Attempt fails to cool Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 reactor due to massive water leakage

Asahi reports that attempts to cool the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 reactor with massive infusions of water -- called "water entombment" -- has failed due to large-scale leakage of the water from the primary containment structure. 3,000 tons of highly radioactively contaminated water has leaked into the reactor building's basement, threatening to overflow into the turbine building and then the ocean, as has happened previously at the Unit 2 and 3 reactors. Installing new cooling systems is very dangerous for workers, as radiation dose rates of up to 200 rem (2,000 millisieverts) per hour have been detected in the building. About 500 rem of exposure will deliver a lethal dose to 50% of people; they will die within 60 days, even with medical intervention.

Tepco: Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 large-scale meltdown occurred just 16 hours after earthquake and tsunami

Voice of America has reported that most of the nuclear fuel in the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 atomic reactor likely melted down on March 12, less than a day after the 9.0 tremor and 45 foot tall tsunami hit. This admission comes just days after Tepco announced that the Unit 1 reactor pressure vessel has actually been breached by the meltdown.

Japanese federal government agrees to "extraordinary support" for Tepco

Reuters has reported that the Japanese federal government has agreed to provide taxpayer funded "extraordinary support" of at least $62 billion to shore up Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) against the risk of bankruptcy. Claims for compensation from households and businesses harmed by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe are expected to rise into the tens of billions of dollars. Ratings agency Standard and Poors said "The upper limit of compensation remains unclear at this stage, and we expect Tepco's profitability to remain under significant pressure for a very long period." Japanese financial analysts commented on the meaning of the scheme. Bloomberg/Businessweek also reported on this story, quoting Kazutaka Kirishima, an economics professor at Josai University near Tokyo, as saying “The government should make it clear that consumers will have to shoulder the burden...Whether through increased electricity rates, tax hikes or government bond issues, the public will eventually have to pay.” Bloomberg/Businessweek also reported that Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch in March said Tepco may face claims of as much as 11 trillion yen ($136 billion) if the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl lasts for two years.

Greenpeace: radioactive I-131 levels five times "allowable" level in edible seaweed off Fukushima coast

Reuters has reported that Greenpeace has collected samples of seaweed -- a staple of the Japanese diet -- off of the coastline near the catastrophically leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that contain five times the "permissible" level of hazardous radioactive iodine-131. "Radioactive contamination is accumulating in the marine ecosystem that provides Japan with a quarter of its seafood, yet the authorities are still doing very little to protect public health," saidd Ike Teuling, a Greenpeace radiation expert. Meanwhile, Tokyo city officials have announced the radioactive contamination levels in sewage, which they are incinerating and then containing if above a certain level.

TEPCO: Fukushima Dai-Ichi Unit 1 "in a state of meltdown" with a hole in the bottom of the reactor vessel

 According to a Reuters news release, Tokyo Electric Power Company confirmed today that Fukushima Dia-Ichi Unit 1 has a hole in its reactor pressure vessel indicating that the nuclear accident is worse than has been previously reported and further complicating efforts to bring multi-unit nuclear accident under control.