Here's a long press release from NIRS (Nuclear Information Resource Service) on current conditions in and around Fukushima-1:

UPDATE, 11:30 am, Thursday, May 12, 2011. At a Tokyo press briefing today, Tepco officials said that there is likely a hole inside the Unit 1 containment which is allowing highly radioactive water to leak—where the water is leaking to isn't known at this point. Tepco has flooded Unit 1 with some 11 million liters of water so far, and the unit can only physically hold less than 8 million liters—although much of that loss could have been by evaporation and release of radioactive steam. But now Tepco admits that the fuel rods inside Unit 1 are essentially uncovered—meaning that much of the water poured into the reactor has leaked back out. Much of the fuel—exactly how much isn't known--is now a molten mass on the bottom of the reactor vessel.

Tepco says this molten mass is currently covered by water and is thus being cooled, although temperatures inside the reactor remain above the boiling point (as they do at Units 2 and 3 as well).

This new development likely will set back Tepco's 6-9 month plan to bring the situation at Fukushima to stability. Tepco had hoped to reach a cold shutdown (with temperatures under the boiling point) of Unit 1 within weeks and for Units 2 and 3 in July. But first the hole inside Unit 1 allowing the radioactive water to leak out must be found and somehow fixed—a job that would entail very high worker exposures. Stability is a concept that seems still to be a very long ways from reality at Fukushima.

Meanwhile, Tepco says it has fixed a leak at Unit 3 found yesterday that was allowing highly radioactive water to flow into the ocean.

The Japanese government is expected tomorrow to approve some sort of bailout bill for Tepco, to help it pay the enormous compensation claims and cleanup costs that already have occurred and will continue mounting for many years. Other nuclear utilities may be required to pitch in and help, and some sort of increased government oversight of Tepco is likely. The ability of Tepco to offer dividends to shareholders is likely to be prohibited for at least a decade. Utilities thinking about building nuclear reactors in other parts of the world may want to take heed….

The live webcam at Fukushima yesterday showed larger amounts of radioactive steam being released from all the reactors than has typically been the case in recent days. No explanation so far. (???)

Greenpeace, whose Rainbow Warrior ship has been prohibited by the Japanese government from coming closer than 12 miles to Fukushima, has been testing seaweed further away from the site, and found several samples measuring 20 times legal limits of Cesium-137 in the ocean as far as 40 miles from the Fukushima site. Seaweed is a staple part of the Japanese diet, with the average household consuming seven pounds per year.

In general I'm not in favor of long copy and pastes but it seems we're entering into a new phase in this disaster, at least in regard to what has already happened.

Charley Noble