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April 6, 2011 Core of Stricken Reactor Probably Leaked, U.S. Says By MATTHEW L. WALD and ANDREW POLLACK WASHINGTON — The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday that some of the core of a stricken Japanese reactor had probably leaked from its steel pressure vessel into the bottom of the containment structure, implying that the damage was even worse than previously thought. The statement came as the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, started to inject nitrogen into the reactor containment vessel of unit No. 1 to prevent a possible explosion. The Nuclear Regulatory...

Crack in concrete called source of radioactive water leaking into sea By the CNN Wire Staff April 2, 2011 -- Updated 0719 GMT (1519 HKT) Tokyo (CNN) -- Highly radioactive water from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is leaking into the Pacific Ocean from a cracked concrete sump near the No. 2 reactor, an official with the plant's owner said Saturday. Water from the two-meter deep, concrete-lined basin could be seen escaping into the sea through a roughly 20-cm (8-inch) crack, an official the Tokyo Electric Power Company told reporters Saturday afternoon. But the company could not explain...

High radiation detected at Japan's Fukushima plant Press Trust Of India Posted on Mar 27, 2011 at 12:25pm IST Fukushima: Japanese authorities on Sunday detected radioactivity 10 million times higher than normal in water in one of the six reactors at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant forcing evacuation of workers, as the government warned that the crisis was far from over. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), said the radioactive materials tested 10 million times more than the usual level in water at the No.2 reactor complex, over two weeks after the devastating magnitude-9 quake and tsunami struck...

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Fuel Rods Damage At Fukushima's 2 Reactors Estimated At 70%, 33% TOKYO (Kyodo)--An estimated 70 percent of the nuclear fuel rods have been damaged at the troubled No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant and 33 percent at the No. 2 reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday. The reactors' cores are believed to have partially melted with their cooling functions lost after Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake rocked Fukushima Prefecture and other areas in northeastern and eastern Japan.

No. 2 reactor of Japan's Fukushima No.1 nuke plant loses cooling functions: agency English.news.cn 2011-03-14 15:05:57 TOKYO, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Monday that the No. 2 reactor of Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant lost its cooling functions at 1:25 p.m. ( 0425 GMT).