Japan’s Nuclear Safety Board DID NOT Confirm Meltdown
Drudge Report is headlining MELTDOWN and PajamasMedia has picked it up here, describing the source as a “reliable” news site. No other major media organizations have picked up the story. This is likely because it is erroneous, based on outdated information and hysteria-driven journalism. The article claims that Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency “said Saturday afternoon the explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant could only have been caused by a meltdown of the reactor core.” There’s just one problem: it does not appear the NISA actually said this.
The explosion occurred at approximately 3:30 PM local time. The Telegraph reports that “as the night wore on, there was more encouraging noise. The nuclear safety agency which had spoken of possible ‘meltdown’ now declared Fukushima a ‘level 4 incident’ on the accepted international scale, one with only a limited release of radiation and simply ‘local consequences.’”
Furthermore, in an official report released by the NISA — current as of midnight — there was no mention of a meltdown.
For better analysis, please see guest posts from Craig Nelson and this article interviewing Francis Marion University physics professor Philip Fulmer.