted Sources (Japanese/English)
Satellite Imagray
Media Monitoring Japan's Humanity Road
The latest, from Kyodo News:
Tokyo police plan to use a water cannon truck to attempt to cool a spent fuel rod pool Thursday in a bid to contain the disaster at the troubled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station in Japan.
...
The government earlier studied a plan to deploy Ground Self-Defense Force choppers to spray water over the spent fuel pools, but the Defense Ministry said Wednesday afternoon it had given up on the idea due to the high radiation level.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, will operate a Global Hawk unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, possibly on Thursday, to take images of the inside of the building that houses the No. 4 reactor, according to Japanese government sources.
Among the six reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., part of the No. 2 reactor's containment vessel, key to enclosing harmful radioactive substances, suffered damage in the pressure-suppression chamber connected to the vessel following Tuesday's apparent hydrogen explosion.
...
The government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Wednesday that the water level had dropped in the No. 5 reactor, which was not in service when the killer quake jolted northeastern Japan, posing the risk of overheating. The agency said it will closely monitor data on the reactor to prevent the problems that occurred at other reactors.
And now...on to the comments and YOUR news, speculations and analyses!