@NorthernRoamer: It may not be that new, but I agree that it needs to be a more common occurrence.

@gary_7vn: True. It was very vague, as per the problems with Japan's communications at the moment. The workers were said to have "gone to safe locations", and those locations were technically still within the plant.

It's just considered part of the fuel rods themselves. Like... the nuclear fuel is not actually a rod. The nuclear fuel is little pellets. These pellets are contained in rods. That's what makes them fuel rods. So, when those pellets get too hot, they deform the rods and threaten to melt the whole thing into a…

@GitEmSteveDave♥ Elizabeth Lambert: "Primary containment" is actually the large vessel of the reaction chamber. So, they believe a crack has occurred in that vessel, leading to a seeping of gas from the reaction chamber. The fuel rods themselves do have protection, but they have already noticeably deformed from a…

Just as a preemptive addressing of some concerns from fellow commenters, this does not mean there will be an explosion or a plume of an significant radiation that could hurt the USA or any other country with fallout.

@Denver is too damn high: In a battle between all of them, I'd go with the Japanese government officials reporting live from Japan every few minutes on the NHK. You can find a live translated feed online.

Wait... so, their evidence is that he has an app on his phone? Or did he admit to the crime?

@Twisk: lol. Where did you hear the Fox News ones? I actually oddly saw their commentators say that the Dems were blowing this out of proportion to get more regulation and power over the nuclear energy industry, and they thought a nuke plant explosion was nearly impossible.(including Glenn Beck doing a really dumb…

And he got a very slick haircut out of it. Very nice.

That is truly the embodiment of terror. Such unrelenting power that just continues to spread and destroy in a way that is simply hard to comprehend.

@Zendax: ha! It's a little bad. :P

Well, hopefully there won't be need for any more people being treated. Though every bit of evidence I can consider at the moment indicates otherwise(such as a new report indicating the sea water hasn't been enough and some of the rods are peaking above the water again in Units 1 and 3), I am hopeful that they will be…

I have a feeling they initially thought they might be able to save the reactor instead of just snuffing it out, but now they're just trying to somehow keep it down. And a Japan Nuclear Agency representative has just this hour stated that three reactors are now failing. Though, he noted that they expect to get them…

In a live press briefing within the last hour on the NHK, a representative for the Japan Nuclear Agency said the following:

heh. I have mainly stumbled across these nuggets from the NHK Japanese news station. It streams online, and the heads of the reconstruction effort come on and speak for a few minutes every now and then.

Thanks for the update, stre.

@snownpaint1: I know the Japanese disaster has us all down, but that's no reason to be insulting. This is a serious, ever-evolving situation.

If only massive disasters were more orderly, right? ;)

@snownpaint1: To be fair, this is a heck of a common news story.

Just now in a live press conference, Japan's chief Cabinet secretary Yukio Edano has stated, "We are assuming that a meltdown has occurred" at the nuclear power reactor.