“Definite”: Fukushima No. 3 has “long vertical crack” down side reactor vessel – Nuclear Exec.

Japan Encourages a Wider Evacuation From Reactor Area (mirror), New York Times, March 25, 2011:

The NY Times article has since been censored/altered.  Here is a mirror of the original article.  

http://thetimesofpakistan.com/2011/03/27/japan-encourages-a-wider-evacuation-from-reactor-area/

Concerns about Reactor No. 3 have surfaced before. Japanese officials said nine days ago that the reactor vessel may have been damaged. …

A senior nuclear executive who insisted on anonymity but has broad contacts in Japan said that there was a long vertical crack running down the side of the reactor vessel itself. The crack runs down below the water level in the reactor and has been leaking fluids and gases, he said.

The severity of the radiation burns to the injured workers are consistent with contamination by water that had been in contact with damaged fuel rods, the executive said.

“There is a definite, definite crack in the vessel — it’s up and down and it’s large,” he said. “The problem with cracks is they do not get smaller.” …

Read the report here.

Read more:

• Nuclear consultant doubts official temperature estimates — Reactor No. 3 probably much nearer to THOUSANDS of degrees
• New York Times: “Possibility that radiation from the mox fuel in the reactor — a combination of uranium and plutonium — could be released”
• Nuke Expert: “It’ll be like somebody dropped a bomb” if melted fuel rods breach reactor vessel — “A big cloud of very, very radioactive material above the ground”
• TEPCO “lost the race” to save Fukushima reactor: Expert
• KYODO NEWS ADVISORY at 10:27 pm: Government says No. 3 reactor vessel may be damaged — MOX