Meltdown at nuclear plant may be deeper than thought

Simulation looks at the possible damage in Japan

By Mari Yamaguchi

Associated Press / December 1, 2011

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Radioactive debris from melted fuel rods may have seeped deeper into the floor of a tsunami-damaged nuclear reactor in Japan than previously thought, to within a foot from breaching the crucial steel barrier, a new simulation showed yesterday. The findings will not change the ongoing efforts to stabilize the reactors more than eight months after the Fukushima Daiichi plant was disabled, but they harshly depict the meltdowns that occurred and conditions within the reactors, which will be off-limits for years.

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