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While many experts continue to reassure us that the critical core containment structures involved in the Fukushima Dai-Ichi complex are not breached, the latest pronouncements from NISA don't make me feel any better. From The Guardian:
"On Monday evening, Ryohei Shiomi, an official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), said reactors 1 and 3 appeared stable for the time being, but that reactor two, where fuel rods were most exposed, was still a concern. "Unit 2 now requires all our effort and attention," he said.
The day began with an orange flash and a violent blast that destroyed most of the containment building around reactor 3, with debris falling back inside and onto the structure housing the reactor. The blast was caused by a buildup of hydrogen that was produced when superheated steam in the core reacted with the zirconium alloy cladding that surrounds the reactor's fuel rods.
Tepco said 11 people were injured in the accident, one seriously. A similar explosion blew the top off the reactor 1 building on Saturday morning.
Despite earlier assurances from Tepco that the steel containment vessels surrounding the reactors were undamaged in both explosions, Naoki Kumagai, a Nisa official, said "It's impossible to say whether there has or has not been damage."
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