Yeah they basically said they had planned for flooding but with Tsunami at 10 meters plus which did not subside - non-powered safety measures were next and appear to have failed as well

Two new stories popped in the last hour, not corroborated anywhere else yet:

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilN....

They're using seawater in unit 2 now as well as 1 and 3.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/internation....

Unit 3 managed to get by without any fuel melting as was originally feared.

I have been unable to get into Tepco site for some time is anyone else having this issue?

Their webservers are in meltdown right now...

Was a bit of a hint when Travel advisory from U.S. used the word several , implying more than two, they are keeping us in the dark....

The authorities acknowledge problems in a third reactor

..."Thus, there are now three reactors that need cooling at this plant as a result of damage caused by the earthquake, which damaged the generator cooling system and caused an explosion on Saturday and a radioactive leak. In total, the plant has six reactors."....

http://www.larazon.es/noticia/7198-las-a....

This satellite image, obtained March 12, 2011, shows post earthquake and tsunami damage at the Fukushima Dai Nai nuclear plant in Japan March 12, 2011.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0....

Seems like they would want to expand evacuation zone size at this point, No?

One of my closet friends is a mechanic with a fire dept and runs his own auto shop at home. We were discussing the diesel generators and he was telling me that if they had all the parts, the generators weren't damaged and only got wet, then they could have them running again in two days. You basically have to drain the oil, remove the glow plugs, and get all the water out of the engine. I wonder how destroyed the generators are if they aren't talking of trying to repair them?

I think it's a time factor, they need cooling yesterday.

IAEA says they were told by Japan that a state of emergency has been reported at the Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant

Pretty crappy to not keep the public informed

Tepco servers still down

http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/files....


5:38 Unit 3 of Fukushima-Dai-ichi notified to NISA the situation of the
Article 15 of Act on Special Measures Concerning Nuclear Emergency
Preparedness at the specific emergency stage under the loss of all of the
coolant injection function.
TEPCO is on the progress of the recovering of both of the power source and
coolant injection function, and on vent for reducing of the pressure of RPV.

Japan's nuclear safety agency is now saying there is no problem with the cooling process at Tohoku Electric's Onagawa plant - Reuters

The diesel generators are probably 20ft tall by 40ft long. It would take around 300 gallons of oil for an oil change, not to mention the gaskets and all other parts aren't exactly of the "off the shelf" variety. Plus, if the diesels were flooded, the associated switchgear was also, because it's usually housed with the generators.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

http://www.facebook.com/iaeaorg

Radioactive leak at No. 3 no health risk: Edano
Compiled from Kyodo, AP

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/n....

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a senior official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, indicated Sunday that the core of the No. 3 reactor had also undergone some melting.

"I don't think the fuel rods themselves have been spared damage," he said.

"The operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co., began injecting fresh water into the No. 3 reactor's core on Sunday after learning that the tops of its MOX fuel rods were sticking 3 meters out of the cooling water. The rods must be completely covered to avoid overheating."

Fox News - Will need to start concrete capping/sealing Unit 1 in the next three hours!!!

Tepco back online with new releases

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/press/corp-com....

Uhh, I guess I haven't seen the obvious answer as to why they can't get this thing under control discussed:

There isn't anybody working on it.... C'mon folks, nobody is helicoptering equipment into there. No firefighters are there. It would be 100% suicide right now to walk into that place. It's even possible that anybody that was there trying to fix it is dead now. Anybody who has enough knowledge about nuclear power to help, has enough to know to stay a long way distant, and even if they were willing, it's likely it would kill them before they got close enough to fix anything.

If the piping and automated systems are breached, and remote operations aren't possible, then this thing is likely 100% on autopilot getting ready to auger in in a big way.

German media reporting a fire in the turbine room at Onagawa Nuc plant....Onagawa is closer to the epicenter of the quake then are the two Fukushima complexes...The French are telling French citizens to leave the Tokyo area noting that Japan's meteorological office is predicting a 70% chance of a powerful aftershock in the Tokyo region sometime in the next three days...The French Embassy also fears an explosion at one of the Fukushima reactors could send a plume of radioactive smoke down to Tokyo...Britain & Germany also advising citizens to postpone non essential travel to Japan....Reuters...

elow is major impact to TEPCO's facilities due to the Miyagiken-Oki
Earthquake that occurred yesterday at 2:46PM.
*new items are underlined

