http://newamericamedia.org/2011/03/japan-tsunami-update-nuclear-power-plant-in-meltdown.phpTOKYO—
A day after Japan’s devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, core meltdown is underway the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant and, at this point, appears to be unstoppable. A mid-afternoon blast on Saturday demolished the structure housing an overheated and leaking reactor, raising the probability of a full-scale nuclear disaster, which could release radiation across the U.S. and even parts of Europe.
Just past noon in Japan, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reported that the radioactive isotopes cesium and iodine had been detected by a monitoring station near the Fukushima plant. The facility has six reactors, three of them operating at the time of the earthquake. Two of these are overheating and Reactor 1 is leaking radioactive particles into the atmosphere.
The presence of these isotopes in air samples is a sure indicator of an uncontrolled chain reaction. Japanese nuclear engineers are explaining that overheated uranium rods seared through their metal casings, triggering the start of nuclear fission.
The regulatory agency's statement contradicts the earlier claim of the plant’s operator, TEPCO, that all uranium rods were intact.The afternoon explosion, which injured four workers, is hampering efforts by emergency workers to pump cold water into the reactor and release steam through safety valves. The internal steam pressure inside the reactor vessel is more than twice the approved level of the original design.
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