Japanese officials say they're ramping up efforts to cool their stricken nuclear facilities.
The United States has called for evacuations of American citizens as the crisis at a Japanese nuclear facility - without power and causing concern of a potential meltdown after last week's earthquake - grows worse.
The Associated Press reports that the U.S. is doing minute-by-minute analysis of the issue as it develops, according to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham.
Both The New York Times and NPR are following the story with live blog coverage, and The Times addressed reader questions and concerns last night in a Q&A.
The state of the nuclear facility
Japanese officials have made little progress cooling spent-fuel pools at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex over the past 24 hours. But what exactly is going wrong? The National Journal explains in detail:
Partial nuclear meltdowns and coinciding explosions have occurred in at least two of the reactors after the double whammy of the earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant’s electricity. Those problems have arisen with the actual generation of the nuclear power. The news of the day Wednesday focused on problems with the fourth reactor’s spent-fuel pool, the nuclear waste left over once power has been generated.
The terms nuclear meltdown and spent fuel—and the dozens of others also cropping up in media reports—can be complex on paper and even more confusing to imagine. But one basic point is that the most important piece of the puzzle is water. And in Japan’s case, that piece of the puzzle has been missing. Read more: Explaining Japan's Nuclear Crisis »
The BBC reports that Japan is ramping up its efforts at cooling the facilities Thursday.
In this photo released by US Navy, sailors move food and water onto an HH-60H Sea Hawk assigned to the Black Knights of Anti-Submarine Squadron (HS) 4 on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) Tuesday, March 15, 2011, off the coastline of Japan in the western Pacific Ocean. Ronald Reagan is in Japan to provide disaster relief and humanitarian assistance to Japan as directed in support of Operation Tomodachi which means "Friends" in Japanese. The U.S. response
President Barack Obama, who is on a five-day trip to South America, offered Japan "any support needed" and the U.S. has already begun assisting with the response. The AP reports:
Several water pumps and hoses were being sent from U.S. bases around Japan to help at Fukushima, where technicians were dousing the overheating nuclear reactors with seawater in a frantic effort to cool them. The U.S. had already sent two fire trucks to the area to be operated by Japanese firefighters, said Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, The Republican's Stan Freeman reported yesterday that the crisis in Japan has intensified the debate over nuclear power's role in New England's energy future. The Boston Globe reports that the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has put a temporary hold on the Vermont Yankee plant's license renewal, citing staffing issues as they deal with the issues abroad.
You don't need to buy potassium iodide
It's been reported that potassium iodide pills - which protect the thyroid from nuclear exposure - have been in short supply in the U.S., presumably as people stock up in case radiation makes its way to the West coast.
The BBC reports that the pills have been given to some military personnel:
Some US military personnel in Japan have received potassium iodide tablets to help counter any radiation exposure and the US has urged American citizens living within 80km (50 miles) of the Fukushima complex to leave; Japan's own exclusion zone is only 20km. Read more »
But NPR reports that the Surgeon General's office and the Union of Concerned Scientists have said that no one but the workers at the plant should be concerned about exposure. The Times addresses many of the health concerns created by the crisis in their Q&A with reporters.
Elsewhere in Japan, Reuters reports that the official death toll has risen to 4,000 and over 15,000 people are unaccounted for almost a week after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.