Most of Fukushima nuke plant's fuel rods have melted: TEPCO |
|
Tokyo, May 24ANI: The Tokyo Electric Power Corporation TEPCO, the operator of Japan's damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, has said that fuel rods inside three of the facility's reactors probably melted in the days immediately after the devastating March 11 9.0-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami. TEPCO had said last week that repaired water gauges showed that fuel rods in Unit 1 at the plant had mostly melted and fallen into a lump at the bottom of the pressure vessel. Fresh data from Units 2 and 3 indicate that fuel rods in those reactors are in a similar state. "We have analysed 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 Daily Express quoted TEPCO spokesman Takeo Iwamoto, as saying. The clearer picture of the extent of the damage came as UN nuclear experts planned to start a fact-finding trip. The company had earlier said that it plans to cover the reactor building. The plant has been releasing large amounts of radioactive material, and the nuclear emergency level is currently on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, described as the world's worst ever-peacetime nuclear event. ANI Posted by aniin on Thursday May 26 reply Comments |
|
<< < 1 > >> |
|
|
||
