Fukushima Plant Still Posing Risks 4 Years After Meltdowns: regulator

FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN - MAR. 11: The situation still remains risky at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant four years after nuclear meltdowns occurred in 2011, the chairman of Japan's nuclear regulator said Wednesday, vowing utmost efforts to avoid further trouble there. "There have been quite a few accidents and problems at the Fukushima plant in the past year, and we need to face the reality that they are causing anxiety and anger among people in Fukushima," Shunichi Tanaka told personnel at the Nuclear Regulation Authority on the fourth anniversary of the nuclear disaster. Mishaps still occur regularly at the radiation-leaking complex in Fukushima Prefecture, where decommissioning work is continuing after it was heavily damaged in the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011. After being hit by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi plant lost nearly all its power sources and consequently its ability to cool most of the units. The Nos. 1 to 3 reactors suffered nuclear meltdowns, while hydrogen explosions damaged the buildings housing the No. 1, 3 and 4 units.