Japan Citizens Nuclear Information Center Press Conference March 12

The lead Japanese public interest nuclear watchdog, Citizens Nuclear Information Center, held a translated  international press conference in Tokyo on March 12, 2011 regarding now seven nuclear power plants in crisis as a result of the earthquake and tsunami.  Explosive hydrogen gas and oxygen are being generated in two reactors with partial reactor core meltdowns. One explosion has already occurred in Fukushima Dai-ichi Unit 1 and another explosion is imminent at Fukushima Dai-ichi Unit 3, a reactor using plutonium oxide, or Mixed Oxide Fuel. 

Paul Gunter on Fox news

ITN news clip - Japanese official assumes 1, possibly 2, meltdowns

More radiation released from Fukushima

March 14, 2011 (in Australia) JAPAN is battling a widening nuclear crisis, with presumed partial meltdowns at two crippled reactors and serious cooling problems at three more, while the death toll from Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami continued to soar.

With high pressure inside the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi hampering efforts to pump in cooling seawater - an extreme step, as it is likely to leave the plant permanently disabled - plant operators had to release radioactive vapour into the atmosphere. Radiation levels outside the plant, which had declined overnight, shot up to 1,204 microsieverts per hour, more than twice Japan's legal limit, Mr Edano said. Syndey Morning Herald

Workers scramble to cool reactors; official says 2nd blast possible

7:20 a.m. EDT, March 13, 2011. 

Workers continued efforts to cool down fuel rods inside two nuclear reactors Sunday as a Japanese government official warned that a second explosion could occur at the plant.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said an explosion could take place in the building housing the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan.

"There is a possibility that the third reactor may have hydrogen gas that is accumulating in the reactor (that) may potentially cause an explosion," he said.

Authorities have also detected cooling system problems at another nuclear facility in Fukushima Prefecture, the Fukushima Daini plant, but have not expressed any concerns about possible meltdowns there. CNN

Update on March 13, 2011 by admin

Note that Bill Nye ("The Science Guy") makes the pertinent point in the video clip that if there is cesium in the air a meltdown has occurred. He speculates - as do we - that Japanese authorities are not being fully forthcoming about the gravity of the situation. (We have contacted Bill about his error regarding TMI which he said was brought under control and is still in operation. While TMI Unit 1, which was not affected, is still operational, Unit 2, which melted down, was destroyed and never operated again. The affected units at Fukushima will not be salvagable).