New Fire Hits Number 4 Reactor At Fukushima

BBC News
Tuesday, March 15, 2011

0029: Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) says it will be extremely difficult to spray water from a helicopter to cool down a storage pool for spent nuclear fuel in the No.4 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Earlier Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that the storage pool could be boiling, while Tepco said readings showed high levels of radiation, making the building inaccessible.

2237: A reminder that reactor four was not in operation at the time the earthquake struck, but was being used to store spent fuel rods.

2235: Tepco spokesman Hajimi Motujuku says the fire at reactor four is in the outer housing of the containment vessel. Its cause is not yet known, AP reports.

2216: The BBC’s Matt Frei in Tokyo says spent fuel rods in reactors five and six are also now believed to be heating up.

2210: Tepco has confirmed that a fire broke out at reactor four in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Smoke is pouring from the reactor, a spokesman told reporters.

AFP is reporting a new fire at the number four reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Flames are rising from the reactor, AP reports.

Tepco says efforts are underway to tackle the fire inside the building which houses the number four reactor, Reuters reports.

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ISIS: Crisis May Reach Chernobyl Level Disaster

BBC News
Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The US-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) has said it agrees with the assessment of France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) that the incident at Fukushima should be classified as level 6 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), one below Chernobyl.

Following a number of explosions and a fire at the plant which released dangerous levels of radiation, ISIS said the situation had “worsened considerably” and was now closer to a level 6 event. “It may unfortunately reach a level 7,” it added.