There is supposed to be a major electrical cable operational at the Fukushima 1 nuclear complex now. It's unclear whether any of the pumps can be reactivated. However, the US is in the process of transporting several large pumps from its base in Yokohama. Why the Japanese haven't done this already themselves is a mystery to me. Trying to deal with the evolving situation with helicopters dropping water, water cannons and fire trucks is clearly ineffectual. I don't think fireboats would be much of an improvement.

We certainly have no idea what the piping situation is in units 1, 2, 3, and 4 after the fires and explosions. But as one expert suggested today, they should have put fire hoses into the spent fuel pools days ago to restore their levels. It is another tragic human blunder that the spent fuel pools didn't receive more attention in the earlier stages of this accident.

It's my understanding that the tsunami protective wall for Fukushima 1 nuclear complex was about 25 feet tall, and the tsunami exceeded that by 5 or 6 feet, knocking out the back-up generators located in the basements of the reactor buildings. This will be remembered (hopefully) as two more human design failures at this complex.

The situation of the Japanese who are hunkered down in what's left of their homes between the 12 and 19 mile zones appears dire to me. They must be evacuated somehow. At this point they're not even supplied with food and water and this zone is likely to be subject to plumes of high levels of radiation for an extended period of time.

Charley Noble