patrick.net

That's almost as bad as storing unprotected, spent fuel rods on top of the reactors...

Well, here's the current answer to the second question:

Forecast for Plume's Path Is a Function of Wind and Weather
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/16/science/plume-graphic.html

The water shots worked just about as well as our junk shots last year.

The CH-47s gave up after 4 drops. The police with their cannons didn't even start.

The government released the fact that the ground radiation on the approach to the #3 unit was 3 millisieverts/hr in front of unit #1. That was probably high enough for them to turn back since they need to go another 800' past units 1 & 2 to get into position to hit 3 with water. Then they have to back out the way they came in.

Pretty sure with all the radioactive venting from 1 & 2, plus the explosions, this would be a one-use mission for each pump truck they'd be too contaminated to use again (though maybe the army has the stuff to decontaminate them). They need to put 2000 tons of water into unit 3's spent fuel pool to cool its contents back down.

"I don't have any solution but I certainly admire the problem"

I guess what I don't understand, is why you need to move trucks back and forth? Set them up in position, run the intake hose on the pumper truck to the nearest water source, start spraying water in where it's needed, and walk away and leave them there running constantly. If you need an on-off switch I'm sure someone can rig up a remote for that even if it's just a long-ass wire.

If you offered me the gig to deliver that truck trading a years worth of radiation in one trip for a very hefty bonus and unlimited medical insurance I'd take it.

I think the problem with just parking a truck is that it will get contaminated over time and become a roadblock since it would be deadly to enter due to contamination.

They don't have much space to work with at the plant, because in their infinite wisdom there's a hill behind the reactors and only one service road.

run the intake hose on the pumper truck to the nearest water source

problem with that is the reactors are between the service road and the nearest water source.

Apparently they don't have a proper emergency firefighting water supply, or it's knocked out.

They've now put 40 tons of water from the ground in one 40 minute operation last night.

They will try again in the morning.

Latest TEPCO radiation readings:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/betu11_j/images/110317i.pdf

aren't too bad (600mSv) at the front gate (正門) but they're now releasing internal measurement of 3.7mSv at the 'main office north side' (事務本館北), which is over 100m away from Unit 1.

I would expect radiation 20m away from unit 2 to be at least in the 100-500mSv/hr range, and no doubtedly higher closer to units 3 and 4.

They could easily put a boat out there with a pump on it. Use a heavy lifting helicopter to move a pumping truck to the other side. Leave the truck in neutral, and/or hook up a towing chain before leaving it, so they could just "push" it out of the way. Hook up more hoses to extend the distance from the actual building. They could have a helicopter drag over the water line and just drop it in the top of the building as well.

I'm a little surprised that dropping water is doing anything actually. It seemed to spray/go everywhere in those videos.

A boat would make sense, but maybe it's too dangerous for them to be on the ocean downwind of the plant.

What they need is a fleet of drone helicopters with attached cameras and firehoses. Don't suppose those exist, though.

zzyzzx says

At least I used to work at a nuclear plant, and don’t expect this situation to amount to much, as long as the can pump in seawater until they get the regular systems working, they’ll be fine.

You don’t see Cherynobyl style nuclear reactors in palce like the US or Japan.

Besides that, the Japanese are accustomed to earthquakes, tsunami’s, and getting nuked; they’ll be fine.

Japanese are not mutants who are accustomed to getting nuked, this is rather devastating. Grow some fucking empathy.

And I highly doubt your random assembly line job qualifies you to determine how dangerous is a nuclear blast from a reactor can be. If people ignore the danger in the situation they do not react, and reaction right now is a much needed one.

pkennedy says

I’m a little surprised that dropping water is doing anything actually. It seemed to spray/go everywhere in those videos.

That was the training. They're saying the crews only got 1 mSv exposure so they may continue this.

I can't really criticize what they have and haven't done. The reactors are over 200m from the sea and I don't think people have much time to work within 200m of the plants. Exposure is at least 300 mSv/hr. That gives about 30 minutes.

Granted, if this becomes a Tokyo or "them" situation, in retrospect the argument should be made that "they" have to pay the price.

We're not quite there yet, but we haven't turned any corners yet, either.

The distances don't seem all that large for pumping purposes. I thought by this time they would be making large vague requests for "stuff". Send me an assortment of diesel generators, some tractors, some fuel trucks, some water pumps... different sizes, whatever you've got in store and some people who know how to connect it all up.

