Friday evening update

There are very few new technical details to report from Fukushima Daiichi today.

Perhaps the most significant is a general trend that's begun with No. 1 reactor plant which is showing a reversal in the cooling trend, with latest feed nozzle temperature back to around 250C (it had been down as low as 225C.) There are also rises in both indicated reactor pressure vessel pressure readings as well as the containment vessel pressure reading. One might well wonder if TEPCO has again temporarily reduced the cooling water flow; one might also wonder if the most recent earthquake had some effect. At the moment, I'd lean toward the former but there is no way to tell with the sparse data that has appeared new today.

We have a good deal of information on hand here about the various systems that have been discussed, and probably beginning tomorrow we're going to begin providing a bit of coverage on these so that people can start to understand just what sorts of systems it is that TEPCO is trying to access, to repair, and to use to keep the reactors cool (and the spent fuel pools too) at these plants.

We'll post more detailed information late tonight or very early tomorrow as it comes available. Perhaps no news is good news.

9:30 PM Eastern Friday 4/8
ATOMIC POWER REVIEW