They sent robots into a couple of the three melted down Japanese nuclear reactors over the weekend, and they've confirmed what most people suspected: It's too radioactive inside the reactor buildings for human beings to enter. There's also too much debris inside Fukushima reactor no. 3 -- the one that had the plutonium-mix fuel in it and suffered the worst physical damage when it exploded -- for even robots to get around in there.

Some of the repairs that will be needed -- rebuilding the plants, essentially -- will require human presence. Robots are not capable of performing all of the functions that will be required.

Meanwhile, the tragic figures who run the plant -- honchos at a company that will probably be nationalized any day now -- are busy telling local evacuees that they might be back in their homes by the end of the year. What a cruel joke that is.

In other meltdown news, there's been a spike in radioactivity in a water tank in Fukushima reactor no. 2 -- the one of the four whose roof is still intact -- possibly from a problem in the spent fuel pool. There have been serious problems in the pool in no. 4 since the March 11 earthquake. No. 4 exploded out of range of cameras, and it's not known exactly what happened inside.