Several days ago the AP reported as if the all clear had been sounded, nuclear power could dust itself off and get back to work. Initial fears that erupted in the wake of the crisis, threatening to derail the nuclear renaissance of the last several years, have largely subsided.
Emergency. There's an emergency going on. It's still going on. ...
Meltdown TEPCO has been able to explore the damaged plant they discovered
…that No. 1's containment vessel has been leaking water and today discovered a sizeable hole they believe was created by fallen fuel pellets. The water leakage not only indicates that the clean up efforts will take longer than originally expected but also that the worst case scenario was already underway when TEPCO said it had been avoided.
In addition to everything else Japanese authorities are also dealing with what is left in the expansion of the 20 kilometer exclusion area to a zone of no entry. In scenes likely as eerie as a disaster movie, farm livestock and dogs left in the no-go zone have been filmed scavenging for food. Many animals died in their cages from starvation.
Farmers living inside the evacuation zone had no choice but to abandon their pigs, chickens, beef cattle and dairy cows when they were ordered out by the government.
Recent footage taken inside the no-go zone shows cows running in herds across empty roads and dogs left behind by their owners prowling for food.
The area is estimated to have about 3,400 cows, 31,500 pigs and 630,000 chickens. Of these officials guess 1,300 cows and 200 pigs remain alive. Officials have been killing livestock for health reasons and will start to cull the remaining animals.
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