Reactor one in relatively unbuggered condition!

With the MSM having the attention span of a 3 year old high on fizzy drinks, it is hardly surprising that Fukushima related news has disappeared from our view.

Unfortunately, the real story seems to be taking a turn for the downright buggered as Japan confirms that Reactor 4 building is in danger of falling over, spilling the large load of spent fuel rods all over the surrounding area :

Just tonight there was an announcement from the Japanese government that work has began to shore up the building from collapsing. The Building contains fuel rods from 3 to 4 reactors in there… If the building were to collapse you would have all the fuel rods from the spent fuel pool scattered around on the ground and the radiation levels would shoot up so high that it would make it very hard for workers to do any work in the area. The flow of information has been limited to control public perception of the disaster.

And, if that was not bad enough, TEPCO has confirmed that reactor one has no water and a pool of molten fuel sitting in the bottom of the reactor vessel :

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said one of the reactor cores at its stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant is more seriously damaged than previously thought, setting back the utility’s plan to resolve the crisis.

Fuel rods in the core of the No. 1 reactor are fully exposed, with the water level 1 meter (3.3 feet) below the base of the fuel assembly, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility known as Tepco, told reporters at a briefing in Tokyo. Melted fuel has dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel and is still being cooled, Matsumoto said.

If they can’t stabilise the reactor 4 building then the radiation levels from the scattered fuel rods will make dealing with all the other problems just about impossible. The old “between a rock and a hard place” seems to be unfortunately apt in this situation.