Here is current status of the 6 Fukushima reactors.

[dixiegrrrrl]

Reactor 1:Seawater cooling in place

Rector 2: Potential meltdown feared

Reactor 3:Explosion, radiation leak

Rector 4:Fire in spent fuel pool ( this is very bad news)

Reactor 5:Heat rising in spent fuel pool

Reactor 6:Heat rising in spent fuel pool

Here is source of above, with frequent updates:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/15/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-japan

Here is USA radiation map ( in real time, you have to refresh to update)
http://www.radiationnetwork.com/

Pls. rec/kick if this is helpful

[tekisui]

1. knr. They are running out of effective cooling options. Helicopters, now.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. the situation had "worsened considerably" and that "it may unfortunately reach a level 7 event".

Meanwhile, the US-based Institute for Science and International Security said the situation had "worsened
considerably" and that "it may unfortunately reach a level 7 event".

from updated Al Jazeera live blog.
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/asia/japans-nuclear-emergency-live-blog

[Poll_Blind]

2. "This page will update automatically every minute: On" (be sure it's set ON)

PB

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Good point, thanks.

[girl gone mad]

3. k & r

[Peace Patriot]

6. K&R! Very helpful! nt

[Jacobin]

7. Thank you for the link

Among the understandable hysteria and panic, its good to find a source for hard data.

I can't imagine being in the area where the cause of possible death or injury can't be seen, felt or smelled. Much worse than a tsunami or earthquake. At least you can see and hear and feel what is happening in those catastrophes.

[Hannah Bell]

8. currently there is an explosion at #3? not seeing that in the news.

[Peace Patriot]

11. What's your source for an explosion in #3?

That's the one that had an explosion on (was it?) Sunday--very bad explosion (worse than No. 1 on Saturday) that ripped the roof of the outer containment structure off and seemed to melt parts of it. There were two more explosions since then, but I haven't heard they were in No. 3.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. Source is at the link.

If you google news of today, you will find many many articles of the new explosion.
Part of the confusion in keeping up with all this is that there have been 2 or more explosions over the past 3 days
at the same plant.
Japn tv just this minute recaps news that there was an explosion at #4 around 5:30 am their time ( they are one day ahead of us)

[Hannah Bell]

16. i haven't either. i am looking at the source noted in the op. i believe

also they're talking about the earlier explosion, not any new explosion, in no. 3.

so i am questioning that the link shows "current" status.

[pokerfan]

32. I'll just link the wiki as it links its own sources

Explosion of reactor 3 building

At 12:33 JST on 13 March 2011, the chief spokesman of the Japanese government, Yukio Edano said that hydrogen was building up inside the outer building of unit 3 just as it had in unit 1, threatening the same kind of explosion.<118> At 11:15 JST on 14 March 2011, the envisaged explosion of the building surrounding Reactor 3 of Fukushima 1 occurred, due to the ignition of built up hydrogen gas.<119><120> It was reported that as with unit 1, the top section of the reactor building was blown apart, but the inner containment vessel was not breached. The explosion was larger than that in unit 1 and felt 25 miles away. Pressure readings within the reactor remained steady at around 380 kPa at 11:13 and 360 kPa at 11:55 compared to nominal levels of 400 kPa and a maximum recorded of 840 kPa. Water injection continued. Radiation rates of 0.05 mSv/h (5 mrem/hr) were recorded in the service hall and of 0.02 mSv/h (2 mrem/hr) at the plant entrance.<121> Eleven people were reported injured in the blast.<122><123>

On the morning of 15 March 2011 (JST), Secretary Edano announced that according to the TEPCO, at reactor unit 3, radiation of an equivalent dose rate of 400 mSv/hr (40000 mrem/hr) was detected.<124><125>

Around 10:00 JST, 16 March, NHK helicopters flying 30 km away videotaped white smoke rising from the Fukushima I facility. Officials suggested that the reactor 3 building was the most likely source, and said that its containment systems may have been breached.<126>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_I_nuclear_accidents#Explosion_of_reactor_3_building

[Peace Patriot]

19. Hannah Bell, I'm about half way reading down the link and I think there were TWO explosions in No.2,

and none at No. 3. The two explosions referred to were both at plant no. 2, blowing a hole in its side. Your confusion might have come from, a bit further down in the article, where they say that radiation levels were high near No. 3. Plant Nos. 2 and 3 are very close together and there may be only one radiation monitoring station between them (or only one that is working). Either that, or he meant to say No. 2. (But I do think I saw this confusion earlier today, that the radiation peak was monitored near No. 3 but was caused by the explosions and spent fuel exposure in No. 2.)

