Japan > Fuel Melted in Additional Japan Nuclear Reactors: Operator

Fuel Melted in Additional Japan Nuclear Reactors: Operator

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

photo courtesy channel4.com

Nuclear material melted down inside three reactors at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami severely damaged the facility, according to an initial Tokyo Electric Power assessment made public on Tuesday (see GSN, May 23).  

The finding suggests fuel in the six-reactor Fukushima plant's No. 2 and No. 3 reactors sustained a level of damage comparable to what Tokyo and independent specialists said the No. 1 reactor's material had experienced in the aftermath of the the March 11 events, Reuters reported. The devastating earthquake and tsunami left more than 20,000 people dead or missing in Japan (Shinichi Saoshiro, Reuters I, May 24).

“We have analyzed data, which showed that it was highly likely that most of the fuel rods have melted. But it is unlikely that melting fuel rods could worsen the crisis because the melted fuels are covered in water,” the Associated Press quoted firm spokesman Takeo Iwamoto as saying (Associated Press/Washington Post, May 23).Full article