Here's what I find most interesting from yesterday's teleconference at the Union of Concerned Scientists:

"I would also like to mention there are reports of black smoke being emitted from reactor number 3 today. Authorities don't know what the origin is, but they say they don't think it's a serious problem if this is originating from the spent fuel pool; however, it could be an indication that there has been severe damage to the fuel itself in that there's larger particulate matter that's now being carried into the air in the form of smoke. That would be fuel particles that would include less volatile isotopes, including plutonium.

So, if the levels of a type of radiation known as alpha radiation start increasing, that could be an indication that the fuel itself is starting to degrade and being released, which might be additional cause for concern."

There's lots more discussion and perhaps someone else would like to harvest and discuss a paragraph of two, or not.

Charley Noble