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Reactor One at Fukushima Daiichi Suffers Nuclear Meltdown

Reactor 1 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant faces a total meltdown.

Anuradha Shetty|May 14, 2011, 14:16:43 IST

Efforts to seal the affected reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant are on, even as reports of there being a total meltdown of the top five feet of the reactor number 1 began making rounds.

Amidst troubled waters..

According to an official statement by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which confirmed the meltdown, the officials initially believed to have submerged a major portion of the reactor in cold water, and hence had managed to cool off most part of it. However, sometime around the end of the last week when the engineers stepped inside the reactor for the first time since the reactors were hit by the massive quake, they found molten fuel at the base of the reactor. It was then that they discovered that over 55per cent of the reactor had faced a total meltdown after they were exposed to the air.

The molten fuel had allegedly burnt a hole in the base of the reactor, leading to the radioactive water leaking into the oceans. The other reactors too, had water leaking into the oceans. These incidents are leading to serious levels of iodine and caesium seeping into oceans with obvious effects the well-being of mankind. The engineers, are therefore, seeking immediate change in plans.