福島第一原発１号機はメルトダウンしていた
Japanese Nuclear Reactor Damage Is Worse Than First Thought | NYTimes.com
One of the most startling findings announced Thursday was that water levels in the reactor vessel, which houses the fuel rods, appeared to be about three feet below where the bottom of the fuel rods would normally stand. Ever since the reactor shut down, workers’ primary task has been to keep pouring water into the reactors to ensure the nuclear fuel remained covered so that it would not melt. But the new information suggests the fuel was uncovered for at least some time, probably early in the crisis.
That indicated that the exposed fuel has probably melted and slumped to the bottom of the vessel in little pellets, Junichi Matsumoto, a Tepco spokesman, said Thursday at a news conference.
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David Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit group usually critical of the nuclear industry, agreed that the temperature readings were a good sign.
He said he believed that the damage to the fuel at Reactor No. 1 was already finished, and that even if some fuel rods were still standing — and therefore exposed — they were no longer hot enough to keep melting.
“As bad as things are,” Mr. Lochbaum said, “they’re getting better.”
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At the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, R. William Borchardt, the top staff official, briefed the five members of the commission on Thursday morning about the new disclosures, but did not describe them as major developments. Over all, he described the status of the Fukushima complex as “not exactly stable, but you might say that they’re static.”
原子炉で想定以上の水漏れ、燃料落下の可能性―福島第1原発 | WSJ日本版
Nuclear fuel rods may have mostly melted | The Daily Yomiuri
Fukushima: Er, Sorry…Worse Than We Thought. | TIME.com
5月12日 メルトダウンだが最悪シナリオ回避 小出裕章 | 小出裕章 (京大助教) 非公式まとめ
メルトダウンは３月１１日…初動の遅れ裏付け | 読売新聞
東日本大震災：福島第１原発事故 １号機空だき１０時間以上 専門家「公表遅すぎる」 | 毎日新聞
5月16日 溶けた燃料で格納容器に穴 小出裕章 | 小出裕章 (京大助教) 非公式まとめ
【放射能漏れ】１号機、地震１６時間後にメルトダウン ４号機の爆発は３号機の水素逆流が原因か | MSN産経ニュース
2号機と3号機の炉心も損傷―福島第1原発 | WSJ日本版
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