A blue light can be an indication that fission is proceeding at the facility.
In the video below the fold, an example of what observers might be seeing at Fukushima:
The Engineers at the Nuclear Engineering Teaching Lab (NETL) at UT Austin demonstrate a reactor pulse.
All the Control Rods are removed simultaneously allowing the nuclear reaction to proceed un-dampened, bringing the energy output of the reactor to 680 Megawatts in 50 milliseconds.
Now that we are thoroughly skeptical of nuclear power from a safety and cost standpoint, I look forward to the upbeat message from Earth: The Operators Manual that Things Break is featuring. In particular I hope there is focus on the people who like windpower and have it in their backyard.
nuclear power was never going to be more than a minor player in the US, barring a massive socialization of the industry.
fortunately, wind and other sources are, for the most part, being accepted with
open arms almost everywhere — certainly in my neck of the woods….
http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2011/03/22/michigan-county-welcomes-wind-farm-with-open-arms/
Haven’t has time to watch the video yet, but blue light is released whenever high energy particles decelerate in water:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation
The reduction in velocity (loss of energy) is converted to photons.
thanks – that’s exactly what I was wondering about.