Arnie Gundersen, nuclear expert and chief engineer at Fairewinds, Jan 29, 2015 (emphasis added): Recent scientific studies from Japan show that 75% of the radiation created by the meltdowns was released more than 5 days after the catastrophe… This data… shows that the total gaseous and liquid radioactive releases from the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown exceed the radiation released during and after the Chernobyl meltdown — while Fukushima Daiichi radioactivity continues to bleed into the Pacific Ocean… I first spoke to the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards in 2010 to share my evidence-based calculations showing that containments would likely leak significant amounts of radioactivity during a nuclear power failure… [They] informed me that, the nuclear industry and NRC simply assume that containments will never leak during nuclear emergencies… Unfortunately, those 3 explosions at Fukushima Daiichi prove that containment systems really do fail… How do we know?… First, you can see the violent explosions and the detonation shock wave on TV and video. The second picture though shows there are 2 distinct plumes exiting Unit 3 — one plume emanates from the spent fuel pool, but the other is directly over the reactor vessel… Third, TEPCO itself has admitted that hot gases raging at 250*F were released from the containment… No, it is not steam, because steam only exists at 212*F under normal atmospheric pressure.

Idaho National Laboratory Site’s Environmental Surveillance, Education and Research Program — Annual Site Environmental Report for 2011 (pdf): … [3 of Fukushima Daiichi's] reactor cores overheated and melted, releasing hydrogen gas and fission products into their reactor containment structures… multiple hydrogen deflagrations occurred that damaged the containment structures and allowed more radioactive material to be released. It is possible that the large hydrogen explosion in Unit 3 may have damaged stored spent fuel and caused the release of additional radioactive material. The Fukushima reactor accident in Japan resulted in the release and global dispersal of radioactive contaminants. These contaminants were transported in air across the Pacific Ocean to the United States…

Radio VR, Aug 23, 2014: Thomas Drolet, who is Chairman, CEO and President at GreenWell Renewable Power Corporation [said] “As a technician and nuclear reactor engineer I can say that they will eventually succeed [at Fukushima Daiichi]“… The reactor itself is by far “the most difficult issue,” Mr, Drolet states. Each of the three damaged reactors has two main areas of broken fuel: in the spent fuel base, which is up high, and the reactor core. “Slowly and identically they have to remove that fuel, some of it damaged, some of it whole”…

Watch the Fairewinds report here