SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Workers at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station work among underground water storage pools on 17 April 2013. (Photo: Greg Webb / IAEA)
Fukushima Meltdown Worse Than Previous Estimates: TEPCO
Company releases new findings which show nearly all nuclear fuel melted in Reactor 3 following 2011 earthquake and tsunami
Aug 07, 2014
The meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan was more severe than previously acknowledged, owner Tokyo Electric Power Company announced Wednesday, according to reports from Japanese media.
The company released new estimates that nearly every fuel rod at Reactor 3, located at No. 1 plant, melted as a result of Japan's March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and most likely fell to the bottom of the containment unit. The finding is far higher than the company's previously stated estimates in which it told people that only 63 percent of the reactor's nuclear fuel had melted. Furthermore, TEPCO's new statement acknowledges that the fuel began melting six hours earlier than previously believed.
"It is still impossible for us to evaluate the potential impact (of the findings) on the decommissioning of the reactor," a TEPCO official stated following the release of the findings, according to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
But Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that the finding might further complicate the troubled decommissioning of the plant.
The paper explains:
As the core meltdown is now believed to have started earlier than was previously thought, the amount of melted nuclear fuel that passed into the containment vessel through the pressure vessel is considered to have been greater, making it technically more difficult to extract the melted fuel and dispose of it.
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare was a staff writer for Common Dreams from 2013-2016. She is currently web editor and reporter for In These Times.
The meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan was more severe than previously acknowledged, owner Tokyo Electric Power Company announced Wednesday, according to reports from Japanese media.
The company released new estimates that nearly every fuel rod at Reactor 3, located at No. 1 plant, melted as a result of Japan's March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and most likely fell to the bottom of the containment unit. The finding is far higher than the company's previously stated estimates in which it told people that only 63 percent of the reactor's nuclear fuel had melted. Furthermore, TEPCO's new statement acknowledges that the fuel began melting six hours earlier than previously believed.
"It is still impossible for us to evaluate the potential impact (of the findings) on the decommissioning of the reactor," a TEPCO official stated following the release of the findings, according to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
But Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that the finding might further complicate the troubled decommissioning of the plant.
The paper explains:
As the core meltdown is now believed to have started earlier than was previously thought, the amount of melted nuclear fuel that passed into the containment vessel through the pressure vessel is considered to have been greater, making it technically more difficult to extract the melted fuel and dispose of it.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare was a staff writer for Common Dreams from 2013-2016. She is currently web editor and reporter for In These Times.
The meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan was more severe than previously acknowledged, owner Tokyo Electric Power Company announced Wednesday, according to reports from Japanese media.
The company released new estimates that nearly every fuel rod at Reactor 3, located at No. 1 plant, melted as a result of Japan's March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and most likely fell to the bottom of the containment unit. The finding is far higher than the company's previously stated estimates in which it told people that only 63 percent of the reactor's nuclear fuel had melted. Furthermore, TEPCO's new statement acknowledges that the fuel began melting six hours earlier than previously believed.
"It is still impossible for us to evaluate the potential impact (of the findings) on the decommissioning of the reactor," a TEPCO official stated following the release of the findings, according to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
But Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that the finding might further complicate the troubled decommissioning of the plant.
The paper explains:
As the core meltdown is now believed to have started earlier than was previously thought, the amount of melted nuclear fuel that passed into the containment vessel through the pressure vessel is considered to have been greater, making it technically more difficult to extract the melted fuel and dispose of it.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.