The Situation

"The situation is deteriorating," said an expert at Japan's nuclear crisis - The situation in Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has reached a strange state of continuous deterioration of international security, said analyst Jim Walsh. As it gets worse, "The good news is that bad news is not as bad as it seems at first glance," he said.

For example, he cites the fire on Tuesday in a pool of spent fuel that has been applied successfully, but not before releasing a cloud of radioactive smoke into the atmosphere. Or a fire in the reactor 4, prompting fears of a break containment vessel, the concerns that have since disappeared, "said Walsh - for now.

"Things happen and are very bad at first. Maybe not as bad as first glance, but the situation deteriorates."

As the situation changes from day to day is drawing comparisons to the Chernobyl explosion of 1986, analysts are looking for ways to measure the potential magnitude of damages.

"This is not Chernobyl," says author William Tucker. "The Russians are not the containment structure for the reactor."

Not Daiichi - a massive structure of steel and concrete that sits atop its reactors. When the reactors are closed, emergency vehicles in the water is pumped to cool the plant fuel rods. But the system ultimately failed, and so did the backup system when the tsunami hit, the players to use seawater to cool the fuel rods.

It does not make it more difficult to determine the seriousness of the situation. The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, preached calm, said radioactive discharges can be avoided. But the company's performance makes it seem less frankness, critics say.

"History of Japan's nuclear industry and the government, which is closely linked with industry, is less than wonderful for public information and full transparency, and now what is really an indication that says Arjun Mahkhijani President of 'Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.

In 2002, the president and four directors resigned TEPCO after it was revealed that records of repair and inspection had been falsified.

"It was discovered that TEPCO had covered incidents in cracking a major hardware with the reactor vessel, reactor, and then were forced to close all 17 reactors," says Philip White Citizens Nuclear Information 'Center.

Then, in 2007, when the 6.8 magnitude earthquake, TEPCO said the public body had suffered a small fire and pour gallons of radioactive water in comparison. It subsequently emerged that the fire had burned for two hours and hundreds of gallons of radioactive water had leaked into the sea.

"There is a pattern that has become TEPCO is not straightforward, and intentionally covered to protect their own interests," says White.

Meanwhile, the emphasis in the United States has changed the way the Japanese situation bodes well for the development of national nuclear energy. Lobbyists are working hard in Washington to allay fears that U.S. nuclear plants - some of which use the backup power equal to the cooling systems failed in Japan - are not prepared for disasters of similar magnitude.

"We try to ensure that people know exactly where they occur, to understand the context in which they will take future decisions on how Congress wants to deal with nuclear energy," said Alex Flint, a lobbyist for the Institute of Nuclear Energy.

Energy Steven Chu says America remains the development of nuclear energy.

"They (the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) has its own calendar and they will be looking very closely the developments in Japan," he said Tuesday. "I think we're in good hands."