March 20, 2011
By Mike Adams
A new explosion rocked the Fukushima No. 2 reactor today, says Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO). That explosion caused new damage to the containment vessel, resulting in a rise in radiation being leaked into the environment (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english20...).
This news of the worsening situation comes on the heels of some good news in the nuclear catastrophe: TEPCO has been able to restore grid power to buildings 5 and 6, which also house enormous quantities of stored fuel. Neither of these buildings was considered the primary threat in the first place, but it is at least a hopeful sign that TEPCO might have a chance at preventing a meltdown (http://www.smh.com.au/world/headway...).
Japanese crews are now working on an attempt to restore the functionality of the pumps that circulate water to cool the fuel rods. Those pumps are reportedly working in buildings 5 and 6, but no one even knows if the pumps are functional in buildings 2, 3 or 4. (They may have been damaged in the explosions that rocked the site.)
To make matters even worse, it appears that the cooling pool in reactor No. 4 has a leak and won't hold water. As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, "The pool at reactor No.4 has the hottest spent fuel and is thought to have either holes in the pool or another leak that is allowing water to run out. It is thus imperative to cool those heat sources first."
Japan's government raises "safe" limit of radiation exposure: Read More
