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May 13, 2011

Japan Admits Partial Meltdown at Nuclear Plant 
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Japanese authorities admitted Thursday one of the reactors at the
crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility suffered a partial
meltdown of its core. The disclosure by the Tokyo Electric Power Company
is the latest indication that the nuclear disaster was worse than
previously disclosed. A TEPCO official said radioactive water had leaked
from the reactor, exposing fuel rods and triggering their meltdown.

Junichi Matsumoto, TEPCO General Manager: "All the fuel is unprotected
at this point and the water levels are below that. However, temperatures
in the reactor pressure vessel have cooled to 100- to 120-degrees
Celsius, so we have come to the conclusion that the fuel mass, or the
fuel if you want, is actually not at the proper levels but somewhat
below that or even possibly at the bottom of the vessel."



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