Reactor 1 "Recritical" as Radioactive Chlorine Detected, Japan thinking Concrete Burial,Radiation increases to 4385 legal limit in Seawater

The Reactor 1 of the failed Fukushima Daichi plant might be recritical as Radioactive Chlorine has been detected suggesting chain reactions continued after the reactor shut down.This is  quite alarming and has made Japan thing about pouring concrete into its crippled Fukushima atomic plant IAEA warned that a potential uncontrolled chain reaction could cause further radiation leaks.The risk to workers might be greater than previously thought because melted fuel in the No. 1 reactor building may be causing isolated, uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions.Dumping concrete on the plant would serve a second purpose: it would trap contaminated water, said Tony Roulstone, an atomic engineer who directs the University of Cambridge’s masters program in nuclear energy.

Japan Weighs Entombing Nuclear Plant; IAEA Sees ’Criticality’

Workers have averted the threat of a total meltdown by injecting water into the damaged reactors for the past two weeks. The complex’s six units are connected with the power grid and two are using temporary motor-driven pumps. Work to repair the plant’s monitoring and cooling systems has been hampered by discoveries of hazardous radioactive water.

The risk to workers might be greater than previously thought because melted fuel in the No. 1 reactor building may be causing isolated, uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions, Denis Flory, nuclear safety director for the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, said at a press conference in Vienna.

The bad news keeps pouring out of the Japanese Nuclear Disaster just like radiated seawater from the failed Fukushima Daichi plant.TEPCO is said the have failed to contain the fallout from the plant and is thinking of drastic measures to shutdown the plant.4 of the reactors are already permanently damaged after seawater was used to cool them.The Nuclear Disaster which has been making headlines for the last 3 weeks may continue so for many more weeks.The Japanese government seems to be in denial with the evacuation zone only 20 kms from the plant even as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) suggested widening the 30-kilometre exclusion zone around the plant after finding that radiation levels at a village 40 kilometres from the plant.The Radioactivity in the seawater near the complex has increased to 4385 times the legal limit from 3,355 times the legal limit yesterday.The increased radiation is mainly due to the water being poured in the reactors to cool them,but this has now boomeranged a bit as the water has become seriously contaminated.

Japan says battle to save the nuclear reactors has failed

Japanese officials have conceded that the battle to salvage four crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has been lost.”We apologise for causing the public anxiety, worry and trouble due to the explosions at reactor buildings and the release of radioactive materials,” he told reports in Tokyo late on Wednesday. “Our greatest responsibility is to do everything to bring the current situation to an end and under control.”

The hundreds of workers at the plant must now find a balance between pumping enough water to cool the reactors and avoiding a runoff of highly radioactive excess water. As yet they do not have anywhere to store the contaminated water.The options under consideration were to transfer the water to a ship or cover the reactors to trap radioactive particles, Edano said.