http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2011/05/unit-4-in-danger-of-collapse-and-then-dont-tell-me-theres-nothing-to-see-at-fukushima/Unit 4 in Danger of Collapse? (And Then, Don’t Tell Me There’s Nothing To See at Fukushima)
May 12, 2011
Beyond the novelty that Fukushima was back in the news at all, two things characterize Thursday’s BBC update. One is how shockingly brief it is, like a dashed of summary. The other is the almost casual tone it takes in listing through the nightmarish situations throughout the plant, especially the acknowledged meltdown in Unit 1.
It is often noted that the Fukushima story remains invisible because radiation is invisible, and/or the plant photos and video being released by TEPCO are also too abstract or technical. That begs the question, then, just how much is the danger hard to visualize as opposed to how much does the world (especially traditional media) have its eyes closed?
One piece of visible information that has floating to the surface, by way of indy media and the blogosphere, in the past few days regards the structural integrity of Unit 4. Dr. Robert Jacobs, a Nuclear Historian at the Hiroshima Peace Institute, offered this diagram in an interview on Tuesday with Russia Today. According to Jacobs (which he says has been confirmed by the Japanese Government) , Unit 4 is starting to lean, a collapse certain to expose the fuel rod pools at the top of the building.