[Nuclear Power Station]
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1 to 3: shutdown due to earthquake
Units 4 to 6: outage due to regular inspection
* The national government has instructed evacuation for those local
residents within 20km radius of the site periphery.
* The value of radioactive material (iodine, etc) is increasing according
to the monitoring car at the site (outside).
* Since the amount of radiation at the boundary of the site exceeds the
limits, we decide at 4:17PM, Mar 12 and we have reported and/or noticed
the government agencies concerned to apply the clause 1 of the Article 15
of the Radiation Disaster Measure at 5PM, Mar 12. The radiation dose at
the monitoring post decreased once. Today, the measured value revamped and
the radiation dose measured at site boundary exceeded the limiting value
again. As such, at 8:56AM, today, it was determined that a specific incident
stipulated in article 15, clause 1 occurred and at 09:01AM, today, notified
accordingly.
After that, the measured value by the monitoring car decreased once, however
the value revamped and the radiation dose measured at site boundary exceeded
the limitation again. As such, at 2:15PM, today, it was determined that a
specific incident stipulated in article 15, clause 1 occurred and at 02:23PM,
today, notified accordingly.
* In addition, a vertical earthquake hit the site and big explosion has
happened near the Unit 1 and smoke breaks out around 3:36PM, Mar 12th.
* Unit 1: We started injection of sea water into the reactor core at 8:20PM,
Mar 12 and then boric acid subsequently. We are coordinating with the
relevant authorities and departments as to how to cool down water in the
spent nuclear fuel pool.
* Unit 2: Reactor has been shut down and Reactor Core Isolation Cooling
System has been injecting water to the reactor. Current reactor water level
is lower than normal level, but the water level is steady. After fully
securing safety, we are preparing to implement a measure to reduce the
pressure of the reactor containment vessels under the instruction of the
national government. To do so, we operated the vent valve and completed the
operation at 11:00AM, Mar 13.
* Unit 3: High Pressure Coolant Injection System automatically stopped. We
endeavored to restart the Reactor Core Isolation Cooling System but failed.
Also, we could not confirm the water inflow of Emergency Core Cooling System.
As such, we decided at 5.10AM, Mar 12, and we reported and/or noticed the
government agencies concerned to apply the clause 1 of the Article 15 of
the Radiation Disaster Measure at 5:58AM, Mar 13.
In order to fully secure safety, we operated the vent valve to reduce the
pressure of the reactor containment vessels (partial release of air
containing radioactive materials) and completed the procedure at 8:41AM,
Mar 13 (successfully completed at 09:20AM, Mar 13. After that, we began
injecting water containing boric acid that absorbs neutron into the reactor
by the fire pump from 09:25AM, Mar 13.
Taking account of the situation that the water level within the pressure
vessel did not rise for a long time and the radiation dose is increasing,
we cannot exclude the possibility that the same situation occurred at Unit
1 on Mar 12 will occur. We are considering the countermeasure to prevent
that.
* We continue endeavoring to secure the safety that all we can do and
monitoring the periphery.

Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1 to 4: shutdown due to earthquake
* The national government has instructed evacuation for those local
residents within 10km radius of the periphery.
* At present, we have decided to prepare implementing measures to reduce
the pressure of the reactor containment vessel (partial discharge of air
containing radioactive materials) in order to fully secure safety.
These measures are considered to be implemented in Units 1, 2 and 3 and
accordingly, we have reported and/or noticed the government agencies
concerned.
* Unit 3 has been stopped and being "nuclear reactor cooling hot stop" at
12:15PM.
* The operator trapped in the crane operating console of the exhaust stack
was transferred to the ground at 5:13PM and confirmed the death at 5:17PM.

Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1, 5, 6, 7: normal operation
Units 2 to 4: outage due to regular inspection

[Thermal Power Station]
Hirono Thermal Power Station Units 2 and 4: shutdown due to earthquake
Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station Unit 1: shutdown due to earthquake
Kashima Thermal Power Station Units 2, 3, 5, 6: shutdown due to earthquake
Ohi Thermal Power Station Unit 2: shutdown due to earthquake (Unit 3
resumed operation)
Higashi-Ohgishima Thermal Power Station Unit 1: shutdown due to earthquake

[Hydro Power Station]
* All the stations have been restored.

[Transmission System, etc.]
4 substations shown below have been shutdown:
- Naka Substation
- Shin Motegi Substation
- Joban Substation
- Nishi Mito Substation

[Blackout in TEPCO's Service Area]
Total of about 0.26 million households are out of power.
Tokyo: 0
Kanagawa Pref.: 0
Tochigi Pref.: 7,366
Chiba Pref.: 301
Saitama Pref: 0
Gunma Pref.: 0
Ibaraki Pref: 247,853
Yamanashi Pref: 0
Shizuoka Pref: 0 (east of Fuji River)

[Supply and Demand Status within TEPCO's Service Area to Secure Stable Power
Supply]
Backup supply from Shinshinano Conversion Station: 600MW
Backup supply from Sakuma Conversion Station: 300MW
Backup supply from Higashi Shimizu Conversion Station: 100MW
Backup supply from Kitahon Interconnection Facility: 600MW

Because TEPCO's facilities have been seriously damaged, power shortage
may occur. TEPCO appreciates customers' cooperation in reducing electricity
usage by avoiding using unnecessary lighting and electrical equipment.

We are taking all measures to restore power, however, we expect extremely
difficult situation in power supply for tomorrow as well.
We kindly ask our customers to cooperate with us in reducing usage of power.

Please do NOT touch cut-off electric wires.

.............................................................................
----What is hot stop?

* Unit 3 has been stopped and being "nuclear reactor cooling hot stop" at
12:15PM.

Those TEPCO press releases are current as of 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm but it's already after midnight there.

Yeah they seem to always be a day behind, but sometimes carry more detail.

What does it mean by Hot Stop in reactor three I saw that yesterday but unclear?

Talked to a retired physicist who thinks Japan is in DEEP **** concerning the problems at Fukushima..He said that pouring salt water on the cores is a last ditch, desperation move akin to a half court shot at the buzzer in basketball.....However, he feels that even if a full fledged meltdown occurs, significant radiation is not likely to reach the West Coast....

Quote:

What does it mean by Hot Stop in reactor three I saw that yesterday but unclear?

I'm not sure either.