I've never worked with helicopters, but lifting huge shifting water buckets must be far more difficult than welding together 100 meters of pipe in a U shape that would simple drape over the wall / sit upside down over the buildings wall and allow them to attach another pipe on the outside portion, which would allow them to constantly pump masses of water in. Connecting a hose to a piece of pipe doesn't take 30 minutes, firemen do it in minutes at most.

Speaking of volumes, it looks like the helicopters moved about 1500 gallons of water each time. A firehose about 150gallons per minute. So the helicopter could likely keep up with a firehose, which is interesting. Although it doesn't allow for constant water over time and it's not very directed either, more of a crap shoot where it lands.

NHK is showing it live . . .

They're spraying Unit 3 from the ground with the first load from a crash response firetruck.

Next firetruck is coming up next. . .

Steam is rising from unit 3 in response.

Second unit is spraying now.

Now the question is can they continue with the radiation. It's maybe 400 millisieverts/hr as a base but who knows what's in the steam. No wind apparently.

Seems like #2 firetruck ended early.

There's supposed to be 7 trucks dumping 5 tons of water each.

Problem is just adding a little water just makes the fuel assemblies more volatile, like throwing lithium in water.

Using something that explodes in contact with water and air as a fuel cladding doesn't seem entirely intelligent. . .

Truck 3 is starting now!

hmm, looks like the wind is coming from the south, putting the firetruck downwind to an exploded reactor that has gone without cooling for almost a full week.

Looks like they've called it off.

(I'm calling cancellation before NHK, LOL)

Thanks for the information everyone. Some posters here have given me better information than many MSM sites.

I'm following wind direction and precipatation from Wunderground.com:

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/47595.html
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=RJTT

This site (in Japanese though) is good for radiation readouts

http://www.aist.go.jp/taisaku/ja/measurement/all_results.html

Here's not some good news:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-quake-wrapup-20110318,0,1937413,full.story

looking at the pictures of 3 and 4 I suspected this. The damage on the side of the building that the pool is on (north side) is just too great. There is a hole UNDER where the pool should be.

Been an almost an hour since the water thing stopped. NHK hasn't said anything about it.

They really don't do CNN-style 24hr on-the-scene news that well.

Hey AiJ. It has been very fortunate that the weather has not put Toyko in danger so far.

According to some news stories, the radiation plume spewing from the plant will make it here tomorrow. Many say we should not worry about as it will not be an immediate health threat, the radiation is dispersed, and will likely be barely detectable. None the articles I have read have really focused on long-term health issues though, like what this means in terms of increased cancer risks later in life, particularly if the plant continues to spit out radioactive pollution over the coming weeks.

Rain is forecast for tomorrow on the California coast. Not ideal, as it will pull particulates out of the atmosphere. I hope it has been raining over the Pacific this whole week....

Troy says

looking at the pictures of 3 and 4 I suspected this. The damage on the side of the building that the pool is on (north side) is just too great. There is a hole UNDER where the pool should be.

So what do you think about the potential for the spent fuel rods reaching critical mass if this goes FUBAR? Clearly there won't be an nuclear-bomb type explosion, but an open-faced nuclear reactor core volcano would be bad news. I 'm not trying to be alarmist, but this seems like the absolute worst case that could happen if they can't get the cooling under control. And they have a ridiculous amount of spent fuel on site.

terriDeaner says

So what do you think about the potential for the spent fuel rods reaching critical mass if this goes FUBAR?

Dunno!

Latest summary from the daily mail:

# Officials admit they may have to bury reactors under concrete - as happened at Chernobyl
# Government says it was overwhelmed by the scale of twin disasters
# Japanese upgrade accident from level four to five - the same as Three Mile Island
# We will rebuild from scratch says Japanese prime minister
# Particles spewed from wrecked Fukushima power station arrive in California
# Military trucks tackle reactors with tons of water for second day

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367684/Nuclear-plant-chief-weeps-Japanese-finally-admit-radiation-leak-kill-people.html

This is not inspiring. And it doesn't instill a sense of trust in what lies ahead.

