This is live coverage of the HNK feed. I'm doing my best to make sense of the translation. Apparently there is an ongoing fire that may be a spent fuel fire. This is very concerning. Evacuation has been ordered up to 30 km (20 miles). A spent fuel fire has the potential of causing far greater radiation release to the environment than a reactor accident.The number 4 reactor was not operating at the time of the earthquake according to NHK. However, the loss of power that occurred when the tsunami wiped out the diesel generators caused the spent fuel pools to lose water circulation. Heat from the spent fuel would have eventually boiled off the water once circulation was lost. When spent fuel is uncovered it can heat up to such high temperatures that its zirconium alloy cladding catches fire. That appears to have taken place. Moreover these conditions apparently led to hydrogen generation which caused an explosion that destroyed the roof of the reactor 4 building.. . .NOAA particle trajectory modeling indicates the possibility of low levels of particles from the accident vicinity reaching the Pacific northwest of the U.S. in 84 hours. Levels in the U.S. would likely be diluted to very low levels by dispersion and mixing.
Most radioactive particles will probably end up in the Pacific Ocean.
(Emphasis added.) Go to the link above for more details, and contingency wind pattern diagrams.
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