[SE Mom]

Hard to believe but apparently the fire was not put out yesterday at #4

2249: Officials at the plant say the new fire broke out because the initial blaze had not been extinguished, AP reports.

2246: Japanese news agency Kyodo reports that the storage pool in reactor four - where the spent fuel rods are kept - may be boiling. Tepco says readings are showing high levels of radiation in the building, so it is inaccessible. Radiation levels had fallen late on Tuesday but remained abnormal.

[BuckeyeTexan]

Update as of 2:15 EDT March 15, 2001
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that an oil leak in a cooling water pump at Unit 4 was the cause of a fire that burned for approximately 140 minutes. The fire was not in the spent fuel pool, as reported by several media outlets.(Emphasis mine.)

Updated at 5:00 PM EDT March 15, 2011
Fact Sheet: Used Nuclear Fuel Storage at Fukushima Daiichi

[ponygirl]

I was thinking that the coolant kept boiling off and evaporating, exposing the rods and increasing the heat, but now I am wondering if the lower containment is cracked... Particularly since the water levels in # 5 & 6 are lowering, even tho they were shut down at the time of the quake?

Also, I wouldn't pay any attention what anything the surgeon general for this administration is saying. FGS, she's probably another affirmative action appointee.

I did find this link, that seems at least sane regarding KI pills: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014504194_nukehealth16m.html "I'm very concerned that there could be a significant problem in Japan," he said. "I'm less concerned about the health effects here in the United States."

[janetjanet998]

once again their statements are contradictory

they said the first fire was out and that was over 15 hours ago