Japan's nuclear crisis - The situation is still deteriorating

The fire at the reactor 4 is "apparently out", they announced on Tuesday several Japanese publications. "The fire which occurred on the fourth floor of the reactor 4 is apparently off, " said agency Jiji. 

IAEA stated that there were places whre the radioactivity was up to 400 milisievert per hour. Medical observations show that starting from a level of 100 milisievert/h the cancer risk is increasing dramatically in the human body.

As the situation develops, people are starting to compare the potential of this crisis with the 1986 Chernobyl explosion. The author William Tucker said "This is not going to be a Chernobyl... The Soviets didn't have a containment structure on top of their reactor."

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant does. It has a massive structure of concrete and steel sitting on top of its reactors. But given the fact that the emergency cooling system failed due to the tsunami, the authorities are now trying other ways of containing the situation, like pumping seawater to cool the fuel rods and even using a helicopter to attack the problem directly from above.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, has tried to keep the population calm, saying that serious radioactive leaks can be averted. But given the company's track record, we can't help but question their candidness.

"The history of Japan's nuclear industry and the government, that is very closely tied with the industry, is less than glorious in regards to public information and full disclosure, and what is going on now is actually an illustration of that," says Arjun Mahkhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.

In 2002, TEPCO's president and some executives resigned after it was revealed that they have falsified the repair and inspection records. "It was discovered that TEPCO had covered up incidents of cracking in an important piece of equipment with the reactors' vessels of all its reactors, and as a result, they were forced to close down all 17 reactors," says Philip White of the Citizens Nuclear Information Center.
Then, in 2007, after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake, TEPCO told the public the plant had only suffered a minor fire and leak of radioactive water. It was later revealed that the fire had burned for a few hours and hundreds of gallons of radioactive water had leaked into the sea.

For the moment though, the situation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has not reached a critical level, but the events are still unfolding.

We'll just have to keep an eye on these developments. So follow the news!