New Explosion Reported Early Tuesday, Japan Time, At Reactor #2

Here is the KyodoNews live English feed.

And the article of the moment.

An explosion was heard early Tuesday morning at the troubled No. 2 reactor of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the government said, about five hours after work resumed to inject seawater into it to prevent overheating of exposed fuel rods.

Shortly after the 6:10 a.m. incident, the radiation level exceeded the legal limit to reach 965.5 micro sievert per hour, and it is feared that the reactor's pressure-suppression system was damaged, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's operator, said it is evacuating workers from the plant, except for those necessary for the work to cool the reactor.

The reactor's fuel rods were fully exposed for around two and a half hours Monday evening after water levels rapidly fell, and again late Monday night although seawater was being injected, prompting the utility to open some steam valves at 1:10 a.m. in order to resume pumping seawater.

If this sort of horrible thing must occur, best that it occur in Japan, the land of engineers, and a social selflessness sadly not seen here.

Japan, Before And After

HT Calculated Risk

A dramatic photo montage from New York Times here.


Satellite shots of coastal cities before after the quake and tsunami--chilling is a word that comes to mind.