'Partial melt' of fuel rod at stricken reactor – Japan envoy

[jpak]

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20110313-325159/Partial-melt-of-fuel-rod-at-stricken-reactor--Japan-envoy

WASHINGTON - Japan's US envoy insisted Saturday there was no evidence a stricken nuclear reactor had gone into full meltdown but acknowledged there had been a "partial melt" of a fuel rod at the quake-hit plant.

Radiation was detected leaking from the Fukushima plant after Friday's massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami, and an explosion there Saturday sent authorities scrambling to avert a major meltdown.

But a somber Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki said: "We do not see evidence of that at this time. What our government has announced is, that it was a blow-up of the outer building," he told CNN.

"There was a partial melt of a fuel rod, melting of fuel rod. There was a part of that... but it was nothing like a whole reactor melting down," said Fujisaki, adding that he was being briefed hourly on the situation.

<more>

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cobalt-60]

2. It's spin. This is a meltdown

The reactor is now useless until the core is replaced.
Allah alone knows how much uranium dioxide spread out through the primary cooling loop, but it can probably be repaired.
It's just plain stupid to put nuclear power plants in earthquake zones.