[Phys-l] Water only 60 cm deep in Fukushima reactor #2

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

They recently put an endoscope into the reactor, and discovered the water 
level is only 60 cm from the bottom ... far less than the 3 meters previously
believed.
  http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201203270055

This is described as "a setback for plans to scrap the reactor".
  http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120328_14.html

It means the situation is not quite so "contained" or "under control" 
as previously claimed.

A year ago, one day after the tsunami, on 03/12/2011 09:29 PM, I wrote:
> I would bet money that /some/ of the 
> fuel melted.  It could be years before we know how much.

As you can see, I didn't trust these guys on Day One, and I still don't
trust them.  They have a track record of blatant lying.  Even when they 
are not /intentionally/ lying, they say a lot of stuff that is not true, 
because they don't know what they are talking about.

IMHO people who don't know what they are talking about should not be 
entrusted with nuclear reactors.

I claim this is relevant to this list, because it touches on scientific
integrity, which is something we need to teach in physics class.  
Nuclear power is one area where people's lives depend on the scientific
integrity of physicists.

I'm not trying to be political about this.  I would hope that integrity
would be a nonpartisan issue.  If anybody sees a political ink-blot here,
that's entirely in the eye of the beholder.