Academic

JAPAN: Workers Strain to Retake Control After Blast and Fire at Japan Plant. ?Though the situation?

By Glenn Reynolds

JAPAN: Workers Strain to Retake Control After Blast and Fire at Japan Plant. “Though the situation remained perilous, there were signs that workers had, at least for the moment, contained some of the danger. The higher radiation levels of earlier in the day ? possibly from a fire in the No. 4 reactor ? stabilized and then declined toward evening, according to the Japanese authorities.”

UPDATE: A more negative assessment from a reader in Japan:

Lufthansa and several other airlines have stopped flying into Tokyo. The Austrian Embassy has temporarily relocated to Osaka. Reactors five and six, shut down a while back are heating up again.

Edano has the look on TV of a man trying to control panic and the truth. We have arrived at a point where only sources on the ground are reliable. It may be that the radiation levels we find in Tokyo tomorrow confirm less risk. At present, however, there is a 30 kilometer no-fly zone above Fukushima and that can only mean radiation at altitude above the reactors. We simply do not know what is taking place.

We just had another plus six quake not far from Kanto about twenty minutes ago. Trains will have stopped. We’re already facing disruptions and there is no guarantee that the next earthquake will be milder than the one we experienced last Friday.

You know from my other posts that I’m pro-nuclear, pro-Japan, and generally optimistic. The WSJ piece could have been written by the press office of the prime minister. The situation appears to have stabilized the same way that we haven’t had a major tremor since the quake twenty minutes ago. Everybody here is preparing for a long period of unpleasantness. Those who aren’t sound delusional.

Thanks for the links and reminders to donate. Much appreciated. We’re not leaving the house except as necessary.

Emphasis on “we simply don’t know.” And I think he’s referring to the NYT piece linked before — a front-pager in today’s WSJ is considerably more negative.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on March 15, 2011 (boomark / email).