From the Washington Post of 13 May 2011 is confirmation of what was obvious only one week after the Japanese Earthquake:
Quote:
Nuclear watchdog points to gaps in U.S. safety regulations
On Thursday, Fukushima's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., announced that the Unit 1 reactor suffered worse damage than the company had previously acknowledged. New data show that the reactor's uranium fuel melted, slumped to the bottom of the primary containment vessel and burned a hole that released radioactive water, a spokesperson said at a news conference in Tokyo.
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Once uranium burns through a zirconium lining, then hydrogen is released and massive radiation is released.
TEPCO, et al knew far more radiation was leaking than they would report. So much that only a reactor vessel breach could explain it. An example of a business school graduate more worried about being politically correct rather than honest.
What happened in Fukishima is also what would have happened in Three Mile Island had Carter and NRC director Harold Denton not taken that plant away from GPU Nuclear (Met Ed). GPU was doing the same denials and business school spin that TEPCO would do 32 years later. As usual, management was the only reason why both nuclear plants suffered vastly different consequences.