“…managing public opinion is as serious an operation as managing the crisis itself” – Dr. Robert Jacobs, a research Associate Professor of Nuclear History and Culture at the Hiroshima Peace Institute.

Here are the latest stories from the last few days:

The crisis in Japan continues to escalate, yet US major media would have us believe all is well. There is good journalism in the US, however; thanks Tom Hartman, Gary Null and other progressive journalists covering this topic….look for them online.

Here are the latest stories from the last few days:

• \Unit 4 is leaning to the right. “A spent fuel pool from 3 or 4 reactors. If building were to collapse, the spent fuel would just get scattered around on the ground …this would make it almost impossible for workers to remain on the site.” video on Beyond Nuclear
• Data released on May 6th by Japanese and US authorities show that ground level radioactive cesium contamination beyond the 12 mile “no entry zone” are higher than radiation levels that led to the mandatory evacuations at Chernobyl.Asahi.com

• Unit 3’s spent fuel appears to be gone.

• Could this be why readings are so high, and why radioactive substances are being found in sewage sludge produced at wastewater treatment facilities in the Hiwada area of Koriyama. 500 tons of of possibly contaminated sludge was shipped out to cement companies, who use the sludge in cement production, since the disaster. Since the high levels of cesium-137 were found, shipping of the sludge has been suspended.

• On May 10, Japanese Prime Minister Natoto Kan announced that Japan will not pursue any new nuclear power plant construction. Fourteen power plants had been planned.

• On May 12th, TEPCO opened the main access points to Unit 1, and in doing do freely released 500 million becquerels of radioactive substances into the atmosphere, where it had gathered in the upper part of the reactor following a massive hydrogen explosion on March 12.