AND according to bbc, the upgrade only reflects what has happened to the crippled reactors... and does not account for what is going on in the cooling ponds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12789749

I think the radiation being disbursed in cubic miles of atmosphere between here and Japan will be almost unmeasurable. That being said, I also believe we will still receive substantial amounts of radiation via another route. We wil receive it shipload by shipload, container by container, box by box, in the dust shipped along with product we buy from japan. It will be undiscovered by authorities and travel everywhere Japanese products are shipped.

Very tiny amounts and almost unmeasurable - so far.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/18/ap/health/main20044734.shtml

Let's hope it stays that way.

terriDeaner says

We will rebuild from scratch says Japanese prime minister

I had NHK streaming on my laptop at my bedside and Kan's speech pattern woke me up.

I could follow it pretty easy since he was speaking slow and I'd heard most of the new vocabulary already this past week.

Serious shit.

As for going forward, I think the military has done all they can do with their crash response fire vehicles. Like a movie, the cavalry has come, the Tokyo Hyper Rescue Fire Brigade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1gBYaCZtCU

These guys train for chemical and petroleum mega-disasters, so if they can't put water into these buildings, the situation is pretty much screwed.

It may be already screwed if reactor 4's spent fuel pool's water integrity is compromised. The building itself looks like Al Qaida had a go at it with RPG-7s, but it's still unclear what's going on there. There seems to be some sort of off-gassing going on, I guess what I would expect to see from the 1500 fuel rods stored there, but I have zero idea how these materials are reacting should they have lost their water cover and cooling.

The pronunciation that there was still water in the pool on Thursday was pretty bizarre, since their evidence was just a glint from a video frame of the interior of what's left of the building and TEPCO knew on Monday that the temperature in the pool had risen from 30 to 85 in just two days.

Either they're in lala land or bullshitting people on this. I don't know which is worse.

The entire economy of Japan is going to have to reorganize itself. Tens of thousands of hard-working people just had their livelihoods utterly obliterated. Wealth is going to have to be drawn down and shared to help these people get back on their feet. The loss of electrical capacity means the economy is going to have to be scaled back.

This is a Kunstler wet dream.

Troy says

t may be already screwed if reactor 4’s spent fuel pool’s water integrity is compromised. The building itself looks like Al Qaida had a go at it with RPG-7s, but it’s still unclear what’s going on there. There seems to be some sort of off-gassing going on, I guess what I would expect to see from the 1500 fuel rods stored there, but I have zero idea how these materials are reacting should they have lost their water cover and cooling.

The pronunciation that there was still water in the pool on Thursday was pretty bizarre, since their evidence was just a glint from a video frame of the interior of what’s left of the building and TEPCO knew on Monday that the temperature in the pool had risen from 30 to 85 in just two days.

Either they’re in lala land or bullshitting people on this. I don’t know which is worse.

Probably a bit of both. From a PR perspective, what do THEY have to gain by alerting people in a conscientious or timely manner... Hysteria earlier rather than later? They are already the bad guys in this affair.

Troy says

The entire economy of Japan is going to have to reorganize itself. Tens of thousands of hard-working people just had their livelihoods utterly obliterated. Wealth is going to have to be drawn down and shared to help these people get back on their feet. The loss of electrical capacity means the economy is going to have to be scaled back.

This won't be easy.

I don't believe anything the US Government says about this nuclear accident since our government still hasn't owned up to the damage they caused from all of the nuclear tests in Nevada and in the Pacific. Also, of course, they don't even acknowledge the real danger that all nuclear power plants pose for US citizens in our own backyards.

I'm a child of a Downwinder. My Mom lived in Las Vegas in the late 40's and 50's. She remembers watching the mushroom clouds rising over the desert early in the wee hours of the morning.

Since then she, her brother and sister, and we the next generation who are the progeny are suffering from various auto-immune conditions that were never in the family before the nuclear tests. Mom and I suffer from Fibromyalgia. I had Lymphomatoid Papulosis when I was in high school (I had 90 golf ball sized lesions that bled and oozed all over my body). LP is now being considered a low grade large cell lymphoma (cancer) that could be a precursor to more serious forms of lymphoma. So far, my annual cancer checkups have not revealed any cancer and my LP hasn't produced any lesions since I was 21 (that's 20 years ago). I had a few lesions that would appear and disappear on my body after the initial massive outbreak from 15-21. It wasn't exactly a good thing for body image for an adolescent.

