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TEPCO: Melted fuel eroded containment vessel floor at Fukushima reactor December 01, 2011 Most of the fuel rods that melted in the pressure vessel of the No. 1 reactor of the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant ate into the containment vessel, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co. It said on Nov. 30 the melted fuel did not breach the containment vessel but partially eroded its concrete floor. As for the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, most of the melted fuel stayed within the pressure vessel, TEPCO added. Water levels have submerged the fuel rods at all three reactors, which...

Report suggests second meltdown at reactor at Fukushima plant August 08, 2011 By TOMOOKI YASUDA / Staff Writer A second meltdown likely occurred in the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, a scenario that could hinder the current strategy to end the crisis, a scientist said. In that meltdown, 10 days after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, the fuel may have leaked to the surrounding containment vessel, according to a report by Fumiya Tanabe, a former senior researcher at what was then the government-affiliated Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. His report will be...

/begin my excerpts Nuclear Fuel could have Melt through Pressure Vessels ... Government Report On Jung 7, the whole content of government report to be submitted to IAEA has been revealed, regarding TEPCO's Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Plant. The report points out the possibility that molten nuclear fuel leaked out of the bottom of damaged pressure vessels in Reactor Unit #1 to #3 and accumulated in the containment vessels. Molten nuclear fuel falling down to containment vessel is called "melt-through" and this is the worst case which is beyond meltdown. It also says that the location in pressure vessel where...