Fukushima No. 3 reactor's container feared damaged

they really dont know what's going on. Any exerts out there know if covering the reactors with concrete would help?

And now there is white smoke coming from the No. 3 reactor. I really hope something can be done to stop all of this.

You know, with all the bad news coming out about these ractors, I give it to those guys that are still in the facilty trying stop a major catastrophy from occuring. They have got to be getting bombarded by radiation. To me they are real heros. They are putting themselves on the line to save hundreds of thousands. Whatever the outcome is, my hats and prayers are with them.

I agree Gurukun.

Pepin, as long as the fuel is still reactive, even if you cover it with concrete and lead, it will reach a critical point where everything will explode and you will have mayhem. at this point the nuclear fuel is contained in a strong zirconium alloy, so that provides some protection

No, it doesn't explode. It cannot explode as you can imagine an atomic bomb does. It just does not, and don't scare people timeon. In the worst case it will melt down. Or would be exposed to the air and pollute everything, but the reactor will not explode.

OK, apparently one of the water pumps was burning. They have now put out the new fire.

Am I the only getting pissed off about how the media is constantly using the most "dramatic" descriptions possible? "Fire" evokes a different image from "flames" for instance. There seems to be a measure of stability in the situation now, although it (of course) remains serious. There are no headlines saying "radiation levels in Tokyo area well below risk level", instead they all say "radiation shoots up in Tokyo". Or my favorite, as reported by among others the BBC: "the Fukushima plants north of Tokyo". Well, Hokkaido is also north of Tokyo. I don't know how many times now I have had to explain to people at home that the power plants are not just outside Tokyo, but about 300 kilometers away.

The media is loving this. As far as they are concerned, they wouldn't mind seeing this situation spiral out of control. This is the kind of story that can ensure a nice career in journalism. Oh, how I yearn for balanced nuanced reporting without sensationalist headlines. The situation is plenty dramatic already, thank you very much.

Gurukun: absolutely right. There are real heroes at work at this moment. I just hope they will be honored properly!!

koffee, I am not scaring anybody, I'm just explaining why Pepin idea's doesn't work. The only thing to do is to cool the reactor with water

According to BBC: "South Korea says it will send some 50 tonnes of its boron reserves to Japan after a request from Tokyo, Reuters reports. The metalloid is vital for stopping fission nuclear reactions in nuclear reactors". Hope it helps.

Do read about Passive_nuclear_safety & Nuclear_meltdown on wikipedia

Very true, Media hypes everything! We are following the news from India, and with all the words media is using to describe the situation in Japan, we feel 2012 has already arrived. But our Scientists are coming on & telling us that Nuclear Meltdown & radiation from it is not as Bad as it is made out to be by the media at this point of time. In a chain of bad news, Coming from experts, thats good news indeed!

Am I the only getting pissed off about how the media is constantly using the most "dramatic" descriptions possible?

Yes, I think it's only you.

To be honest, I think you are directing your anger in the wrong direction.

Tepco and the government have given as little information as possible and it's leading to confusion. Save your frustration for them, not the media.

We are all media-savvy these days so dramatic headlines are no problem.

agreed - German media is hyping it up in such a way, makes it look like we have Chernobyl x 6 in the making...even outlets that I respected ones, like yahoodotde or t-online have totally overblown headlines but don't follow that up in the text - my sister told me I am risking the healthy future of our baby girl by staying here (Karuizawa), getting tired of it.

tranel, I'm with you too. Way too much "sensationalism" in the media and headlines. Anything to get more viewers, sell more papers, get more clicks.

Just thanks to the brave men trying to deal with this.

Yes, Ifeelmust and others mentioning the workers there. Absolute heroes!!

Please sand bag the reactor....It is better to lose it over a catastrophe.... If wait longer probabely the surrounding areas may not be inhabitable in the years to come.. DO it now..

Example:

J-media: 200,000 within a 30km radius of Fukushima evacuated as a precaution.

I-media: 200,000 terrified people forced to flee from their homes in the mid of night as deadly radiation descends down around them bringing thoughts that armageddon is at hand.

Kudos and prayers to the brave men who are trying to prevent an epic disaster. I hope they succeed. Our best wishes to all the people of Japan.

Since the reactors have already been damaged beyond repair by seawater, cover them up in concrete

Please sand bag the reactor....It is better to lose it over a catastrophe.... If wait longer probabely the surrounding areas may not be inhabitable in the years to come.. DO it now..

No worries there mate as those reactors were the oldest that TEPCO has in its power generation group. Fukushima Daiichi reactor 1 started up in March 1971 and has the smallest capacity at 460MW followed by No 2 in July 1974 running at 784MW, No 3 March 1976 also at 784MW and No 4 October 1978 also at 784MW.

TEPCO was suppose to start building two new reactors No 7 and No 8 each with a capacity of 1380MW starting in October 2013 and October 2014 but I'm guessing as soon as they have this situation under control they better start building to make up for the lost 2812MW capacity that these 4 dead reactors will have caused.