We know that TEPCO was in the dangerous process of removing fuel rods from the No. 4 reactor, but since Japan is on the verge of passing a state secrets law that would make it a serious offense to leak information about Fukushima or for journalists to try to get that information, it's just highly unlikely that anyone will tell us if there's another nuclear disaster. We do know that steam has been observed coming from the Reactor 3 building three times this week, and we know what it's been associated with in the past -- which ain't much, but it's all we have:

Tepco (translation), Dec. 27, 2013: At around 7:00 am on December 27, and confirmed by the camera that from Unit 3 reactor building, 5th floor near the center, steam is generated. Have not been identified abnormal plant conditions of 54 minutes at 7:00 am the same day, the indicated value of the monitoring post (meteorological data of 50 minutes at 7:00 am, 5.1 ℃ temperature, 93.1% humidity).SOURCE: Tepco (July 24, 2013)

Tepco (translation), Dec. 25, 2013: At around 7:00 am on December 25, and confirmed by the camera that from Unit 3 reactor building, 5th floor near the center, steam is generated. Have not been identified abnormal plant conditions of 8:00 am the same day time, the indicated value of the monitoring post (meteorological data of 50 minutes at 7:00 am, 2.8 ℃ temperature, 76.7% humidity).

Tepco (translation), Dec. 24, 2013: At around 7:00 am on December 19, and confirmed by the camera that from Unit 3 reactor building, 5th floor near the center, steam is generated. Have not been identified abnormal plant conditions of 55 minutes at 7:00 am the same day, the indicated value of the monitoring post (meteorological data of 40 minutes at 7:00 am, 5.6 ℃ temperature, 93.7% humidity). Then, in 58 minutes around 7:00 am December 24, steam is no longer observed. It should be noted, have not been identified abnormal plant conditions in a 3-minute time at 8:00 am the same day, the indicated value monitoring posts, etc. (meteorological data of 50 minutes at 7:00 am, 4.1 ℃ temperature, 74.9% humidity).

Is Reactor 3 melting down now? We have no official way of knowing. Blogger Susanne Posel is assuming it as reality:

TEPCO are reporting that “radioactive steam has suddenly begun emanating from previously exploded nuclear reactor building #3 at the Fukushima disaster site in Japan.”

The corporation is not clear on the details of the sudden change at Reactor 3 because of “lethal radiation levels in that building.”

Summations from experts conclude that this may “be the beginning of a ‘spent fuel pool criticality (meltdown)’ involving up to 89 TONS of nuclear fuel burning up into the atmosphere and heading to North America.”

Under normal circumstances, I'd dismiss this as hysterical fearmongering and tell you it was highly irresponsible to make such statements. But neither can I tell you with any kind of clarity or reliability exactly what is going on. We know that TEPCO has lied all along, and I don't think our own government is going to tell us even if something is going on (under the law, they have the authority to lie to us in order to prevent panic that would affect the food supply). So it's not unreasonable to assume that whatever's going on, it's usually a lot worse than what the Powers That Be will admit.

Because when corporate interests have become synonymous with those of a nation's government, the safety of the citizens is way down on the priority list.