Open Thread: Japan's Nuclear Plants

Some concerns have been raised about the information provided in this piece (the updated version of which is being hosted here) regarding the status of Japan's nuclear plants, and the possible effects of their malfunction. To be perfectly blunt, this is way the hell outside my areas of expertise, so what I'd like to do is open a discussion thread in which people who do have knowledge in this field can discuss the issue generally. (And my apologies that I was not around to mod last night; we were out to dinner for our anniversary.)

Below are a few links to get us started, and additional information is welcome. Please note the commenting guidelines at the bottom of the post.

The Japan Atomic Industrial Forum is posting updates here.

GuardianJapan Nuclear Crisis Live Updates. I've found this to be a really useful resource.

New York TimesLatest Updates on Japan's Nuclear Crisis and Earthquake Aftermath.

New ScientistFukushima Latest: Radiation Around Plant Falls.

Ars TechnicaFukushima Nuclear Emergency. The latest updates are at the end of the thread.

Georneys—Interviews with a Nuclear Engineer.

New Zealand Science Media Centre—Nuclear Experts on the Latest at Fukushima.

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission—Latest News.

France's l'Authorité Sûreté Nucléaire makes a more grim assessment.

Quantum Diaries outlines one of the realities about trying to get solid info at this point: "Getting hard facts about what is going on in Fukushima Daiichi is difficult. … I've thought about trying to blog about the situation, but the reality is that I'd be behind and since we don't have all the facts, some of it would be speculation."

My thanks to SKM and Aphra_Behn for helping me put together these links.

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