“Workers losing race to save quake-cum-tsunami hit Fukushima nuclear power plant”: Expert
March 30th, 2011 - 4:07 pm ICT by ANITokyo, Mar 30 (ANI): The radioactive core in a reactor at the earthquake-cum-tsunami hit Fukushima nuclear power plant has melted through the bottom of its containment vessel to a concrete floor raising concerns of a major release of radiation at the site, expert has said.
The warning about reactor two at the site has reportedly been made public by the Japanese authorities and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) after a leading US expert of radiation levels at the plant raised fears after analysing the situation there.
The Guardian quoted Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, as saying that workers at the site appeared to have “lost the race” to save the reactor, but assured that there was no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe.
At least part of the molten core, which includes melted fuel rods and zirconium alloy cladding, seemed to have sunk through the steel “lower head” of the pressure vessel around reactor two, Lahey said.
“The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the drywell. I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Japanese government is reportedly considering adopting new measures to prevent the plant from further spreading radioactive particles.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano has said that the government and nuclear experts are discussing ‘every possibility’ to improve the situation at the affected plant, adding that some measures that were reported by the media have also been included in their options.
Tokyo Electric Power Corporation and the government have been struggling to cool overheating reactors of the plant, which was badly hit by the March 11 earthquake. (ANI)
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Tags: alloy cladding, boiling water reactors, chief cabinet secretary, concrete floor, containment vessel, drywell, edano, fuel rods, japanese authorities, japanese government, lahey, molten core, nuclear experts, nuclear power plant, pressure vessel, radiation levels, radioactive particles, safety research, tepco, tokyo electric power company