Tokyo Electric Power Company Managing Director Akio Komiri displays emotion leaving a press conference at Fukushima.Mr. Komiri admitted that some Japanese will be killed by radiation spewing from TEPCO's reactors, and that he has one of the worst haircuts in Japan.

Fukushima Daiishi Update 9:30 PM EDT 18 March 2011 from various sources


Temperatures are rising now in the spent fuel storage pools of reactors 5 and 6 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported today.
The primary containment vessel in reactor 2 is damaged.
Primary containment for reactors 1 & 3 appear to be intact and efforts continue to provide power and repair cooling equipment for those reactors.
Allowable exposure to radiation as been increased by the government twice since the emergency began.
The original level was 50 millisieverts per year. It was first changed to 100, and then 250 millisieverts.  Information about the actual radiation levels around the plant and exposure levels of the workers has been difficult to come by. The government has been describing it as about 3,750 microsieverts an hour, or close to 4 millisieverts an hour. That would mean that twelve hours on site would give a worker close to the original allowable level of 50 millisieverts for a year. The government has stated that radiation levels have been variable on site. Spikes of radiation as high as 400 millisieverts an hour have been admitted. The average person receives about 2 millisieverts a year from various sources. A chest x-ray exposes you to .1-.2 millisieverts.
The United States Government has advised its citizens to remain outside a 50 mile radius of Fukushima. That advisory does not jibe with the admitted levels of radioactivity being emitting from the damaged nuclear facility stated by Japanese authorities.
This week at a press conference Prime Minister Naoto Kan described the workers on site as "prepared for death". The Japanese press are referring to the on site workers as "Kesshitai", forlorn hope, which has been a designation of Japanese soldiers who accept an assignment in which there is no possibility of survival.
Experts are beginning to admit that the reactors at Fukushima Daiishi will have to be entombed in concrete to contain long term radiation.

Status Chart of Reactors found on this page as provided by JAIF (Japan Atomic Industrial Forum).
Updates provided by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.