Mom has been diagnosed with degenerating disc disease (her body is eating up her discs in her spine) and she's been diagnosed with some demyelination on her nerves throughout her body. She's been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis for quite a while but now they think "it's just Fibromyalgia." She also has a host of other symptoms that point to auto-immune responses.

Mom's sister sister had Grave's Disease and has Degenerative Disc Disease. Her sister's daughter has Rheumatoid Arthritis (she's only 41).

Mom's brother has Degenerative Disc Disease. One of his daughters had a wheat allergy (that had never been seen in the family before). Another daughter has possible Fibromyalgia and other strange symptoms.

None of this existed in the family prior to them having been exposed to the nuclear testing in Nevada. Mom remembers days where they weren't allowed to go to school or go outside because the winds blew the fallout from some of the tests over Las Vegas sometimes.

There is a lot that the US Government will never admit because they want to be in control of all information and citizens. And they don't want panic. They also don't want the thousands (perhaps millions) of US citizens to sue the US Government for real damage that THEY caused.

The Japanese government is trying to "save face." If you look at current maps of radiation levels in Japan you will see that the radiation levels in Fukushima and another neighboring Prefecture called Miyagi where Sendai is located are censored, or as the Japanese goverment calls it "under survey." They don't want to panic their citizens by admitting the truth. They don't want their people to know (yet) that many of them are among the "walking dead" from massive radiation exposure and exposure to fission materials that have leaked from the cores of the Fukushima reactors.

Here in California we are being told now that sensors in Sacramento have picked up "low levels" of increased radiation. Yesterday, someone on the news "messed up" and reported that the health effects are "minimal" from the cloud that is just starting to roll in over California. Now all media are saying that there are "no health effects" to these "low levels" of radiation over California.

I wouldn't suggest running out to get potassium iodide tablets since they can be more damaging than the radiation that is likely to be here from Japan especially if you are taking too much.

Basically, Northern Japan is screwed. Parts of the Pacific will carry radioactive materials into fish stocks that we use and they use for food. The Japanese Government doesn't want their citizens to know that it's a wrap in Northern Japan. They don't want their people to panic with the knowledge that they won't be able to eat any food that is grown or produced in any of the Prefectures that are affected. They also don't want them to know that one of the reactors is releasing Plutonium because most people understand that Plutonium is highly toxic and sticks around for over 10,000 years.

Our US and Japanese Governments are in bed together. Both Governments have massive interests in keeping the information flowing out of the disaster zone to a minimum. They don't want mass panic and they don't want to face the economic consequences of this disaster.

Also they want to protect multi-national Corporate interests. Neither government really cares about their citizens. They are much more interested in pleasing their Corporate Masters than they are in protecting their citizens.

That's pretty fucked up simchaland.

Here's a non-governmental, grassroots website for tracking the oncoming radiation:

http://www.radiationnetwork.com/

and another:

http://www.blackcatsystems.com/RadMap/map.html

and Pacific air and ocean current patterns

http://www.stormsurf.com/

I think the simple fact is that the Japan Government is not hiding anything, but they
simply don't know what is going on either. You can buy a Geiger
counter anywhere in Japan. If there is unsafe level of radiation at
the evacuation site, the journalists will make a stink about it.
After all, mass media feeds on sensationalism. Remember mass
hysteria and panic sell. If the media is not making a big deal by now,
I think it is not big deal.

Or did I miss any news? Otherwise, I will not be a part of mass hysteria.

Nobody says

If there is unsafe level of radiation at
the evacuation site, the journalists will make a stink about it.

Good point, but how many members of the media are near the plant? Within 50 miles? Probably not many.

Immediately offfshore sampling the plume? Probably none.

Incidentally, my goal is to stay informed and thereby not succumb to mass hysteria IF it arrives.

Nobody says

Or did I miss any news? Otherwise, I will not be a part of mass hysteria.

No, the news has been oddly quiet today on the nuclear disaster in Japan, at least on KGO radio. I listen while I work. They've been giving much more air time to Libya, which is important too. However, I find the silence in the media chilling since we were hearing that this disaster hasn't been contained as of this morning.

Why would it be that main stream news media is suddenly silent about this disaster when we would get hourly reports even up to early this morning? Could it be that main stream news in our country is all Corporately Controlled and therefore completely manipulated by Special Interests including the Government Hacks who are owned by the Corporations?

I wonder.

