Tepco confirms extra partial fuel rod meltdown at plant

[alp227]

Source: BBC News

Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) has confirmed that there have been extra partial meltdowns in fuel rods at its damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The company said that the fuel rods are in its Number 2 and Number 3 reactors.

Tepco has been trying to contain radiation that started leaking from the plant when it was hit by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

The company said that it planned to stick to its timetable of getting the plant under control by January.

Tepco had said earlier that rods at its Number 1 reactor had also melted down. It was thought that a similar problem had occured in the other reactors but it was difficult to confirm.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13497656

[jimlup]

1. These keystone cops are in way over their heads nt

[Moostache]

2. Eventually the news with be "Fukushima entirely melted down".

I have not heard ONE idea about how they are going to address this situation realistically to date. I am so sick of the "ostrich" response from TEPCO...if ever the UN should have stepped in and simply seized a sovereign site, then this was surely it...

[AtheistCrusader]

3. What the hell would the UN do with it?

Talk about unqualified to handle a situation. They lack the expertise and manpower for this type of operation.

TEPCO is making some progress, little by little. Without a comparable disaster to use as a benchmark, it is difficult to say if they are doing everything possible or not, already.

Botched public relations in Enlgish are not proof of incompetence in the reactor itself.

[Taft_Bathtub]

11. IAEA is already there

You can read the IAEA's website and see their data -- the reactor temperatures are dropping.

http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html

[aquart]

4. I like the way they drip it out a day at a time.

[Taft_Bathtub]

10. They had to get accurate gauge readings

The gauges were damaged in the tsunami, and they had to repair them to read the amount of damage. That's why Reactor 1's news was released weeks ago(they fixed the gauge then), and #2 and #3 were released today.

[MiaCulpa]

5. Tepco Confirms Meltdown of Reactors(1,2, and 3)

Source: Bloomberg

"Tokyo Electric Power Co. confirmed a meltdown of fuel rods in two more reactors at its Fukushima nuclear plant, which has been emitting radiation since an earthquake and tsunami knocked out power and cooling systems.

Fuel rods in the No. 3 unit started melting on March 13 and those in the No. 2 reactor on March 14, Junichi Matsumoto, a spokesman at the company known as Tepco, told reporters in Tokyo today. The fuel dropped to the bottom of the pressure vessel after melting although the damage to the vessel is “limited,” he said.

Tepco raised the possibility of more extensive damage than assumed at the reactors when it announced last week, more than two months after the disaster, that fuel rods in the No. 1 reactor had melted within 16 hours of the quake on March 11. Tepco’s analysis is catching up with U.S. assessments in early days of the crisis that indicated damage to the station was more severe than Japan officials suggested."


Full article at the link.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-24/tepco-confirms-meltdown-of-no-2-3-reactors-at-fukushima-1-.html

---

Related, this is from PHYSORG.com this morning for those who missed it:

"A result of the loss of electricity, overheating at the power plant led to significant releases of iodine, cesium and other radioisotopes to the environment.

Japanese officials recently raised the severity of the nuclear power plant incident to level 7, the highest level on the international scale and comparable only to the Chernobyl incident 25 years ago, says Ken Buesseler, a chemical oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

"When it comes to the oceans, however," says Buesseler, "the impact of Fukushima exceeds Chernobyl."'


http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-japan-nuclear-power-disaster-radioactivity.html

[aquart]

6. March? MARCH?

Lying bastards.

[MiaCulpa]

7. Yep, fuel rods were in meltdown in March

Now it's full meltdown, baby.

[Taft_Bathtub]

9. Reread the Bloomberg Article

"The operator of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant said earlier it believes 35 percent of the rods of reactor No. 2 were damaged after cooling systems failed. About 30 percent of those in the No. 3 unit were damaged, it said."

That's not even close to "full meltdown."

[liberation]

12. LOL, when "partial meltdown" of 2 reactors is the best spin for this situation...

[Taft_Bathtub]

16. That's not spin, also that's the correct scientific term

"Meltdown" is incredibly vague, hence it is not really used except in the media. Only 30% and 35% of the reactor fuel melted.

[MiaCulpa]

13. Yes, 30 % back in March.

That's not what's happening at the moment.

[Taft_Bathtub]

15. No, 30% now.

They repaired the gauges and read them today. Current reactor temperatures are very low and water pressure is high, there's no more fuel melting.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/24_16.html

[Yo_Mama]

17. That's not what I am reading!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-24/tepco-confirms-meltdown-of-no-2-3-reactors-at-fukushima-1-.html

Fuel rods in reactors 2 and 3 had almost complete meltdowns, spokesman Junichi Matsumoto told reporters in Tokyo today.

This isn't really a surprise - it is just confirmation of what simulations led people to expect.

Btw, Speedi's predictions about radiation exposures were very good as well.

[truebrit71]

20. I wouldn't believe TEPCO if they told me water was wet...

...They have repeatedly shown why they cannot be trusted to be reomtely truthful about anything that is going on at that plant. By all means hang your hat on it, me, I'll wait for independent verification thank you very much....

[Kablooie]

8. Again? How many times do we have to hear of rod meltdowns before we believe it?

It seem they announce the same thing every few days.

[MiaCulpa]

14. I guess I won't post on this topic any longer. eom

.

[Overseas]

18. K&R.

[fatbuckel]

19. SELF-DELETED BY MEMBER

This message was self-deleted by fatbuckel.

[Rex]

21. But they confirmed a full meltdown of 1, 2 and 3 last month.

Guess all the lies are starting to catch up to them.