concern about the way this one is made? the structure? no. there is no concern about the way this is made. this is how boiling water reactors are mayfield let me add to your description a little bit. the green part are the fuel rods. the yellow part is a very thick stainless steel pressure vessel. the green part at the bottom. from the top. from the top. the whole cylindrical shape is the reactor core. that s also the pressure vessel. the core is relatively small compared to that pressure vessel which is very big. all the reactors are built this way. these are boiling water reactors. there are about 40 of those but they re much newer than that. then there is pressurized water reactors that are different. they don t boil the water inside the core.
situation is continuing to spiral downward. the first hint comes less than three hours later. the plant s cooling systems, absolutely vital to keeping nuclear fuel containable are not working. the japanese people and the rest of the world are warned to brace for the worst. just a few hours later, at 2:00 a.m. saturday among, radiation levels at reactor number one begin to climb. by dawn, radiation levels at the plant s main gate are eight times higher than normal. a very troubling sign. 12 hours later, at 6:22 p.m., the first of three major explosions transformed three of the reactor buildings into charred hulks of concrete. hydrogen most likely generated from the melting fuel rods has built up inside the buildings and then blown up. officials say no harmful gases were released by the explosion. nonetheless work the hours later, 200,000 people within 12 miles of the plant are asked to
evacuate. within days, officials warn that any or all of the iraqor cores are at risk of melting into a puddle of super hot radioactive metal. all but 50 of the plant s 800 workers are evacuated. those who stay behind know they are risking their lives to try to save countless others. 8:54 a.m. on. tuesday among, a fire breaks out in the cooling pond of reactor number four. it burns for two hours. a second fire follows the next day. shortly before 10:00 a.m. on thursday, helicopters dutch sea water on reactors number three and four in an effort to keep the fuel rods from melting. but the effort is deemed ineffective. trace amounts of radiation are found at nearby farms. over the weekend, special trucks begin dousing numbers three and four. it seems to be keeping it from getting worse will power is
alert for melting fuel rods and suns and explosions. american authorities say the pool is out of water. japanese officials are denying those reports. tepco the operator of the nuclear plant says it is nearing completion of a new powerline that would restore electricity and revive the ability to cool the troubled reactors. once finished officials say they will try it as soon as possible. will that be soon enough? joining me on all of this, shep smith is live in tokyo. shep, this is just actually crossing the wires now as we come on the air. apparently helicopters are dropping in fact, water on the facilities right now. i don t know if that means the american officials were right or just added cooling water they need? reporter: there s no way to know. we can look at the facts as we
what can you do with plain mashed potatoes? when you pour chunky beef with country vegetable soup over it, you can do dinner. 4 minutes, around 4 bucks. campbell s chunky. it s amazing what soup can do.™ shepard: 14 minutes past 4:00 a.m. and japan is asking the united states to send more equipment to help the quake damaged reactors as crews at the plant scramble to pump seawater support damaged facility to try to prevent a meltdown. in january pan there is conflicting information about what is happening and one official believes the rods are melting but the international atomic energy industry reports no evidence of melting fuel rods