March 11th, 2011
A Boiling Water Reactor system (Source: Nuclear Information and Resource Service.)
Update (3-12-11):
An explosion at one of the Fukushima reactors on Saturday intensified concerns about possible escaping radiation.
But experts at the site reported that the threat of radiation was receding and that the explosion, which damaged an exterior concrete containment wall, had not compromised the metal containment surrounding the core.
“We’ve confirmed that the reactor container was not damaged. The explosion didn’t occur inside the reactor container. As such there was no large amount of radiation leakage outside,” Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, said in a news conference Saturday night. “At this point, there has been no major change to the level of radiation leakage outside, so we’d like everyone to respond calmly.”
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift
