narus.info PRISM/US-984XN

On Wednesday, as radiation steadily rose, TEPCO executives tried to obtain permission for their employees to abandon the plant and leave it to the Japanese and US military. The plan was vetoed.

This is a sad day for both Japan and the United States, a great alliance. The United States bombed Japan with nuclear weapons, then worked for decades to force nuclear power on its population. Now a US-designed power plant has failed after a natural disaster, and the US urges its citizens to evacuate, leaving millions of Japanese behind. It’s a disgrace.

Although the design of the reactors now in trouble in Japan was a subject of controversy since at least 1972 when a ban was considered in the US, here is a reminder that the controversy has continued ever since.

American regulators began identifying weaknesses very early on.

In 1972, Stephen H. Hanauer, then a safety official with the Atomic Energy Commission, recommended that the Mark 1 system be discontinued because it presented unacceptable safety risks. Among the concerns cited was the smaller containment design, which was more susceptible to explosion and rupture from a buildup in hydrogen — a situation that may have unfolded at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Later that same year, Joseph Hendrie, who would later become chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a successor agency to the atomic commission, said the idea of a ban on such systems was attractive. But the technology had been so widely accepted by the industry and regulatory officials, he said, that “reversal of this hallowed policy, particularly at this time, could well be the end of nuclear power.”

In an e-mail on Tuesday, David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Program at the Union for Concerned Scientists, said those words seemed ironic now, given the potential global ripples from the Japanese accident.

“Not banning them might be the end of nuclear power,” said Mr. Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who spent 17 years working in nuclear facilities, including three that used the G.E. design.

Apparently fuel rods are still burning atop one or more reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary says that the smoke is coming from the #3 reactor and they don’t know why. He said “the most likely case” is that this is radioactive gas coming from inside the reactor.

“Radiation has spread from these reactors and the reading is VERY HIGH” – live http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-world-tv

The Prime Minister of Japan has just called (at 9:04PM CDT) that people evacuate a 20km area around Fukushima’s second nuclear plant, the one so far not covered in the news media. He admits that “Reactor #4” is on fire. He’s called for calm among the Japanese people. He mentioned 3 specific reactors, but took exactly one question, where he was asked why he did not address the reactor that exploded 4-5 hours ago. He refused to answer.

UPDATE: An official admits a 4th hydrogen explosion at the site, at what he describes as #4 reactor. “Radioactive substances are being released” by the fire. “The radioactive substances are coming out from the #4 reactor”