A couple of afternoon updates....

TEPCO is reporting that there is indeed damage to the fuel stored at No. 4 plant's spent fuel pool as a result of obtaining a water sample from the pool which contains fission products. This is only the final confirmation of something we already knew, since hydrogen generated at the plant already exploded and there is no core installed in the reactor vessel.

NISA has instructed TEPCO to immediately perform as full an inspection as is possible to structures at Fukushima Daiichi to determine if they retain their original earthquake resistance, with a view toward ordering TEPCO to reinforce, however necessary, any compromised structures. This naturally focuses on the four reactor buildings and their auxiliary and turbine buildings. This has been ordered in light of the continuing aftershocks near the site and off shore which are quite severe in nature, and seem to be happening about every other day continually since the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11th.

Dewatering continues, even though it is the middle of the night in Japan.

1:00 PM Eastern Wednesday 4/13
ATOMIC POWER REVIEW