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Second meltdown in No 3 Nuclear reactor caused Fukushima cleanup problems

Report suggests second meltdown at reactor at Fukushima plant, Asahi.com, BY TOMOOKI YASUDA STAFF WRITER, 2011/08/09, A second meltdown likely occurred in the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a scenario that could hinder the current strategy to end the crisis, a scientist said.

In that meltdown, 10 days after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, the fuel may have leaked to the surrounding containment vessel, according to a report by Fumiya Tanabe, a former senior researcher at what was then the government-affiliated Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute.

His report will be announced at next month’s meeting of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan.

Under Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s road map to deal with its crippled nuclear plant, reducing temperatures at the bottom of the core pressure vessel is one objective for bringing the accident under control. But if the fuel burned through the pressure vessel surrounding the No. 3 reactor and dropped into the containment vessel, that plan would be affected.

The No. 3 reactor was in a state of dry boil for about six hours until cooling water was pumped into the core from 9:25 a.m. on March 13.

Around 11 a.m. on March 14, the reactor building was hit by a large hydrogen explosion that was likely caused by a core meltdown, which led to fuel falling to the bottom of the pressure vessel…..

Even officials of TEPCO and the central government acknowledge that they do not know the specific condition of the core at the No. 3 reactor. But their view until now has been that the melted fuel has settled at the bottom of the pressure vessel…..

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201108080276.html

August 15, 2011 - Posted by | - Fukushima 2011

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