[2] The arrival of Denton seemed to immediately calm the frayed nerves of public officials and stem the anger of a frustrated press corps.

As reporter Steve Liddick of WCMB radio explained to writer Mark Stephens, "Harold Denton was trusted because he looked like a regular, down-to-earth kind of guy.

"[3] It was Denton's task to inform Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh and the President about the discovery of a possibly explosive hydrogen bubble above the cooling water, at the top of the reactor pressure vessel.

"...I briefed the President on this bubble and the possibility of an explosive mixture and tried to give him the two sides that were out there, but we still didn't have [a] single view on that," Denton recalled.

This included a visit to several reactor sites damaged by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami where restoration and enhanced safety counter measures are in progress.