Breach suspected at troubled Japanese power plant

Reactor three has plutonium. If the protective core has been compromised, the uranium inside could be transmuted into plutonium. Plutonium is extremely toxic to humans. This would be bad development for the Japanese in desperate need of positive news.

"The situation today at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant is still very grave and serious. We must remain vigilant," a somber Prime Minister Naoto Kan said. "We are not in a position where we can be optimistic. We must treat every development with the utmost care."

The possible breach in the plant's Unit 3 might be a crack or a hole in the stainless steel chamber of the reactor core or in the spent fuel pool that's lined with several feet of reinforced concrete. The temperature and pressure inside the core, which holds the fuel rods, remained stable and was far lower than what would further melt the core.

Source: news.yahoo.com