Stricken nuclear cores cooling naturally .
By Gerard Wynn LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - The risk of a major radiation leak in Japan is subsiding as stricken nuclear reactors cool, but there will be major clean-up costs and three reactors will probably be written off, experts said on Monday.
A massive earthquake and tsunami on Friday knocked out cooling systems at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, eastern Japan, triggering a race to flood reactor cores with seawater and stop radioactive uranium fuel from melting and leaking out.
A natural decaying process means that the amount of heat the fuel produces has fallen dramatically, by more than 90 percent, experts said on Monday.
That reduced the chance of serious damage, especially after workers flooded the three worst-affected reactors with seawater.
Japan nuclear disaster risk seen receding fast | Reuters
By Gerard Wynn LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - The risk of a major radiation leak in Japan is subsiding as stricken nuclear reactors cool, but there will be major clean-up costs and three reactors will probably be written off, experts said on Monday.
A massive earthquake and tsunami on Friday knocked out cooling systems at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, eastern Japan, triggering a race to flood reactor cores with seawater and stop radioactive uranium fuel from melting and leaking out.
A natural decaying process means that the amount of heat the fuel produces has fallen dramatically, by more than 90 percent, experts said on Monday.
That reduced the chance of serious damage, especially after workers flooded the three worst-affected reactors with seawater.
Japan nuclear disaster risk seen receding fast | Reuters
