If you have a reactor that has a full load of fuel rods, even when the control rods are fully extended, there will still be some activity that will require cooling. If something happened to the cooling system of this "shut down" reactor, there may be a future risk if it is not anticipated that the cooling system can operate.

Do BWRs not have safety rods? It has been about 30 years since I was last in a BWR.

They may, and the article is not clear on this, be considering venting early before anything gets busted. Venting now won't release any radioactive stuff (very very small amounts) but would vent any H gas that may be accumulating.

Better to vent now than wait until something bad happens.

My guess is msnbc is looking for something to report on and generate some interest because CNN is doing a great job of creating news concerning the reactors. Looking at the Drudge Report there is a death cloud heading to LA and will be stationary over LA for years. In the meantime somewhere in Tokyo Bay a small reptile like creature is getting gobs of radiation and being genetically mutated into something we only see in the movies... No worries, the creature will invade NY but we will be saved by the US Air Force when the creature gets caught up in the Brooklyn Bridge truss work. :up:

It is very hard to trust the news agencies. After all, they are a business. Embellish and sensationalize gets you the viewership.

What chaps my butt is this attitude by the media. :damn:

What, this disaster is not disastrous enough for ratings? :damn::damn:

The media has to somehow make this "worse" than it is?

Is the public so dense that they need this sensationalist reporting to keep their interest in this disaster?

Hey News Media, What is happening in Japan is what we called in Nuke school as a "bad thing". Like really bad,. Totally bad. I mean not bad enough to preempt American Idol, but really really bad. There is no need to embellish it.:damn:

I wonder if the news media is so used to embellishing news stories that they can't help themselves. Do they know they are reporting misleading information? Do they care?

It is all about the ratings man. Media generally creates panic. This is a classic example.

ISIS is flapping:

1. Quote:

   2037: The US-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) has said it agrees with the assessment of France's Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) that the incident at Fukushima should be classified as level 6 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), one below Chernobyl. Following a number of explosions and a fire at the plant which released dangerous levels of radiation, ISIS said the situation had "worsened considerably" and was now closer to a level 6 event. "It may unfortunately reach a level 7," it added.

:damn:

These sort of statements are not helping things guys! China is evacuating their coast nearest Japan as well. Panic is starting to settle in amongst the people who are supposed to be the calm leaders of the worried people and panic is infectious, even amongst the calm and resolute people of Japan.

AFP reports Reactor Four is on fire.

Indeed. Those reactors sure have a tendency to blow up again and again...

How about this one? from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12749444

:damn:

All of this amply illustrates why I quit TV years ago, and why I'm down to as close to source news wherever I can find it - AP, Reuters, etc.

I expect meltdowns happening there,if they have not already taken place. The only question that really is unanswered now is concerning the winds. For the next 48 hours, winds from NW are expected to dominate again. By the end of the week, they could turn from north to south again, for short intervals.

Tepco saids they did not force anyone to still work there, olf 850 personell, 800 have been evacuated, 50 still stayx tzhere. But early this morning German media reprot that the Japanese premier has ordered Tepco to not remove any more personell from the perimeter.

They also reported about the powerful, influential position of the pro-nuclear lobby in Japan, saying that the Japanese atom-lobby probably has been even more powerful and influential than that in America, France or Germany.

I suspect your right Chris :yep:

In response to all those earlier pictures of the idiots on Facebook:

LINK.

Old news, but nonetheless, timely.

Good catch. Bookmarked for ammunition.

Lady Luck just does not seem to be smiling on Fukushima Dai-ichi these days. :-?

Well that's one way of putting it...sadly, it's not an inaccurate analysis.:-?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT