Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Nuclear Energy News .




CIVIL NUCLEAR
Nearly all fuel inside Fukushima reactor melted: TEPCO
by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) March 19, 2015


New tests show almost all of the fuel inside one of the Fukushima plant's reactors has melted, its operator said Thursday, the latest step in the clean up after Japan's worst ever nuclear crisis.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the technology, which uses elementary particles called "muon" to create x-ray style images, gave the most concrete evidence yet the fuel had dropped to the bottom of the first reactor.

The data, though largely expected, should help TEPCO as it continues its effort to decommission the plant four years after an earthquake and tsunami caused one of the worst nuclear meltdowns in living memory.

Engineers have not been able to develop a machine to directly see the exact location of the molten fuel, hampered by extremely high levels of radiation in and around the reactors.

"While our previous analysis have already strongly suggested that fuel rods had melted down, the latest study provided further data that we like to regard as a progress in our effort to determine the exact locations of the debris," said a TEPCO spokesman.

TEPCO plans to eventually use robots to locate the fuel debris as part of the decommissioning process, which is expected to take three to four decades to complete.

Last month the International Atomic Energy Agency said Japan had made "significant progress" in its cleanup efforts but warned the situation "remains very complex" due to the growing amounts of contaminated water generated by the process.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was directly hit by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and killer tsunami of March 2011.

It lost emergency power to cool the reactors, which went into meltdown, contaminating a vast region in northern Japan.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





CIVIL NUCLEAR
South Africa Rebuffs US Attempts to Take Over its Nuclear Materials
Moscow (Sputnik) Mar 17, 2015
South Africa has enough nuclear fuel for about six bombs - each of them would wipe out Washington, DC, or large sections of New York City. After apartheid officially ended with the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela as president, South Africa started extracting the uranium from the apartheid government's cache of nuclear weapons. Some of that has been used to make medical isotopes, but close to 485 ... read more


CIVIL NUCLEAR
Supercomputers help solve puzzle-like bond for biofuels

CT scanning shows why tilting trees produce better biofuel

Bioelectrochemical processes have the potential to one day replace petrochemistry

Biofuel proteomics

CIVIL NUCLEAR
Italian Solar Power Generation During Solar Eclipse

Solar could meet California energy demand 3 to 5 times over

A new method for making perovskite solar cells

Uncovering the secrets of super solar power perovskites

CIVIL NUCLEAR
U.S. to fund bigger wind turbine blades

Gamesa and AREVA create the joint-venture Adwen

Time ripe for Atlantic wind, advocates say

Wind energy: TUV Rheinland supervises Senvion sale

CIVIL NUCLEAR
Polish Power Exchange hosts 18th AFM Annual Conference

Reducing emissions with a more effective carbon capture method

China to further streamline energy layout amid "new normal"

Where you live could mean 'greener' alternatives do more harm than good

CIVIL NUCLEAR
Fusion researchers make breakthrough on ELMs mitigation

Chemists develop new way to make cost-effective material for electricity storage

Scientists make breakthrough in understanding nuclear fusion

Japan firm marks one small step for solar energy in space

CIVIL NUCLEAR
Some habitable exoplanets could experience wildly unpredictable climates

Scientists: Nearby Earth-like planet isn't just 'noise'

'Habitable' planet GJ 581d previously dismissed as noise probably does exist

Exorings on the Horizon

CIVIL NUCLEAR
China building second aircraft carrier: PLA colonel

Fifth Russian Yasen-Class Attack Nuclear Sub Begins Construction in March

Poland seeking submarine-launch cruise missiles

China holds man who 'sold 500 aircraft carrier images'

CIVIL NUCLEAR
Curiosity Rover Arm Delivers Rock Powder Sample

Opportunity sampling continues at Marathon Valley

Crossing the boundary from high to low on Mars

Roscosmos: Manned Flight to Mars Will Be Impossible Without Russia's Help




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.