Fukushima Reactor Remains Intact After Hydrogen Explosion, Official Says

Bloomberg.Com

Yuji Okada and Shigeru Sato 

Mar 13, 2011

The vessel containing the radioactive core of Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai- Ichi No. 3 reactor is intact after a hydrogen explosion at 11:01 a.m. local time, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.

The possibility of a large radiation leak is very small, even as radiation levels at the reactor are rising, Edano, the government’s main spokesman, said at a press conference. Tokyo Electric said one worker was injured and seven are missing after today’s explosion at the station 220 kilometers (135 miles) north of the Japanese capital.

The blast follows a similar explosion on March 12 after a hydrogen leak at the station’s No. 1 reactor, in which the walls of the reactor building were destroyed, and four workers were injured. No damage was reported to the container of the No. 1 plant, according to Tokyo Electric.

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