The New York Times today has an interesting article about how Japanese nuclear plant regulators only a month before the quake extended the operating license for the destroyed Unit 1 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station, despite repeated safety warnings and utility lying. But the US system is subject to the same types of corruption.

Yesterday the spent fuel rod pool at Fukushima Daiichi reactor 4 caught fire. About that time instruments at the plant showed an exponential increase in radiation levels. After the fire was quenched, radiation levels fell. In the hour before I sat down to write this, there was an explosion at the same spent fuel rod pool. As I write, another fire is burning there. NHK reports the radiation level – 300 to 400 milliSieverts – is so high that firefighters cannot approach the area.

Early Wednesday morning, March 16, in Japan.

Japanese authorities are reporting a new fire and explosion coming from the area of the spent fuel pond of Unit 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

That’s the same site at which fires were reported on Tuesday and an explosion that released very high levels of radiation. Wednesday’s blast and fire also resulted in increased radiation readings at the site, and, according to one other report, at least two workers are missing.

Breaking: There has been another explosion at Unit 4. More as we get details.

A Japanese senior official gave a press conference at 11:00 a.m. (Tokyo) Tuesday and officials answered questions about the situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Station.

Japanese authorities now report that about 6:14 a.m. (Tokyo) Tuesday, March 15, there was an explosion at the Daiichi Unit 2 of the Fukushima Nuclear Station. This explosion was heard, not seen from the outside. The explosion reportedly did not blow off the roof/walls, as the explosions did at Units 1 and 3.

Japanese responders continue to battle rising heat and pressure and falling water levels in the damaged reactors, Units 1 and 3, at Fukushima I (Daiichi) Nuclear Power Station.