Fuel Rods exposed to Air: An Expert Walk-through April 2, 2011

Arne Gunderson is an expert with experience as a nuclear industry executive. His updates, he said, will be coming every other day. This is from thursday, and I’ll be looking for the next one as soon as it’s available.

Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting that a leak has been discovered draining high level radioactive material directly into the Pacific ocean.

April 2 (Reuters) – The operator of Japan’s quake-stricken nuclear plant said on Saturday it had found radioactive water leaking into the sea from a cracked concrete pit at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) officials said it was possible that the crack may be the source of recent radiation contamination in the sea off the northeast coast. The radiation in the pit measured 1,000 millisieverts per hour. It was not clear whether the water had come from the reactor itself nor how much has been leaking from the pit into the sea. Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, told a separate news conference that TEPCO was planning to pour concrete into the pit to seal the crack.