Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action Japan is updating Beyond Nuclear, and many others, with regular updates on the worsening nuclear emergency in Japan, by translating Japanese news stories, government announcements, and grassroots environmental insights from Japanese language into English. Here is the latest bad news from Japan:
[It is now 16:05 Japan time (3:05am EST USA)
Breaking news
15:41
14 March
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20110314/t10014663951000.html
All cooling at Fukushima Daiichi (Unit2) has been lost. According to METI's NISA, all mechanisms to cool the reactor was all completely lost at 13:25 (1:25pm) today. Since the internal pressure continues to be high, ways to secure the safety such as releaseing the air from the containment to the outside is being considered.]
Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2's emergency core coolant system had been working throughout Sunday, March 13 (U.S. East Coast time). But apparently, even that has now been lost. Thus, three reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are now in severe crisis: Unit 1, Unit 2, and Unit 3. "Partial meltdowns" have likely already occurred in Units 1 and 3, as have powerful hydrogen explosions.