In this case no news ISN'T good news.

terri,

Don't worry that there are a few journalists with death wish within
a radius of 20 miles. Don't underestimate their insatiable thirst for
sensationalism. I just watched the media interviewing people
who evacuated to the radius of 20 miles.

How can you stay informed, when we don't even get the info?

So you believe everything media said about Toyota, too?

simchaland,

So there is a conspiracy, if there is no info coming out?

It simply means that there is no new info. better or worse.
Why read into it more than what it is? I am in California,
and we are probably getting radiation from Japan. But
what can we do? Evacuate to New York? It is happening
more than 5000 miles away. You honestly think
there is an immediate danger, because our government is
less trustworthy than our media?

Nobody says

How can you stay informed, when we don’t even get the info?

This is a big problem. It seems like the last time the info stream from the Japanese governement tapered off (around Wednesday afternoon here) there was a growing sense of calm because the few reports released indicated that the crisis was stabilizing. Then this morning we got hit with a whopper - it's actually MUCH worse than the Japanese government was letting on. No government conspiracy needed, just good old fashioned politics. Keep everything quiet until the last possible minute when no other options exist.

I'd like to hear from some of the crazy reporters you mentioned that are inside the evacuation zone. Especially if they are actually downwind of the plant, where most of the radioactives are being dumped. Also, are you sure that interview you watched was recent and not recorded earlier?

Nobody says

So you believe everything media said about Toyota, too?

I don't follow...why would you think that?

simchaland says

KGO radio.

KGO is the biggest corporate joke around. I'm not a raging communist or anything, but damn if the happy pro-corporate line ABC spews through this station doesn't piss me off.

I still remember that fucker Wattenburg saying on the air in mid-2003 that WMDs had been found in Iraq.

Anyhoo, I'm 100% with you on the governments bullshitting everyone simcha.

People learned a new word this week -- microsieverts -- and now it is the tracking of it that's got everyone interested.

I don't give a shit about microsieverts but I do care not to get radioactive shit in my lungs or ingest them and have them migrate into my muscle tissue, since radioactive crap INSIDE your body works on the microscopic scale, and all this microsievert crap is talking about macro scale.

Now, I don't know shit about radiological exposure but I do know those who run GE and the media don't give a shit about us.

I looked up the government ministry charged with monitoring radiation and I did find their efforts to be a total joke.

In the few charts they have they are happy pronouncing that radiation is going down, but that's only because the wind has been steadily blowing the plumes to the east, towards us.

Even TEPCO's latest:

http://www.tepco.co.jp/cc/press/betu11_j/images/110318d.pdf

is this bullshit, giving measurements at the WEST gate when the wind is COMING from the WEST!

Older reports listed readings in the middle of the plant but those were in the millisievert range so they stopped that now.

While overall I suspect there's no cause to panic here in the US -- there are a lot of atoms in the world and if you get a few bad ones inside you they probably won't kill you -- this event still has the potential to be a totally colossal fuck up for Japan.

All it takes is spent fuel rods to start smoking and the wind to blow to the SW. They say Tokyo is too far but that's bullshit.

I think they are focusing on reactor 3 instead of 4 because 3 has ~5200 new MOX fuel rods. Not something you want to have start overheating 150 mile upwind of Tokyo.

http://www.hattori-ryoichi.gr.jp/blog/福島第一原発概況%2310.pdf

if you can read Japanese.

Nobody says

simchaland,
So there is a conspiracy, if there is no info coming out?
It simply means that there is no new info. better or worse.
Why read into it more than what it is? I am in California,
and we are probably getting radiation from Japan. But
what can we do? Evacuate to New York? It is happening
more than 5000 miles away. You honestly think
there is an immediate danger, because our government is
less trustworthy than our media?

OK, no, I don't believe that there is a conspiracy. I do believe that our government and corporate media selectively choose the information that gets out to the people. We won't know if there will be a true complete meltdown until after it happens. They won't warn the Japanese or the world.

We're already picking up readings of fission products at UC Berkeley that indicate that some of the material is making it 5000 miles. Allegedly it's not enough to affect anyone's health. 5000 miles sounds like its far away but It's not in this case. If there is an explosion and that material gets high into the Jet Stream, we're all screwed.

I think that both our government and our media aren't to be trusted. The media is always trying to sell itself and is beholden to the Corporations. The Government is owned by Corporations.

