Workers began to see some success in their battle to cool down reactors at the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant Sunday, but Japanese officials said they may need to release additional radioactive gas into the air.
The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said electricity was being supplied to a switchboard in reactor No. 2.
But officials said they were monitoring reactor No. 3 to determine whether to release gas to reduce mounting pressure in the containment vessel -- the steel and concrete shell that insulates radioactive material inside.
Power company officials said pressure was higher than previous readings -- but stable -- Sunday afternoon. And Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the pressure increase did not require "an immediate release of the air at this moment."
Still, "even in the best scenario, there will be a lot of bumps ahead," Edano told reporters as he assessed the situation at the plant in a briefing Sunday.
There's a long way to go before the plant is under control, much less to the point where it can be buried under sand and concrete, much less to the point where the plant is salvageable in any fashion. But finally people are making progress and the immediate danger is under control...for now.
But how much radiation has been released, and will continue to be released over the next several days and weeks, if not months? It's a grim situation even without the earthquake and tsunami ravaged country being critically short on basics. The missing/dead numbers have topped 20,000 total at this point in northern Japan, and the situation is getting worse by the hour as Japan is a country that relies heavily on imports for food and other staples. Any damage to infrastructure, transport, power and production capabilities means there's no slack to absorb the disruption shock.
The country will continue to reel for quite some time.
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