An international mission in Japan on Tuesday started a probe into the nuclear complex that is leaking radioactive and is flooded, at a time when information has emerged about the severity of the crisis in the early days after the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March. The team of UN nuclear experts met with Japanese officials and inspect in the coming days the plant in Fukushima Dai-ichi to investigate the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl occurred in 1986.
The group will also evaluate the actions taken by Tokyo to stabilize the complex by early next year, the date to which committed the authorities. The Japanese government has pledged cooperation with experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency also announced that it would make its own inquiry on the crisis and appointed an expert from Tokyo to head the investigative commission.
The IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna. The manager of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co., unveiled new information, that melted most of the fuel rods in the early days of the crisis in the units 2 and 3 of the plant. This situation was suspected but not confirmed and the data suggest that Japan was closer to a radioactive leak bigger than what the authorities had recognized in principle.
The TEPCO last month announced similar conclusions on Unit 1. The fuel in three of the six reactors at the plant began to melt after the tsunami of March 11 cooling systems should fail. This failure led to massive discharges of radiation into the atmosphere. Persistent leaks in the plant, but at levels much lower than after the accident occurred and the Japanese authorities rely on achieving a "cold shutdown" of the installation and stop all the leaks in January at the latest. 
The group will also evaluate the actions taken by Tokyo to stabilize the complex by early next year, the date to which committed the authorities. The Japanese government has pledged cooperation with experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency also announced that it would make its own inquiry on the crisis and appointed an expert from Tokyo to head the investigative commission.
The IAEA has its headquarters in Vienna. The manager of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co., unveiled new information, that melted most of the fuel rods in the early days of the crisis in the units 2 and 3 of the plant. This situation was suspected but not confirmed and the data suggest that Japan was closer to a radioactive leak bigger than what the authorities had recognized in principle.
The TEPCO last month announced similar conclusions on Unit 1. The fuel in three of the six reactors at the plant began to melt after the tsunami of March 11 cooling systems should fail. This failure led to massive discharges of radiation into the atmosphere. Persistent leaks in the plant, but at levels much lower than after the accident occurred and the Japanese authorities rely on achieving a "cold shutdown" of the installation and stop all the leaks in January at the latest.
- Tepco admits two more meltdowns (23/05/2011)
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- 70,000 more should evacuate after Fukushima: Watchdog (24/05/2011)
- "Fukushima: Facility for tainted water almost full" and related posts (23/05/2011)
- Kan Denies Reports That He Mistakenly Halted Cooling Measures At Fukushima, Leading To Meltdown (24/05/2011)
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