TravelGov
U.S. chartered buses will depart #Sendai from the Sendai City Hall 3/18 beginning at 9 a.m. & travel to Tokyo. Meet @ Sendai City Hall.
CRITICAL REACTOR CONTAINS PLUTONIUM
High radiation levels on Wednesday prevented helicopters from dropping water into reactor No. 3 to try to cool its fuel rods after an earlier blast damaged its roof and cooling system.
Another attempt on Thursday appeared to partly succeed, with two of four water drops over the site hitting their mark. The giant, twin-blade aircraft have to make precisely timed flyovers and drops to avoid the brunt of the radiation.
The plant operator described No. 3 — the only reactor that uses plutonium in its fuel mix — as the “priority.” Experts described plutonium as a pernicious isotope that could cause cancer if very small quantities were ingested.
Sebastian Pflugbeil, president of the private German-based Society for Radiation Protection, said Japan’s efforts to pull the Fukushima plant back from the brink signaled “the beginning of the catastrophic phase.”
“Maybe we have to pray,” he said, adding that a wind blowing any nuclear fallout east into the Pacific would limit any damage for Japan’s 127 million people in case of a meltdown or other releases, for instance from spent fuel storage pool
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/17/us-japan-idUSTRE72G37A20110317?pageNumber=2