Analysis by Nuclear Science and Engineering Department at MIT and from a small business owner in Japan.
Favorite line: “somebody gets a cleanup bill with a whole lot of zeroes in it.”
Things are much worse than that MIT blog post makes out.
There are now fears that an explosion (#3, for those who are keeping track) may have breached the containment vessel of Unit 2. If so, that’s about as bad as one can imagine ...
Even in the best case, the states of the 3 troubled reactors are far from stabilized, won’t be so for weeks, and could take a drastic turn for the worse, at any moment.
Not a pretty picture, at all.
... a lot of zeroes, indeed.
Here’s the Japanese news article on the latest explosion.
Not the containment vessel itself, but the adjoining “suppression chamber.”
Oh, and let’s not forget burning spent fuel-rods.
The original version of the MIT post (now removed) is quite fun to read, in hindsight. Luckily, it was widely mirrored.
Japanese Are Glad To Have Electricity To Power Their Nuclear Reactor
Japan nuclear plant connected to power grid - Restoration of cooling systems remains next goal MarketWatch / Mar 18, 2011 << SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Japanese engineers on Saturday brought electricity to the Fukushima nuclear plant for the first time ... >>
Wonder where they get all of that electricity stuff now anyway?
<b><a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/christopherhelman/2011/03/18/options-for-replacing-japans-busted-nukes/">Options For Replacing Japan’s Busted Nukes</A> Forbes Blog / Mar 18, 2011</b> << In time, all but the six reactors of Fukushima Dai-ichi should come back on line, leaving a baseload generation deficit of roughly 6,000 mw. How to replace it? >>