The fuel rods in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant's No. 3 reactor, including MOX, may be damaged, based on the highly radioactive water that injured two workers and exposed a third the previous day, the nuclear safety agency said Friday.
Although nothing is definite, "it is highly likely that some fuel rods have been damaged" and that radioactive material leaked into the water, Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. MOX is mixed oxide fuel made from uranium and plutonium.
The radiation level of the water was 3.9 million becquerels per cu. centimeter, or 10,000 times stronger than water from a healthy reactor would be, Nishiyama said.