And our government doesn't have a great track record when it comes to informing its citizens of nuclear incidents. We still don't have any real acknowedgement of the damage caused by decades of nuclear testing in Nevada and the Pacific. We still don't know the full extent of Three Mile Island.

Do I think that we are all going to die of exposure to whatever comes out of Japan here in California? No, I don't. Do I think that the health and environmental consequences are more than nil? Yes. (By the way, I'm in Oakland, CA.)

Do I think we can do anything to "get out of the way" if the stuff that actually makes it here is horribly harmful to us? No. I don't. I'd at least like to know the truth so that I'd know how to take care of myself as best as I can under the circumstances. I don't think that the people of Japan are getting enough truthful information to take care of themselves and I highly doubt that if this ends up being serious for us that we will get enough information to actually take care of ourselves well.

I'm much more concerned about the people of Japan who probably won't know what is happening until it's too late (I believe it's already too late for them.).

Nobody says

So there is a conspiracy, if there is no info coming out?

You don't need a conspiracy when everyone's buying the bullshit.

On other sites I've seen so many engineering types doing their best to defend the pro-nuke line it's sickening.

"No worries, all the bad stuff you're worrying your pretty head about is contained in five levels -- the zirconium casing, the primary pressure vessel, the suppression vessel, and reactor itself, and the secondary containment building!"

Then we have reactors exploding like they were hit with cruise missiles, and we find out that reactor 4's spent fuel pool has 150,000 spent fuel rods in it, uncooled for a week and at 86 degrees on Tuesday, they shut up about that and instead start talking about how a little Cesium 137 won't hurt you.

LOL, TBS and NHK have stopped streaming on ustream now.

Great. I was mainlining that for a week. Now I'm going to go into info withdrawal.

I should just work on my stuff and ignore this I guess.

Troy says

LOL, TBS and NHK have stopped streaming on ustream now.
Great. I was mainlining that for a week. Now I’m going to go into info withdrawal.
I should just work on my stuff and ignore this I guess.

That's not a good sign...

Troy says

I don’t give a shit about microsieverts but I do care not to get radioactive shit in my lungs or ingest them and have them migrate into my muscle tissue, since radioactive crap INSIDE your body works on the microscopic scale, and all this microsievert crap is talking about macro scale.

EXACTLY. Cancer risk goes up with increased exposure to radiation, period. And if these tiny particulate amounts we're getting hit with now continue to accumulate, so will the long-term risks. But by the time those risk-related problems manifest they will belong to another set of politicians...

Troy says

All it takes is spent fuel rods to start smoking and the wind to blow to the SW. They say Tokyo is too far but that’s bullshit.

According to this Austrian website that may happen by Sunday (GMT?). If the winds continue, the whole of the country could get a nasty dusting afterwards.

http://www.zamg.ac.at/aktuell/index.php?seite=1&artikel=ZAMG_2011-03-18GMT09:52

simchaland says

Troy says

LOL, TBS and NHK have stopped streaming on ustream now.

Great. I was mainlining that for a week. Now I’m going to go into info withdrawal.

I should just work on my stuff and ignore this I guess.

That’s not a good sign…

Oh yeah... isn't it Saturday morning in Japan? Prime time for getting repairs done. I thought they were reconnecting the power today...

simchaland says

Do I think we can do anything to “get out of the way” if the stuff that actually makes it here is horribly harmful to us? No. I don’t. I’d at least like to know the truth so that I’d know how to take care of myself as best as I can under the circumstances. I don’t think that the people of Japan are getting enough truthful information to take care of themselves and I highly doubt that if this ends up being serious for us that we will get enough information to actually take care of ourselves well.

Agreed. Although being east of the Rockies might help psychologically.

terriDeaner says

I thought they were reconnecting the power today…

What they're reconnecting power TO remains to be determined.

Power is good in that you can deploy replacement stuff, but I was watching on Japanese TV some author guy who wrote anti-nuke books in the 80s go on about how everything's completely fucked in the plants now --eg. they've been evaporating sea water in them for a week now, every unit has had a hydrogen explosion, not to mention they admit all three active reactors have had core damage due to losing coolant due to inability to circulate new coolant.

Here's the guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37sStCJjH14#t=1m50s

"you can't just throw water on it, you've got to circulate water through it"

"those college guys on TV don't know anything, only the engineers do"

I really hope this guy is a paid shill for the oil industry and not telling the truth . . .