No. 3 is a worry because its fuel contains plutonium (most toxic of the substances being released or that could be released). So I wanted to be sure there wasn't another explosion there.

[Hannah Bell]

30. here's what kyodo, the japanese wire service, has as the status of the reactors as of 3/16

It's more or less a timeline of main incidents at each plant.

According to which there have been one explosion at #1 & 3, 1 possible at #4, none at #2.

I agree, the longer it goes on the more confusing it gets.

I


Status of quake-stricken reactors at Fukushima nuclear power plants
TOKYO, March 16, Kyodo

The following is the known status as of Wednesday afternoon of each of the six reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and the four reactors at the Fukushima No. 2 plant, both in Fukushima Prefecture, which were crippled by Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.

Fukushima No. 1 plant

-- Reactor No. 1 - Cooling failure, partial melting of core, vapor vented, building damaged Saturday by hydrogen explosion, seawater being pumped in.

-- Reactor No. 2 - Cooling failure, seawater being pumped in, fuel rods fully exposed temporarily, vapor vented, building damaged Monday by blast at Reactor No. 3, damage to containment vessel on Tuesday, potential meltdown feared.

-- Reactor No. 3 - Cooling failure, partial melting of core feared, vapor vented, seawater being pumped in, building damaged Monday by hydrogen explosion, high-level radiation measured nearby on Tuesday, plume of smoke observed Wednesday, damage to containment vessel likely.

-- Reactor No. 4 - Under maintenance when quake struck, fire Tuesday possibly caused by hydrogen explosion at pool holding spent fuel rods, pool water level not observed, fire observed Wednesday at building housing reactor, no water poured in to cool pool.

-- Reactor No. 5, No. 6 - Under maintenance when quake struck, temperature slightly rising in spent fuel pool.


Fukushima No. 2 plant

-- Reactor No. 1, No. 2, No. 4 - Cooling failure, then cold shutdown.

-- Reactor No. 3 - Cold shutdown.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/78524.html

[Renew Deal]

9. How did the pool in Reactor 4 catch fire?

Is there water? What's burning? Has it completely melted? :wtf:

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. When the water covering the spent fuel rods overheats and steams off,

the uncovered fuel rods overheat and catch fire.
They have been trying to keep the pools covered with water, but as the rods heat up, the water boils off, then the fire happens.

[Peace Patriot]

18. The Reactor #4 fire was in the "spent fuel pool." This reactor was shut down and

not thought to be a problem (I believe). But obviously the "spent fuel" rods were not getting enough cooling water. They catch fire and burn if they are not sufficiently cooled. I'm thinking possibly human error or malfunctioning gauges or water pumping system? I heard that the fire had been put out, then heard it had started up again. This is VERY dangerous. The "spent fuel" rods are cumulatively "hotter" than the core and have no containment vessel around them. They sit in big tubs of water not just on site but IN the same structure as the core (possibly a cost-saving on water pumping systems?). Thus, if they catch fire, they can spew their radioactive material right into the atmosphere. I've read they should be encased in impenetrable concrete/steel casements, not sitting there in the core containment building, posing fire danger.

Plant nos. 1 and 3 both lost their outer containment structure roofs to explosions and a third has a crack in the roof. Worst case scenario is a "spent fuel" fire spreads to the No. 4 core and to the other nuke plants (very nearby--all clustered together), one with a damaged core (No. 2) and two with partial meltdowns occurring (Nos. 1 and 3), and all with yet more "spent fuel" rods. Then all the radioactive material at the site could get spewed into the air to wherever the wind blows it.

[StarryNite]

10. But it's okay

because CNN says Radiation is safe!

[Whisp]

12. thanks for the summary. awful awful news

but at least you aren't joking about it and clapping your hands in glee at the possible devastation about to occur. rosecoloured glasses was being pictured here like it was a cutsey thing. I am looking up a muzzle for that particular attitude.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. I spent many years as a mandated first responder. No glee in loss of life possible.

Now I spend time worrying about all my family and friends on the West Coast every time there is danger.

[Jersey Devil]

14. NHK says #4 has an 8 meter hole in the roof

I hope they meant the length and not the width

[RainDog]

20. k&r

thanks

[jannyk]

21. CNIC Status as of 4am PST - for comparison

#1 ok - not good but ok.

