[MindBender26]

The outer, weather shell of the building is gone. If the containment was of the domed design, it is gone, too. If if is of the mushroom-flattop design, it appears to be Ok, or at least it may be Ok from pictures.

The problem is they cannot produce power for cooling water pumps from generators at plant, or get it in from outside plant.

This can lead to a cascading series of problems where 3 to 5 reactors are lost.

At Chernobyl, 1,2 and 3 remained stable when 4 blew. They stayed on grid. That is not the case here.

[Tolsti2]

I’m getting ready to see stuff in TX go up, this appears to be a full out-explosion that might make Chernobyl look like a joke.

[J Aguilar]

#1 was an older design. That seems to have some influence.

[SE Mom]

Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano: expands evacuation area at no.2 plant to 10 km

by Reuters_TonyTharakan at 3:50 AM
Jiji news agency said there had been an explosion at the stricken 40-year-old Daichi 1 reactor and TV footage showed vapour rising from the plant, which lies 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo