Saturday Evening EDT/ Sunday Morning Japan Time 
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster Update


Is The World Running Out of Uranium?
One Can Only Hope
The world's civilian uranium supply may be sparser than the world's petroleum supply. MIT's Technology Review reported in November of 2009 that uranium stocks will run out in 2013, citing a report by Michael Dittmar of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. The nuclear industry has disputed the pessimistic report, but not the fact that the supply of uranium is limited in the world. More optimistic estimates predict the shortfall for 2035.
The problems in Japan have spooked traders who have shorted the price of uranium from $73 dollars a pound to under $50 since the earthquake put the Achilles Heel of the nuclear industry on display.
Earlier reports that food products from the Fukushima prefect would be withheld from sale have been attributed to a mistranslation. It is now being said that these products are being considered for removal from the marketplace.

Worse Than Originally Presented
The New York Times reported that although Japan has raised the nuclear danger level associated with the Fukushima Daiishi plants to a 5 level, the consensus among experts is that it should be a 6 since it is a more severe situation than Three Mile Island.
The New York Times also reports that there is speculation that TEPCO officials delayed the pumping of seawater into the afflicted plants because that action would mean the reactors would have to be permanently shut down. The Times quoted a Wall Street Journal article that said TEPCO executives delayed the pumping of seawater into the reactors until the Prime Minister of Japan ordered it after the first hydrogen explosion.  Former TEPCO executive Akira Omoto was quoted as saying the company "hesitated because it tried to protect its assets".

Dead and Injured Workers
Five of the Fukushima workers are now reported dead and fifteen injured.
There is no new information to report about the status of the reactors or the spent fuel pools coming from  Japan's new Sunday morning.
We have a new war in the way now.

Saturday Morning EDT, 
Saturday Evening Japan Time 
Disaster Update from various sources
gathered primarily from  NHK World English, also including NPR, Reuters, Financial Times
9:30-10:00 AM EDT

Latest 7,500 dead, 11,700 missing
Spraying water continues on reactor 3. It will continue another three hours until midnight.
The official earthquake/tsunami death toll continues to rise.
Towns near the Fukushima Nuclear Plants are evacuating en masse.
Radiation (radioactive iodine) levels higher than the legal limits have been detected in milk and spinach in Fukushima prefect.
Although authorities had stated that these foodstuffs are not dangerous to consume, sale of Fukushima food products have now been ordered discontinued.
Many of the 200,000 Fukushima evacuees and people left homeless by the effects of the earthquake and tsunami  are sick with colds or flu like symptoms.There are reports that many of these people have run out of food and fuel.
Tokyo firefighters resumed spraying reactor 3 after a pause to allow power to be connected to the facility.
Officials stated that power will not actually be restored to the reactors and associated equipment until Sunday.
The extent of damage, if any, to the cooling systems will not be known until power is restored.
The mission to drop seawater from helicopters has been discontinued as dangerous and ineffective.
Radiation levels in areas of Japan outside the Fukushima area including Tokyo are said to be "far from levels dangerous to human health".
Authorities have reported that the status of the most potentially dangerous plutonium powered reactor 3 is "stabilizing" after spraying water on it for three hours Saturday. Details on exactly what is meant by stabilizing have not been forthcoming. Workers are using water to keep the spent rods from combusting which would spread extremely dangerous radioactive particles."The situation there is stabilizing somewhat." -Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano
The temperature of the spent rod cooling pool at reactor 4 has not been released by Japanese authorities since March 13. Earlier this week U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko testified before Congress that there was no water in that pool. It is a strong possibility that the rods in that dry pool have been burning and emitting radioactive material in the air.
There are reports  from the anti nuclear industry http://nuclear-news.net/ that 40 years of spent fuel rods have accumulated on site at Fukushima.
Authorities have announced that "slight traces" of radioactive iodine have been detected in Tokyo tap water.
China  demonstrated some skepticism of Japan's public pronouncements on the nuclear crisis by asking for  complete information from Japan's Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto today in meeting in Kyoto.
When asked about what he told South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan at the meeting which included the Chinese diplomats Matsumoto said,
"I told him the truth that I can't say I'm optimistic, but we are sparing no efforts to correct the situation."
A plan to drop a submersible pump into the pool at reactor 3 to allow remote pumping of water into the pool has proven problematic and is taking more time due to the greater than anticipated manual work required to install the pump and the fact that the workers' time is limited in a high radiation area.
Authorities announced today that drinking water in the Fukushima prefecture tested above the level for safe human consumption two days ago.

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. 

Previous Notes on the progress of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactor Site Through Thursday morning EDT. 

All of the plants at the Fukushima Daiichi complex are General Electric designs. They are operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Here is your scorecard (with reactor manufacturers noted) for the Fukushima Daiichi plants as they experience their unfortunate events:

Status Updated 7:30 AM 17 March 2011 EDT, Thursday night Tokyo time, monitoring NHK World TV Live in English. Further updates will be given via new blog posts.


(Via NHK) Thursday night : Casualty reports indicate over 5,500 confirmed dead in the earthquake and tsunami and over 9,600 unaccounted for.

Plant 1 July 1967-General Electric Reactor
Hydrogen gas caused outer housing explosion Saturday. Core may be in partial meltdown, estimated 70% fuel rods damaged.


Plant 2 June 1969-General Electric Reactor
core threatening to In partial melt down. Explosion early Tuesday damaged the containment system. Fuel rods were fully exposed. An estimated 33% damage to fuel rods was reported. The suppression chamber in the reactor is reported damaged.

Plant 3-December 1970-Toshiba (Westinghouse) Reactor
(uses mixed oxide Plutonium fuel and therefore is the most potentially hazardous)
Hydrogen gas caused outer housing explosion Sunday. Core may be in partial meltdown. White smoke was reported Wednesday morning. The reactor container is said to be intact but there are contradictory reports on the actual condition of the container.
(Via NHK) Thursday the water in the spent fuel pool was reported too low which caused authorities to authorize helicopter water drops despite dangerous levels of radiation. There is almost no water left in the spent fuel pool. It will require many helicopter runs. A helicopter can carry 7.5 tons of water per drop. The pool capacity is 2000 tons. It is believed that the pool can cool the spent rods if brought to a level perhaps one third full. The rate of possible leakage in the pools is unknown. Authorities have given reactor 3 first priority for cooling as of noon Thursday, Japan time. This reactor is potentially the most dangerous as it uses plutonium mixed oxide fuel. The first helicopter run was at 9:48 AM Thursday morning Japan time. Water cannon may be used on site by police. Effective range of water cannon is 30 meters. Riot police have been instructed to begin use of riot water cannon on reactor 3 as soon as possible.
Two helicopters made two drops each of 7.5 tons of seawater each from 90 meters altitude Thursday with an insignificant drop in measured radiation in the area at 3754 microsieverts per hour after the drops, measured 100 meters from plant 3. From my observation of video of these helicopters it looks like very little seawater is actually reaching the pool from these drops. Because of the risk of radiation the helicopters were unable to hover about the spent fuel pools. The had to drop the seawater while moving which spread out the water over a large area rather than the target area. Lead plates were installed underneath the helicopters to provide some protection against radiation. The extra weight is was said to hamper mobility and ability of the helicopters to carry a payload.
Five fire engines have been brought into the area to cool the spent rod piles. Police water cannon efforts to add water to the cooling pools was discontinued Thursday. Water cannons were unable to reach the pools without putting police personnel in danger of excess radiation effects.
Water sprayed or dropped into the pool seems to be vaporizing as soon as it enters the pool.
Thursday night heroic Japan Self Defense Force (SDF) personnel commenced spraying water from five fire engines into the spent fuel storage pools at plant 3 and 4. SDF personnel were able to operate the fire engines from inside the equipment helping them to avoid some radiation.
TEPCO personnel are attempting to restore high voltage electric power to the water pumps at the reactor sites. It is unknown if the pumps will operate when power is restored.
"At a certain point, they're going to have to abandon ship, they're committing a suicide mission to go in there. The radiation levels are near lethal right now…you're committing suicide to spend large amount of time there." theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku said Thursday.

Plant 4-February 1973-Hitachi (General Electric) Reactor
A reported fire Tuesday morning was suppressed but fire started again on Wednesday. A possibility of drained water from spent fuel pool caused burning of exposed spent fuel rods.
US officials were quoted Thursday as saying the spent fuel pool is empty at this reactor.
The walls of this reactor have collapsed, according to a TEPCO spokesman Thursday night. Thursday night a TEPCO spokesman stated that some water was left in the spent fuel pool at reactor 4.


Plant 5-May 1972-Toshiba (Westinghouse) Reactor
There was a report Wednesday, Japan time, of low coolant pool water level causing a high temperature in the spent fuel pool. No combustion has been reported.

Plant 6-October 1973-General Electric Reactor
A report Wednesday indicated that coolant pool water level was low, causing an elevated temperature in the spent fuel pool. No combustion has been reported.


On Thursday, in cooperation with the Japanese government, a USAF Global Hawk surveillance drone plane was dispatched from Guam to take detailed photographs of the Fukushima Daiishi complex and surrounding areas damaged by the earthquake and Tsunami.

Plant 7 planned for 2016
Plant 8 planned for 2017

Notes:
No one really knows what is going on inside these plants. It is too dangerous to go inside for any long period of time and monitoring equipment is probably inoperable. Actual readings of radioactivity just outside the plant seem to be a guarded secret. Only observations of smoke and structural damage can be made at this time.
Plants#4, #5 and #6 were reported shut down and under maintenance at the time of the earthquake.
General Electric and Hitachi nuclear power divisions merged (or created an "alliance") in 2007 as GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy.
Westinghouse Electric was sold by CBS/Viacom to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. in 1999.
In 2006 BNFL sold Westinghouse Electric to Toshiba.

Fukushima Daiishi Nuclear Plant update March 18, about 8 PM Tokyo time. 
Taken from NHK World English. and other sources as cited. 

Japan Self-Defence Force photograph dated March 16 of Reactor 3 damage
 

The New York Times is reporting that Japan has raised its assessment of the severity of the crisis. Until now, they rated it a 4 on the 7 level international scale of nuclear accidents. It has been increased to a 5. What does this mean? They now admit this accident is no longer of local significance. For comparison, the Three Mile Island incident was rated as a 5 on this scale and Chernobyl topped it out at a 7.

It is now acknowledged that the spent fuel pool at reactor 4 is damaged and leaking, a possibility raised in this blog earlier this week, making it very difficult or impossible to refill the pool with water.

Efforts to spray water on reactor 3, the most dangerous of the six reactors at the site, continue.
Seven fire trucks are now spraying that reactor.

One truck is beginning to spray the reactor 1 spent fuel tank as the water level is falling to a dangerous level.

Reactor 2 continues to emit steam, indicating that the pool water level is too low or, that the spent rods have gotten too hot.

Reactors 5 and 6 spent fuel tank temperature are rising now and the situation is being monitored. But they are not deemed an immediate threat.

It is said that TEPCO has restored electric power to the plant complex but there is no word if they have successfully restored the cooling pumps to service. It is unknown if the pumps were damaged by the tsunami, the earthquake or the various explosions at the site and if some or all of the pumps even can be restored to service.

Many people in the areas most affected by the earthquake are reporting various illnesses related to lack of heat and food. It is unknown if these illnesses are related to exposure to radiation.

It must be remembered that these efforts to apply water to the spent fuel pools have no relation to, or effect on, any possible partial or full meltdowns of fuel in the reactors themselves.

RTT News reported that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano has arrived in Tokyo to confer with Japan's Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto about the crisis. Amano stated that Japanes authorities have agreed to provide a transparent account of events. I take that to mean that they have not provided a transparent account heretofore.

After his meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Amano said this about the battle to stabilize the nuclear plants. "This is a very grave and serious accident so it is important that the international community, including the IAEA, handles this jointly. Especially cooling (the reactors) is extremely important, so I think it is a race against time."

TEPCO now states that an outside power source has been brought to the plant but that they have not yet successfully connected that power to the cooling systems (the suppression pumps) of the plants. It is unknown what systems will even function once electricity has been supplied. TEPCO states that this effort is hampered by very high radiation levels in the work area. It is hoped that the suppression pump for plant 2 can be put back in service Saturday. The high levels of radiation is the biggest problem facing workers attempting to repair the inoperative cooling systems.

The IAEA reported in its website that Japan on Thursday night at 9:15 PM EDT (Friday morning Japan time),  altered the INES (The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale) ratings of the events at Fukushima Daiishi  as follows:
Core damage reactors 2&3  -Rating 5
Loss of cooling water of spent fuel pool at reactor 4  -Rating 5
Loss of cooling functions at reactors 1,2, &4    -Rating 3

Most of the control functions of the reactor have been made inoperable due to the fact that they were submerged in seawater during the tsunami. Workers are limited to working only 20 minutes at a time in the control rooms of the reactors. The highest radiation is in reactors 3&4. That is the reason it takes three days to restore power to the cooling functions of each reactor. Control functions must be replaced. It will  not be known if the suppression pumps have been damaged until they are actually used. Or if they can be fixed or need to be replaced. 

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant update March 18, about 9 AM Tokyo time. 
Taken from NHK World English.


About 5,700 deaths have been confirmed from the earthquake and tsunami. About 9,600 persons are missing or unaccounted for. Temperatures remain below freezing and some elderly are dying as a result of lack of heat in shelters. 285,000 persons live in the areas left without electricity from the earthquake. 

It is believed that fire engines pumping water towards reactor 3 have reached the spent fuel pool. The evidence for this is steam now being observed emanating from reactor 3.
Water spraying operations will resume today on the reactors with the addition of firefighters and their equipment to the SDF troops already there. The spraying is being concentrated on reactors 3 and 4.
Radiation readings are still highest at reactor 3, the plutonium fueled and most potentially dangerous reactor.
Reactors 5 and 6 remain unchanged.
Today it is hoped that power can be connected to the cooling device at reactor 2 to cool the fuel there.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Unless you are Queen Elizabeth II or her family. The Players Lounge in Dublin has draped a forty foot banner across the front of the pub indicating that certain royals are unwelcome there.
The Queen is scheduled to make her first visit to Ireland in May.
Police advised the proprietor of the pub, Mr. John Stokes, to take down the banner. He refused and a judge then ordered him to remove the offensive signage. He then complied rather than face legal sanctions. Full story here.

The Supermoon is coming March 19.
But I have been feeling the effects this week already. The last two night I have had super intense dreams.
Tuesday night it was all about being in the earthquake/tsunami.
Last night it was an even more disastrous experience, if that is possible, when nuclear war broke out.
What will it be tonight?

Richard Nolle's Astropro site on the Supermoon. 

Les aristocrates à la lanterne!
Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira,
Les aristocrates, on les pendra!
Le despotisme expirera,
La liberté triomphera,
Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira,
-lyrics from "Ça Ira!"  popular song of the French Revolution

Beer Bottle Brouhaha 

I am documenting the disturbing trend of the use of the 11.2 ounce (330 ml) beer bottle. The vast majority of beers brewed in the United State use the 12 ounce bottle. Many beers brewed in the UK seem to be sold in the 12 ounce bottle in the United States. Most beers, with some exceptions (for example, Heineken, St. Pauli Girl the export only German brand, and Pilsner Urquel), brewed in the EU  are sold in 11.2 ounce bottle. I understand that our pint measurement (16 ounces) is smaller than the Euro equivalent 500 ml bottle, which contains 16.9 fluid ounces. But the vast majority of American and  imported beer is packaged in the smaller bottle.
I am merely presenting a cautionary instruction here. Check before you buy and understand you are getting almost 7% less beer if you buy the 11.2 ounce bottle.

The List of Shame


Prominent Beer Brands Selling the 11.2 Ounce Bottle  in the USA

Löwenbräu
All Belgian Beers as far as I can tell.
Stella Artois
Estrella Damm

A Special Case
Sneaky Labatt's (owned by AB InBev) sells beer in 11.5 oz. bottles.
Let us be grateful they only short us 1/2 ounce per bottle.
However, their cans contain a full 12 ounces.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants

It Is Safe To Say That Nuclear Reactors Are Inherently Unsafe

If there is a silver lining to the dark clouds of the ongoing disasters in Japan it may be that the world will think twice before entertaining the notion that the solution to the world's hunger for power can be safely satisfied by the production of nuclear energy as it is now attempted. Think five hundred pound man on a tightrope.

Last month President Obama pledged the nuclear industry a further 8 billion dollars for building new nuclear reactors in the United States.   LINK  The Union of Concerned Scientists has documented that subsidies to the nuclear industry already exceed the value of the power produced.  Obama made a statement in his address that is neither a truism, nor possible,  nor feasible.  "..we'll have to build a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in America."  We don't "have to build" them, also,  the safety and cleanliness of these plants as we know them have always been an issue of dispute and the major argument against their safety and cleanliness is on display in Japan for all the world to see.  
The President neglected to mention the cost of nuclear power. But when you are President and you are making corporate America happy, money is no object.   Although, to be fair, he ran for the Democratic nomination stating in one debate that "we should explore nuclear energy as part of the mix" which turns out to be a bland precursor to what he wants to do now. In my mind there is a difference between "explore" and handing over bags of cash. I didn't notice his warm cuddly feelings for nukes at the time he was running for President. That was probably because he is usually quite diffident about the things he is actually going to do. 

I think that these kinds of subsidies for the likes of General Electric (Hitachi) and Westinghouse Electric Company, (Toshiba) who build these behemoths, are a waste of money that leads to further waste of money. This is corporate welfare, pure and simple.  If you have ever had a look at a Westinghouse HDTV you would wonder what this company is doing even thinking of building a reactor. All of the plants at the Fukushima Daiichi complex are General Electric designs. They are operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Here is your scorecard (with reactor manufacturers noted) for the Fukushima Daiichi plants as they experience their unfortunate events:

Status Updated 7:30 AM 17 March 2011 EDT, Thursday night Tokyo time, monitoring NHK World TV Live in English.  Further updates will be given via new blog posts. 


(Via NHK) Thursday night : Casualty reports indicate over 5,500 confirmed dead in the earthquake and tsunami and over 9,600 unaccounted for. 

Plant 1 July 1967-General Electric Reactor
Hydrogen gas caused outer housing explosion Saturday. Core may be in partial meltdown, estimated 70% fuel rods damaged.


Plant 2 June 1969-General Electric Reactor
core threatening to  In partial melt down.  Explosion early Tuesday damaged the containment system. Fuel rods were  fully exposed. An estimated 33% damage to fuel rods was reported. The suppression chamber in the reactor is reported damaged. 

Plant 3-December 1970-Toshiba (Westinghouse) Reactor
(uses mixed oxide Plutonium fuel and therefore is the most potentially hazardous)
Hydrogen gas caused outer housing explosion Sunday. Core may be in partial meltdown. White smoke was reported Wednesday morning. The reactor container is said to be intact but there are contradictory reports on the actual condition of the container. 
(Via NHK) Thursday the water in the spent fuel pool was reported too low which caused authorities to authorize helicopter water drops despite dangerous levels of radiation.  There is almost no water left in the spent fuel pool.  It will require many helicopter runs. A helicopter can carry 7.5 tons of water per drop. The pool capacity is 2000 tons. It is believed that the pool can cool the spent rods if brought to a level perhaps one third full. The rate of possible leakage in the pools is unknown. Authorities have given reactor 3 first priority for cooling as of noon Thursday, Japan time. This reactor is potentially the most dangerous as it uses plutonium mixed oxide fuel. The first helicopter run was at 9:48 AM Thursday morning Japan time. Water cannon may be used on site by police. Effective range of water cannon is 30 meters. Riot police have been instructed to begin use of riot water cannon on reactor 3 as soon as possible. 
Two helicopters made two drops each of 7.5 tons of seawater each from 90 meters altitude Thursday with an insignificant drop in measured radiation in the area at 3754 microsieverts per hour after the drops, measured 100 meters from plant 3. From my observation of video of these helicopters it looks like very little seawater is actually reaching the pool from these drops. Because of the risk of radiation the helicopters were unable to hover about the spent fuel pools. The had to drop the seawater while moving which spread out the water over a large area rather than the target area. Lead plates were installed underneath the helicopters to provide some protection against radiation. The extra weight is was said to hamper mobility and  ability of the helicopters to carry a payload. 
Five fire engines have been brought into the area to cool the spent rod piles. Police water cannon efforts to add water to the cooling pools was discontinued Thursday. Water cannons were unable to reach the pools without putting police personnel in danger of excess radiation effects. 
Water sprayed or dropped into the pool seems to be vaporizing as soon as it enters the pool. 
Thursday night heroic Japan Self Defense Force (SDF) personnel commenced spraying water from five fire engines into the spent fuel storage pools at plant 3 and 4. SDF personnel were able to operate the fire engines from inside the equipment helping them to avoid some radiation. 
TEPCO personnel are attempting to restore high voltage electric power to the water pumps at the reactor sites. It is unknown if the pumps will operate when power is restored.
"At a certain point, they're going to have to abandon ship, they're committing a suicide mission to go in there. The radiation levels are near lethal right now…you're committing suicide to spend large amount of time there." theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku said Thursday.

Plant 4-February 1973-Hitachi (General Electric) Reactor
A reported  fire Tuesday morning was suppressed but fire started again on Wednesday. A possibility of drained water from spent fuel pool caused burning of exposed spent fuel rods. 
US officials were quoted Thursday as saying the spent fuel pool is empty at this reactor. 
The walls of this reactor have collapsed, according to a TEPCO spokesman Thursday night. Thursday night a TEPCO spokesman stated that some water was left in the spent fuel pool at reactor 4. 


Plant 5-May 1972-Toshiba (Westinghouse) Reactor
There was a  report Wednesday, Japan time, of  low coolant pool water level causing  a high temperature in the spent fuel pool. No combustion has been reported. 

Plant 6-October 1973-General Electric Reactor
A report Wednesday indicated that coolant pool water level was  low, causing an elevated temperature in the spent fuel pool. No combustion has been reported. 


On Thursday, in cooperation with the Japanese government, a USAF Global Hawk surveillance drone plane was dispatched from Guam to take detailed photographs of the Fukushima Daiichi complex and surrounding areas damaged by the earthquake and Tsunami.  

Plant 7 planned for 2016
Plant 8 planned for 2017

Notes:
No one really knows what is going on inside these plants. It is too dangerous to go inside and monitoring equipment is probably inoperable. Actual readings of radioactivity just outside the plant seem to be a guarded secret. Only observations of smoke and structural damage can be made at this time.
Plants#4,  #5 and #6 were reported shut down and under maintenance at the time of the earthquake.
General Electric and Hitachi nuclear power divisions merged (or created an "alliance") in 2007 as GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy.
Westinghouse Electric was sold by CBS/Viacom to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. in 1999.
In 2006 BNFL sold Westinghouse Electric to Toshiba.

Observations:
Maybe it is not a great idea to put six nuclear plants in the same place.
I think it is now safe to say that the generation of nuclear energy as we know it it not a good idea. 

And to those who would glibly defend the industry I ask:

Will you be around for 200,000 years to ensure the integrity of the nuclear waste?

If you were not directly or indirectly making a buck out of nuclear power, would you defend it?
And.... Would you have the balls to fight a reactor fire like those brave bastards in Japan? 

Rube Goldberg Machine

Nuclear power plants as we know them are unsafe overly-complicated Rube Goldberg contraptions.

They require inordinate attention and effort to maintain the illusion of safety, but never safety itself because they are inherently dangerous with an unacceptable degree of potential damage to people and the environment. 

They produce waste that must be protected for millennia. 

In the long run nuclear power is far too expensive and not worth the gigantic risk.

And if it were not for government subsidies (welfare) and government assurances of reduced liability, no private company in their right mind would build a nuclear power plant. They would never make a profit and they could never afford insurance on the open market.

By illustration of that statement I submit to you the sad spectacle of  Presidents and Congresses over the years offering cash to subsidize the building of the plants (Like Obama's charitable donation of $8 billion last month. Was it pledge month for the nuclear industry in February?) and laws like the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act that puts the government (in effect, the people) on the hook for liability over a set amount ($12.6 billion in 2011, not bad when estimated damages for a meltdown are as much as $500 billion) when the nuclear power industry has that inevitable "unfortunate accident". Such events are attended to by officials wringing their hands and wailing about the fact that no one could have foreseen the disaster. But that is exactly the problem with nuclear energy as we know it. No one can foresee all the potential for trouble in a giant complicated radioactive machine  and nuclear trouble is BIG potential trouble.
See article: "A Japan-reactor repeat in the United States could cost the government dearly"

And if you believe in free markets what are you doing supporting nuclear energy? After fifty years nuclear power is not viable without subsidies from YOU, as we read in this article, published just last month from the Union of Concerned Scientists titled aptly "After 50 Years, Nuclear Power is Still Not Viable without Subsidies, New Report Finds". LINK  We discover in this report that over thirty subsidies support the nuclear power industry every step of the way from the mining of radioactive materials to the long term storage of radioactive waste materials. Nuclear power represents the purest form of corporate socialism. And the way it is being shoved down our throats despite the known danger  is corporate terrorism.

Quotes of the Day
"The tsunami is a horrible human disaster, but to the shark it is the answer to his prayers."
And.....
"You can have it both ways when you begin and end with conflicting assertions."- John Bonanno