Experts were not surprised Thursday to find that most, if not all, of the fuel rods in reactor No. 1 at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant had been fully exposed, melted and fell to the bottom of the pressure vessel.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced the finding Thursday after workers entered the reactor building earlier this month and fixed equipment to monitor the water level in the pressure vessel.
"It's neither a surprise nor bad news," Kunihiko Takeda of Chubu University told The Japan Times. "This means Tepco has been pumping lots of water in the reactor without knowing what exactly is happening in it, which is the best thing Tepco could do." He added that reactors No. 2 and 3 may also be in the same situation.