You have the latest news possible, it just came out of the spokesman's mouth seconds ago reactor number 4 is smoking again, it appears to be coming out of the outer structure..

I only bothered because I still had this open when it happened.

And let's make it clear, no. 4 reactor was inactive and being cooled down when the tsunami hit. It should have been fine. Well they all should have been fine, but this one should have been more fine.

Actually I take it back a little, Sarge's post did make me feel a little better. I would still rather be in Iowa. ( ;

Sarge you seem to know more than the average person. The latest news I have seen is they have lost the ability to cool reactor cores 1,2 and 3. They were being cooled for a while, but not any more (I believe). If they don't cool completely before they are left to nature to cool, what happens. Still no explosion of nuke material?

Please keep us updated

Here's a good Q&A by BBC.
They state pretty clearly that the fuel itself won't explode:
Could there be a nuclear explosion?

No. A nuclear bomb and a nuclear reactor are different things.

Good article, thanks. Some of the info is outdated (by hours or days) and it assumes that 1,2 and 3 reactors were being cooled. Because they couldn't keep them full the cores spent a lot of time not being cooled, and at this point the Japanese media is assuming they are no longer being cooled - at least not to any significant amount. Toden (the electric company) kept saying "we are making efforts to cool the cores" but it seems that not near enough cooling actually went on or is going on.

Here's an interesting (and damn frightening) scenario about the ultimate dirty bomb ... the spent fuel being released into the atmosphere because of the design of the facility.

The worry for me is the reactor 4, where they were simply storing the spent fuel. I believe it's an oil fire, but if the rods get exposed to the fire and burn themselves then you have radioactive material being released to the atmosphere.

For the cores melting down, that doesn't concern me as much. The core itself cannot explode like a bomb, again pressure could cause an explosion, but if there are cracks in the containment then that's not a real risk anymore.

I think this type of reactor isn't nearly as good a design as the sealed type that uses a heat exchanger, and they shouldn't build any more of this type. However, these are designed with a total meltdown as a possibility in mind, and I think the tomb would contain that should it happen.

The situation remains dire and they are still working hard to contain it. According to this article, there are 180 specialists on site there risking their lives.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-japan-quake-snapshot-idUSTRE72D8LW20110316

I have nothing but respect for the 180 men working at Fukushima. They are redefining "above and beyond the call of duty" as we speak.

I think the situation is that there are 4 damaged containment housings holding spent fuel rods. These plants have been running for 40 years. Each has 4 times the number of rods used in the reactor. That means the number of spent fuel rods that would account for sixteen complete reactors .... all of which have blown their domes nd are exposed to the air and boiling off their cooling water. All of those which will then burn and release their radioactive fuel into the atmosphere ... for months.

Then there are the reactor cores which are threatening to melt down.

The power has been restored to activate the water pumps that were killed by the Tsunami ... so maybe they'll be able to to stop that all from happening. If not, its global contamination with unthinkable consequenses.

Now .... is the media really still talking about Charlie Sheen??!