they've been having persistent problems keeping flow running to numbers 1, 2, and 3 trying to cool down the reactor cores and keep them from overheating, possibly melting down. but the real issue is number 4. it was not even operating at the time of the earthquake, but outside the hardened case that holds the active nuclear ingredients, outside is a storage area for the spent nuclear rods, which are still radioactively hot. they're kept in water so that they don't burst into flames. the fear is that the water has drained down and that, in fact, that's what's causing these fires. if they are exposed, one nuclear expert told me you could not get within 50 yards of this without getting a fatal dose of radiation just as importantly, if they're burning, all of the ash, smoke would carry seize yum with it, the same product that came out of chernobyl and caused all the problems. let's widen the area.