This crap pisses me off - they are still not telling us about embrittlement.
Obviously that is what happened here and most likely will happen to the other reactors.
This is total FUBAR.
Old saying in the nuclear industry, nothing you can do but bend over and kiss your ass goodbye.
TOKYO, March 16, Kyodo
The containment vessel of the quake-hit No. 3 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant may have been damaged, Japan's top government spokesman said Wednesday, indicating that radioactive steam may be spreading outside.
The government's nuclear safety agency said the radiation level briefly reached 10 millisievert per hour at the plant's entrance at 10:40 a.m., but added that it was possibly due to radioactive substances emitted from the No. 2 reactor, as the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. continued to scramble to address the ongoing nuclear crisis in the wake of Friday's devastating earthquake that hit Japan centering on its northeastern region.
The utility firm is also considering spraying boric acid by helicopter to prevent spent nuclear fuel rods at another troubled reactor, No. 4, from reaching criticality again, restarting a chain reaction.
Earlier Wednesday, a fire broke out again at the No. 4 reactor, which was already posing the risk of leaks of high-level radioactive materials, but flames were no longer visible about 30 minutes later, according to TEPCO.
The No. 3 reactor started to draw more attention after live TV footage of the plant showed white smoke coming out around 10 a.m.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a press conference that the smoke has been recognized from around 8:30 a.m. and said, ''There is a possibility that the No. 3 reactor's containment vessel is damaged.''
Edano, however, said that the government has no plans to expand the evacuation area of within 20 kilometers from the plant for now.
As for the No. 4 reactor, the utility said Tuesday that water in a pool storing the spent fuel rods may be boiling and that its level may have dropped, exposing the rods. The government ordered the firm to inject water into the pool ''as soon as possible to avert a major nuclear disaster.''
Due to high radiation levels at the reactor, workers have been unable to pour water into the troubled pool. Difficult conditions have led the utility to evacuate around 730 of the 800 workers from the site, according to TEPCO.
''The possibility of re-criticality is not zero,'' TEPCO said Wednesday as it announced the envisaged step to put the No. 4 reactor under control.
Unless the spent fuel rods are cooled down, they could suffer damage and emit radioactive substances.
An estimated 70 percent of the nuclear fuel rods have been damaged at the plant's No. 1 reactor and 33 percent at the No. 2 reactor, the firm also said. The cores of both reactors are believed to have partially melted with their cooling functions lost in the wake of Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.
At the No. 2 reactor, the pressure-suppression chamber connected to its containment vessel was damaged following an apparent hydrogen explosion early Tuesday.
An apparent hydrogen blast also occurred Tuesday morning at the No. 4 reactor, before a worker at the plant saw flames around 5:45 a.m. Wednesday on the fourth floor of the building housing the reactor, believed to be the same spot with the blast that caused a fire the day before. The reactor had been halted for regular checks from before the quake.
==Kyodo
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