Japan’s nightmare gets even WORSE: All THREE damaged nuclear reactors now in ‘meltdown’ at tsunami-hit power station

Japan’s nightmare gets even WORSE: All THREE damaged nuclear reactors now in ‘meltdown’ at tsunami-hit power station


RICHARD SHEARS
UK Daily Mail
March 13, 2011

- Fuel rods appear to be melting inside three over-heating reactors
- Experts class development as ‘partial meltdown’
- Molten fuel could burn through reactor safety shields

- Earlier blast at Fukushima nuclear plant felt 25 miles away

- Eleven workers injured after hydrogen ignited
- 180,000 people have been evacuated from the area
- Engineers desperately trying to cool reactors with sea water

- Up to 160 people so far exposed to radiation
The Japanese nuclear reactor hit by the tsunami went into ‘meltdown’ today, as officials admitted that fuel rods appear to be melting inside three damaged reactors.


That means there is a risk that molten nuclear fuel can melt through the reactor’s safety barriers and cause a serious radiation leak.


There have already been explosions inside two over-heating reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, and the fuel rods inside a third were partially exposed as engineers desperately fight to keep them under control after the tsunami knocked out emergency cooling systems.

Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said it was ‘highly likely’ that the fuel rods inside all three stricken reactors are melting.

Some experts class that a partial meltdown of the reactor, but others would only use that term for when molten nuclear fuel melts through a reactor's inner chamber - but not through the outer containment shell.

As fuel rods melt, they form an extremely hot molten pool at the bottom of the reactor that can melt through even the toughest of containment barriers.

Japan is fighting to avoid a nuclear catastrophe after the tsunami. There was a hydrogen explosion at the reactor in Unit Three of the power station earlier today, in which eleven workers were hurt by the blast that was felt 25 miles away.

The reactor at Unit One of Fukushima exploded on Saturday, blowing several walls away but engineers said the core was still contained. The fuel rods in the reactor in Unit Two of the plant were partially exposed from their coolant today - which also increases the risk of meltdown.

Engineers have been fighting to keep the reactors under control after the tsunami knocked out emergency coolant systems on Friday.
Earlier engineers were frantically trying to cool radioactive materials at all the reactors with seawater but had halted the process, which resulted in a rise in radiation levels and pressure.
Plant managers knew an explosion was a possibility as they struggled to reduce pressure inside the reactor containment vessel in Unit Three, but apparently felt they had no choice if they wanted to avoid a complete meltdown.
In the end, the hydrogen in the released steam mixed with oxygen in the atmosphere and set off the blast, which was felt 25 miles away.

The plant's operator Tokyo Electric Company said radiation levels at the reactor were still within legal limits.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the Unit Three reactor's inner containment vessel holding nuclear rods is intact, allaying some fears of the risk to the environment and public.

The government had warned that a further explosion was possible because of the build-up of hydrogen in the building housing the reactor.

More than 180,000 people have been evacuated from the area.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Japanese authorities reported that radioactivity levels 'at the site boundary' of another nuclear power plant at Onagawa had returned to normal.
Earlier a state of emergency had been declared after the high levels of radiation were detected at the nuclear power complex.


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Thousands of families have been evacuated and many more were yesterday being checked for radiation exposure as Japan began to take stock of what the prime minister labelled its ‘most severe crisis since the Second World War’ – when the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Tens of thousands are feared dead, with bodies being picked up from beaches along a 300-mile stretch of coastline.
Others are being gathered from the sea and thousands more are believed to lie buried deep in mud under the debris of homes and cars. At least 10,000 people – half the population of the port of Minami Sanriku – were unaccounted for and the town has been virtually wiped off the map.
Nearby Rikuzentakata was also swamped and destroyed by Friday’s tsunami, killing at least 400 people.
Hundreds of Britons – many of them English language teachers – are among the missing.



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