Thermal images of the Fukushima No. 3 reactor have been release by NHK that confirm that a temperature of 128° Celsius (262.4° Fahrenheit) had been reached.  Currently, the government is claiming that those temperatures have dropped to well below 100° C. for two days.

Japan’s defense minister says the surface temperatures of all 6 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are lower than 100 degrees Celsius.

In a news conference on Sunday, Toshimi Kitazawa quoted an expert from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency as saying the data are very valuable because temperatures below 100 degrees confirm the existence of water in spent fuel rod storage pools.

Kitazawa said Self-Defense Forces officials measured the temperatures from a helicopter using an infrared device on Sunday for a second consecutive day.
He said the surface temperature of the Number One reactor was 58 degrees Celsius, that of Number 2 stood at 35 degrees, Number 3 at 62 degrees, Number 4 at 42 degrees, Number 5 at 24 degrees, and Number 6 at 25 degrees.

He said the temperatures of Number 1, Number 3 and Number 4 reactors are believed to be the surface temperatures of the spent fuel rod storage pools. The buildings housing the containers of these three reactors were damaged.

Kitazawa said he was relieved to see the temperatures stay below 100 degrees for 2 days in a row. He said the public will also feel relieved.

He added that a reading of 128 degrees Celsius was recorded above the containment vessel of Number 3 reactor, but experts say the figure is within expectations given that it was measured right above the reactor.

Again, this sounds very reasonable.  Except that we are suppose to believe that the temperature above the source of the heat is higher than the source of the heat itself.  How that can be within expectations rather stretches the imagination.  What other source of heat would cause higher temperature if not the reactor?

Anyway, while we ponder that koan, here are the images.  The first is from NHK.  The second from Die Welt (via Zero Hedge).

What we want to know from looking at these photos is why the source of the heat seems spread over a larger field than we should expect from a single – and still intact – reactor structure?

We are quite sure that the government, TEPCO, and the IAEA can answer our questions, we would just like to hear them.