ENE's take on #2 Reactor Meltdown

TV: Experts conclude no nuclear fuel left inside Fukushima reactor — Total meltdown “highly likely” — Conducting more tests to determine how far down corium has penetrated (PHOTOS & VIDEO)

Published: September 26th, 2015 at 7:38 pm ET By ENENews  Email Article 66 comments

NHK, Sep 25, 2015: Up to 100% of No. 2 reactor fuel may have melted — A group of researchers says it is highly likely that 70 to 100 percent of fuel has melted at one of the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The group includes researchers from Nagoya University. It has been probing the plant’s No. 2 reactor since April of last year… The researchers say the results of their study show few signs of nuclear fuel at the reactor core… This led them to believe that 70 to 100 percent of fuel at the reactor has likely melted. The researchers say further analyses are needed to determine whether molten fuel penetrated the reactor and fell down. The No.2 reactor is said to have released large amounts of radioactive substances following the March 2011 accident… The locations of nuclear fuel will have a significant impact on the process to remove it…
NHK transcript, Sep 25, 2015 (emphasis added): Researchers say it’s highly likely that most of the fuel inside the No. 2 reactor has melted… Officials with [TEPCO] thought some of the fuel in the No. 2 reactor still remained inside the core. But researchers from Nagoya Univ. have come to a different conclusion. They’ve been probing the reactors since April of last year… They say the results show few signs of nuclear fuel left in the core… The findings have led them to conclude that 70 to 100 percent of fuel inside the No 2 reactor has likely melted. They say they’ll conduct further tests to determine whether it leaked any further. (Kunihiro Morishima, Nagoya Univ.:) “Knowing what’s happening inside the reactor will have a significant impact on the process of the decommissioning work.” … The research group will announce the results of its study on Saturday at a meeting of the Physical Society of Japan in Osaka.
Physical Society of Japan meeting: Measurement of Inner Structure of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant by Cosmic Ray Muon Radiography with Nuclear Emulsion — Nagoya University’s Kunihiro Morishima, Akira Nishio, Yuki Moto, Toshiyuki Nakano, Mitsuhiro Nakamura
Watch NHK’s broadcast here

Published: September 26th, 2015 at 7:38 pm ET By ENENews  Email Article 66 comments Like ENENews on Facebook Follow ENENews on Twitter Subscribe to the ENENews RSS Feed Sign up for daily email updates

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