Tokyo, Dec 1 (ANI): Japan's earthquake-cum-tsunami hit Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was near a full meltdown than the company analyses had earlier indicated, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO) has revealed.
TEPCO and the Japanese Government have revealed for the first time that the nuclear fuel rods in reactor Number 1 likely melted completely, burning a hole through one surrounding vessel and eating through up to three-quarters of the concrete base at the bottom of a second containment vessel meant as a last barrier between the radioactive core and the outside world, The New York Post reports.
That brought the fuel closer than previously believed to breaching the containment vessel and continuing to burn through the ground below, a catastrophic scenario sometimes described as the "China Syndrome," from the fanciful notion, popularized in a US film by the same name, that in a catastrophic meltdown, molten reactor fuel could sink through the earth until it reached China.
Earlier, TEPCO had said only that it thought unit Number 1's fuel was more than half melted, and that some had fallen into the containment vessel.
The findings are the latest reminder of how dangerous the mid-March accident at Fukushima Daiichi was and how much remains unknown.
TEPCO said the damage in units Number 2 and 3 was less severe than in Number 1, although some fuel did burn through their surrounding vessels to the concrete base of their containment vessels. In all three units, the fuel has now reportedly cooled to below the critical temperature of 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit), and thus poses no further threat. (ANI)
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