Thousands evacuate as Fukishima nuclear emergency is declared

[Peter Lemkin]

New pools of water somewhere in the plant are 10,000X above the danger level [not the normal level]!.....it all looks very ominous. I can think of no easy way to fix a cracked containment vessel....one must either dismantle it and bury it [in this case many of them] or, as above, make a special-concrete sarcophagus. Niether is a good solution, but at this point there ARE no good solutions!.....only flavors of bad ones.

Despite rewiring the heavy high-voltage lines back into the plant NONE of the cooling systems have become operational. Reasons are not being given, but one can assume they have been damaged. These are not the kind of item one goes to the nearest hardware center to get a new one...they are specially built and that takes months. The best they can hope for is that some spare parts they need [and will result in a working pump/cooling system] are available somewhere. However, I think it is a sinking ship that they keep trying to steer....it has no where to go....

TOKYO (AP) - A suspected breach in the reactor at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant could mean more serious radioactive contamination, Japanese officials revealed Friday, as the prime minister called the country's ongoing fight to stabilize the plant "very grave and serious."

A somber Prime Minister Naoto Kan sounded a pessimistic note at a briefing hours after nuclear safety officials announced what could be a major setback in the urgent mission to stop the plant from leaking radiation, two weeks after a devastating earthquake and tsunami disabled it.

"The situation today at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant is still very grave and serious. We must remain vigilant," Kan said. "We are not in a position where we can be optimistic. We must treat every development with the utmost care."

The uncertain situation halted work at the nuclear complex, where dozens had been trying feverishly to stop the overheated plant from leaking dangerous radiation. The plant has leaked some low levels of radiation, but a breach could mean a much larger release of contaminants.

The possible breach in Unit 3 might be a crack or a hole in the stainless steel chamber of the reactor core or in the spent fuel pool that's lined with several feet of reinforced concrete. The temperature and pressure inside the core, which holds the fuel rods, remained stable and was far lower than would further melt the core.

Suspicions of a possible breach were raised when two workers waded into water 10,000 times more radioactive than levels normally found in water in or around a reactor and suffered skin burns, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.

Kan apologized to farmers and business owners for the toll the radiation has had on their livelihoods: Several countries have halted some food imports from areas near the plant after milk and produce were found to contain elevated levels of radiation.

He also thanked utility workers, firefighters and military personnel for "risking their lives" to cool the overheated facility.

The alarm Friday comes two weeks to the day since the magnitude-9 quake triggered a tsunami that enveloped cities along the northeastern coast and knocked out the Fukushima reactor's cooling systems.