under control.

TEPCO, operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, admits it needs overseas help to contain the radioactive fallout, after 18 months of trying to control it internally. It comes after the latest leak at the facility was deemed a “serious incident.”

"Many other countries outside of Japan have experienced decommissioning reactors, so we hope we can consult them more and utilize their experience,” TEPCO’s vice president, Zengo Aizawa, said at a news conference on Wednesday night.

"In that sense, we need support, not only from the Japanese government but from the international community to do this job."

The call comes after one of the 1,060 temporary tanks used to store highly contaminated water sprang a leak on Wednesday, discharging as much as 300 tons of radioactive liquid containing large amounts of cesium. Further tests revealed excessive radiation levels elsewhere in the facility.

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) rated the incident 3 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, which spans from 1 to 7.

"The current situation is at the point where more surveillance won't be enough to keep the accidents from happening," declared Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the NRA.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that it is “taking this matter seriously and remains ready to provide assistance on request."


http://rt.com/news/fukushima-international-iaea-leak-866/



I think they have downplayed this disaster for too long and know it.

Maybe that's not a "nice" thing to say, but something like this? I don't care about nice.

Chernoybl took 600,000 troops to get under "control" and countless dead. Huge swaths of Europe were irradiated.

Also I have no problem with Nuke plants being built. Provided every person that signs off on construction or has ANYTHING to do with building one is a first responder and agrees to be on site till it's clean, no matter what the radiation level is.

That may well be the most bloodthirsty, vengeful thing I've ever seen posted on DU. An ugly sentiment, in the extreme.

Lets see what your sentiment is if where you live, happens to end up under a fallout pattern and the Govt doesn't bother to mention that small fact till its gotten way to high.

Yep call me bloodthirsty. Just making them really accountable for what they Hath wrought. They have put the entire ecosystem in jeopardy. Accountability is Something you as a "former" Right Winger may not know much about.

Dr. Chris Busby: Fukushima Now 72,000 Times Hiroshima Radiation

Dr. Chris Busby verified today in an email that three spent fuel pools are totally blasted away and burned up. That puts the approximate radiation levels at 24,000 HIROSHIMAS x 3 = 72,000 times the radiation of Hiroshima now in the atmosphere. Remember, this is JUST from the spent fuel pools. Radiation escaping from the reactors is another story altogether.

We have now all had time to evaluate what we believe is the truth behind the Japanese Nuclear Incident (or should I say disaster) and it has become clear that we have all been deceived by the Japanese Authorities, their nuclear establishment, the IAEA, the international pro nuclear groups and more importantly the so called experts that are invited onto the mainstream media channels to blast us with nothing more than total spin. We have heard from nuclear experts from Chatham House (the NWO voice box) and such people as Prof. Gerry Thomas from Imperial College London.

They all keep playing down this disaster without themselves fully understanding the implications on human health and the antiquated testing methods used in the assessment of potential victims. It is only when one listens to such people as Dr. Chris Busby that you get to understand the true picture of the side effects of contamination by ingestion i.e. depleted uranium etc.

http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2011/03/24/dr-chris-busby-fukushima-now-72000-times-hiroshima-radiation/

But he should be there until he dies, too. Greed should be a capital offense.

people drove them in to put out the fire. The choppers in particular hovered over the fire to dump tons of barium salts on it. It was the only way to put it out.

No Damn way should any of them still be used. No way should there even be a discussion concerning them still being used. Fukushima Daiichi is evidence enough that the nuclear industry is not ready for the big time and its been 20 some odd years after the Chernobyl disaster. One would think that the industry as a whole would have been working on ways to learn to contain the damage when something does go wrong at least in this 20 plus year time span. But no, not just no but hell no they haven't. Nuclear energy can't stand on its own in todays world of energy needs without a big hand out from the governments where they're sited.
Shut the bastards down and do it now. Make the companies that have been making money from them all these years bear the cost of dismantling them and returning the area they're at as close to normal as humanly possible. Knowing full well that it will be years before any of the sites can safely be occupied by man or beast, fowl or fish

To go to the next level-

The firefighters that first responded to the explosion received a lethal dose of radiation. Most died within a few days. Their clothing was discarded in the basement of the hospital in Pripyat.

These clothes are still radiating high levels of radiation.

And the disaster at Fukushima continues to roll on...