#3 ok - same as above

#5 all quiet so far

#6 same as #5

#2 Volatile and dangerous. Not imminent, but could cause damage to 1 & 3

#4 Two holes in concrete casing. Each hole 8m x 8m (64 sq m each - huge) Fire, suspected to be from Hydrogen build up earlier today - now extinguished.
Suspect 'Sloshing' (yes he used that term) from earthquake/aftershocks, and/or all pumps/water/attention being directed to 1,2 & 3 and spent fuel pools being left to fend for themselves as they appeared totally stable. Fire/explosion at this reactor was a big surprise.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. Thank you for that.

"big surprise", eh?

[readmoreoften]

23. The situation has changed considerably since then.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/15/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-japan

[jannyk]

24. I know. That's why it says it's today's earlier report 'For Comparison' nt

[jannyk]

25. BBC: Employee carrying batteries discovered fire @ #4

#
2314: A spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has said: "At around 0545 today, our employee carrying batteries to the control room discovered smoke billowing from the building of reactor 4 ."

[Thunderstruck]

26. Oh damn.. =(

[MilesColtrane]

27. NBC News talking head expert said that there are probably...

a couple of cores worth of spent fuel rods in the cooling pool at #4.

Very,very bad if they can't put that fire out.

:(

[jannyk]

28. TEPco says 70% rods damaged inside #1. 33% in #2

#
2334: Meanwhile the Tokyo Electric Power Company has said an estimated 70% of the nuclear fuel rods inside reactor 1 at Fukushima Daiichi have been damaged, along with 33% of the rods inside reactor 2, the Kyodo news agency reports. The reactors' cores are believed to have melted partially when their cooling systems malfunctioned.

#
2327: Minoru Ogoda, a spokesman for the Japanese nuclear safety agency, tells AFP: "We have received information from that the fire and smoke is now invisible and it appears to have gone out of its own accord." An explosion on Tuesday morning damaged reactor 4's building and sparked a fire in its spent fuel storage pond. The reactor had been shut down before Friday's earthquake for maintenance, but its spent nuclear fuel rods were stored on the site.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[nilram]

29. which is the one that has some amount of plutonium?

[pokerfan]

31. Unit 3

Obviously the MOX fuel doesn't make things any better but this post from Union of Concerned Scientists (hardly pro-nuke shills) puts it into proper perspective:

One particular concern with Unit 3 is the presence of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel in the core. MOX is a mixture of plutonium and uranium oxides. In September 2010, 32 fuel assemblies containing MOX fuel were loaded into this reactor. This is about 6% of the core.

I have done considerable analysis on the safety risks associated with using MOX fuel in light-water reactors. The use of MOX generally increases the consequences of severe accidents in which large amounts of radioactive gas and aerosol are released compared to the same accident in a reactor using non-MOX fuel, because MOX fuel contains greater amounts of plutonium and other actinides, such as americium and curium, which have high radio-toxicities.

Because of this, the number of latent cancer fatalities resulting from an accident could increase by as much as a factor of five for a full core of MOX fuel compared to the same accident with no MOX. Fortunately, as noted above, the fraction of the fuel in this reactor that is MOX is small. Even so, I would estimate this could cause a roughly 10% increase in latent cancer fatalities if there were a severe accident with core melt and containment breach, which has not happened at this point and hopefully will not.

http://allthingsnuclear.org/post/3842650618/sunday-update-on-fukushima-reactors

[John X Navy]

33. Plutonium

nilram,
Pu-239 occurs when U-238 absorbs a neutron of the proper
energy. Since there is a small amount of U-235 in all
uranium-fueled reactors, and since neutron speed is moderated
by water and other agents,
there is a high probability of a small amount of Pu-239 being
present in any U-235 reactor as waste.
A breeder reactor is used to purpose-make Pu-239 by layering
highly enriched U-238 on a reactor that produces a neutron
flux in the proper energy range to change U-238 to Pu-239. The
chain is like this:
U-238 absorbs a neutron and becomes U-239. That isotope decays
by beta emission changing a neutron to a proton and changing
92-U-239 to 93-Np-239. Neptunium also decays by a beta
emission changing a neutron to a proton and changing 93-Np-239
to 94-Pu-239. Mass production of Plutonium is done in breeder
reactors of various types. There's not enough Pu in spent
U-235 reactor fuel elements to make it worthwhile to extract.
Of course, I did not consider tha MOX elements which alter the
isotope mix away from U-235.