‘‘The radiation leak has not stopped completely and our concern is that the amount of leakage could eventually reach that of Chernobyl or exceed it.”-Official statement from Tokyo Electric Power Company

Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says most of the radioactive material spewed from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is coming from Reactor 2.  Reactor 2 building exploded on 15 March.  They now know the reactor containment vessel was damaged, possibly breached, resulting in highly radioactive isotopes being emitted.

Also, radiation has been spread by the spent fuel rods, after the explosions, because the spent fuel pools were located on the top of the buildings.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says the current readings of radiation emitted is 10% of the Chernobyl disaster, but, TEPCo believes it’s likely Fukushima Daiichi will exceed the contamination caused by Chernobyl.

Kyodo News says Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was on fire.

Tokyo Electric Power Company said the fire occurred in a huge battery storage box near a water outlet of Reactor 4.  The fire was spotted by a worker, and put out.  The cause of the fire is being investigated.

The Japanese government just raised the level of the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi to 7.  That is the same level as Chernobyl.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency made the decision to raise it to the worst condition, under the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, because of the extremely high levels of radiation that is being spewed.  Also, it is based on the size of the area that is being contaminated, and the threat to life.

At one point Fukushima Daiichi was emitting up to 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour!

Tokyo Electric Power Company has received about $24 billion USD in loans from several major banks.

TEPCo officials say they need to money to continue working to deal with the crisis at Fukushima Daiichi.  This is proof that corporations are not prepared for disasters.

“Dad chose to go because of his sense of responsibility toward his job. Now he’s working for everyone.”-worried wife to her daughter

They’re desperate, but determined to support their husbands, working in deadly conditions at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

“My Dad’s great. He’s a hero.”-proud daughter

Many wives know their husbands might suffer deadly contamination working at the damaged nuke plant, but they say their husbands are driven by a sense of commitment to the country.  Their children don’t quite understand the seriousness of the situation; dad is a hero, but how long will he be here after exposure to the deadly radiation?

Some wives say relatives criticize them for not stopping their husbands from working in the deadly plant.  Not only do they have to deal with relatives, but their own husbands will not talk about what is going on at Fukushima Daiichi.

“It’s my job as his wife to believe he’s safe and wait for him to come home after work where he’s risking his life.”

A 61-year-old woman, whose husband manages one of the many subcontractors at Fukushima Daiichi, says it is difficult to get info.  In a recent email her husband said only “I’m alright”, after she asked about radiation exposure.

She said when he finally came home for a break he looked exhausted.

Another wife tries to deal with it by planing the usual things, like enrolling her daughter in school.  She said after a week of working at the damaged nuclear plant, her husband came home looking exhausted, with bloodshot eyes.  He told her he had been exposed to high levels of radiation.  She said their daughter seems to know, she no longer asks for piggy back rides.

From The Daily Yomiuri

Several cities and towns in the Fukushima Prefecture have shown higher levels of contamination that first thought.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has been taking radiation readings around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.  Since 26 March the radiation readings went up to dangerous levels, and stayed up.

This was part of the government’s decision to expand the evacuation zone.

The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends 1,000 microsieverts as the long-term yearly limit to radiation exposure.  In Namie Town, 30km (18.6 miles) northwest of the plant, the Ministry of Science found 14,480 microsieverts of radiation had accumulated over 17-days!  They found many more areas with similar radiation levels.

Hiroshima University Professor Shizuma Kiyoshi, says most of the radiation observed in Fukushima Prefecture is probably radioactive cesium.

Shizuma advises residents to wear masks to avoid inhaling radioactive substances mixed with dust.

Almost as if they intentionally timed their decision with the latest ‘big’ aftershock (two in 4 days now), the Japanese government announced that they will expand the evacuation zone.

The zone will now be 30 kilometers instead of 20km.  The expansion applies only to areas within the 30km (18.6 miles) radius that show high levels of radiation.  People living in areas that have readings that are the equivalent of 20 millisieverts per year, will be asked to leave.  The current yearly exposure standard, to naturally occuring radiation, is 2.4 millisieverts.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio, said they will work with the local governments, and residents will have one month to get out.  Edano also said that people living in the 30km area, but not currently experiencing high levels of radiation, must be prepared to leave at any time.

”…not yet a situation to be optimistic about…”-Nishiyama Hidehiko, Nuclear Safety Agency

The Japanese media reports a magnitude 7.0 quake (US Geological Survey calling 6.6), it’s the second ‘big’ aftershock in the past 4 days.

The latest aftershock halted work on the damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture.  TEPCo is not sure how soon they can restart the work.

The two big aftershocks may have caused a new problem at the nuclear plant: ”Now we are in a dilemma because we are seeing water which is pumped in to cool down the reactors showing up as pools of [contaminated] water in other places of the plant.”-Nishiyama Hidehiko, Nuclear Safety Agency