In a September 21 editorial, the Mainichi Shimbun called into question statements of government spokesmen suggesting that the Fukushima Daiichi reactors are well on their way to stabilization. They point out that a rise in temperature in one of the cores is still possible, calling into question the optimistic forecasts of officialdom. The Mainichi editors also remind readers that the location of melted core materials cannot be precisely determined, making any claims of a sustainable cool down premature. Another Mainichi piece has drawn attention to a different facet of Fukushima Daiichi instability – cracks in the containment structures. It is estimated that between 200 and 500 cubic meters of contaminated water is leaking out daily. The Tokyo Shimbun has also picked up the contaminated water story and argues that TEPCO simply does not know for sure how much water is being released per day. An Asahi Shimbun article by staff writer Ishizuka Hiroshi puts forward the newspaper's calculations that an area of over 8000 square kilometers has cesium 137 levels of 30,000 becquerels per square meter or more. This is, of course, an extremely serious situation for the people of Fukushima. But the Asahi puts it into comparative perspective, estimating that “The affected area is one-18th of about 145,000 square kilometers contaminated with cesium 137 levels of 37,000 becquerels per square meter or more following the 1986 Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union.” In other words, the area is barely five percent of the comparably affected Chernobyl disaster area.