#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Reactor No.5 Is "LIVE"

These bloody liars... Has anyone paid attention to this?

There are two slightly different pieces of information on this, but first, from NHK (Japanese; 5:15AM JST 3/16/2011), who, with so many polite, soothing Japanese words in an archaic-looking Mincho font, essentially says the government agency was hiding the important truth (link, emphasis added):

Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency [English website] announced earlier today that the water level in the Reactor Pressure Vessel of the Reactor No.5 has started to fall slightly. The reactor was supposed to be safe and "cold", as it had been shut down for maintenance before the earthquake struck.

However, the nuclear fuel rods were already in place inside the Reactor Pressure Vessel in preparation for the restart of the operation, and so it was necessary to keep water circulating in the Vessel. Then the earthquake struck on March 11, and tsunami destroyed the diesel power generator, which occasionally caused the temperature of the Vessel to rise. In order to adjust the pressure, the valve [on the Vessel] was opened to let the steam escape. Then the water level was observed to have dropped to 2 meter 1 centimeter above the fuel rods, at 9PM on March 15. That was 40 centimeter lower than at 4PM.

According to the Agency, they currently using the diesel power generator of the Reactor 6 to pump water to both the Reactors No.5 and 6. The Agency is confident that the water level can be well-controlled.

In other words, it was not just the matter of the used fuel rods in the storage pool (spent fuel pool)! The Reactor No.5 was, and always has been, "live".

According to BLTWY MSNBC (3/15/2011), it is the same with the Reactor No.6, that it, too, is "live" with the fuel rods in the Pressure Vessel:

Units 5 and 6 were loaded with nuclear fuel but not producing when Friday's quake and tsunami struck. They had been considered stable, but on Tuesday a senior Japanese official said temperatures there were slightly elevated."The power for cooling is not working well and the temperature is gradually rising, so it is necessary to control it," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.

"Plant operators were considering the removal of panels from units 5 and 6 reactor buildings to prevent a possible buildup of hydrogen," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

If MSNBC is correct, then both the Reactor No.5 and No.6 are loaded with nuclear fuel rods in the Reactor Pressure Vessels and so both are "live", and both Reactors are also loaded with hundreds of used fuel rods stored in the spent fuel pools near the top of the buildings.

And the temperatures of the spent fuel pools of these Reactors are rising. (See my previous post.)

I am counting how many nuclear fuel rods are there in each Reactor, from various Japanese news sources. That's another post. Stay tuned.

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