The "seals" I was talking about are for the removable lid of the reactor primary containment, and there were seals. They just weren't designed well enough, as shown by the 1970's test in Brunswick, North Carolina, and leaked at a pressure reading before workers would normally vent out hydrogen directly out of the containment. For clarity, please read what the Union of Concerned Scientists had to say this morning. And yes, it's like a leaky head gasket in a forty year old car. The question is whether the seals were upgraded by the Japanese after the North Carolina test. Or if they were upgraded, did they still fail. What we do know is that there were hydrogen explosions in units 1 and 3, which blew out the upper walls and roof of the containment buildings. Unit 4 was decimated evidently from a hydrogen explosion from its spent fuel pool. Unit 2 evidently has an internal explosion which cracked the primary containment of its reactor but the reactor building looks reasonably intact. I think I'm keeping the score correctly but I'm no longer entirely sure.

The lid of the primary containment has to be "removable" so that the fuel rods can be periodically moved in and out of the reactor vessel, in case anyone is wondering why there is a lid at all.

I haven't seen any update on the results of power being restored on site at Fukushima 1 nuclear complex. That's a biggy.

Charley Noble, back from a hard evening's work at the Sidedoor Coffeehouse.