The situation on the plant site is getting somewhat better. Unlike in the first week the operation now seems to be coordinated and adequate man power is being used. Detailed information though is still scarce. Some food from the wider Fukuchima, spinach and milk, have been found to be contaminated with radiation above the legal limits.

Five minute video of the military firefighters spraying at the block 3 spent fuel pond. The protection suits seen at the beginning are not military grade and, in my view, not adequate for working in a contaminated environment. There is a lot of debris laying around the unit no. 3. The support structure of the crane in the reactor hall of no.3 seems to be gone. The crane which is usually above the spent fuel pond may have fallen down and may have damaged the spent fuel assemblies. The water cannon operation itself is reasonably well done.

Details on each unit follow below.

Unit 1

A powerline for external power was laid but has not yet been connected to the distribution inside the building.

Unit 2

A powerline for external power was laid but has not yet been connected to the distribution inside the building. While the outer building seems intact eyewitnesses reported quite heavy internal destruction with cooling and electricity lines broken apart.

Unit 3

After 14 hours of continuous operation the spent fuel pool has been filled completely by Tokyo firefighters. Some 2400 tons of water were sprayed through an elevated water cannon fed with seawater through a 300 meter firehose line. Continued pumping will be required to keep the fuel covert. As explained here seals at the fuel pond depend on external electricity to stay sealed. Further leaks from the pool can are thereby be expected.

After filling pool radiation measured 500 meter from no 3 has gone down from 3400 microSievert per hour to 2900 microSievert per hour. Pressure in the primary containment of no. 3 is too high and another release of pressure from it is planned. This will again increase the radiation. The no 3 reactor has some MOX fuel assemblies which contain plutonium.

Unit 4

Plans were announced to fill the no. 4 spent fuel pool with borid fluid to prevent fission of the fuel stored there. Application of 80 tons of water began but was soon stopped for unknown reasons.

Unit 5

Cooling of the fuel pond has been restarted and the temperature there went down. Electricity is provided via restored emergency generators at unit no. 6. Holes have been punched into the roof of the secondary containment to prevent hydrogene build up.

Unit 6

Cooling of the fuel pond has been restarted and the temperature there went down. Two emergency generators are now up and running supplying 5 and 6. Cooling of fuel within the reactor through a residual heat removal line has been started. Holes have been punched into the roof of the secondary containment to prevent hydrogene build up.

Additional resources:
AllThingsNuclear Union of Concerned Scientists
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Atomic power review blog
Digital Globe Sat Pictures
IAEA Newscenter
NISA Japanese Nuclear Regulator
Japan Atomic Industry Forum (regular updates)
Japanese government press releases in English
Kyodo News Agency
Asahi Shimbun leading Japanese newspaper in English
NHK World TV via Ustream
Status reports for the German Federal Government by the Gesellschaft für Reaktorsicherheit in German language