Plant operator says reactor seal apparently not holed
Posted: 15 March 2011 0857 hrs

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TOKYO: The seal around a reactor at a quake-damaged Japanese nuclear power plant does not appear to have been holed, the plant operator said Tuesday, following an explosion at the plant.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters earlier that the suppression pool of the number-two reactor at the Fukushima No.1 plant appeared to have been damaged.

The pool forms the base of the container vessel which seals the fuel rods.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) "said it believes the container vessel has not sustained damage such as a hole, judging from the fact that the radiation level has not jumped," a spokesman for the country's nuclear safety agency told AFP.

A huge explosion hit the building housing the number-two reactor early Tuesday, the third blast at the plant since Saturday.

Japan is working desperately to avert a nuclear meltdown after Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami cut power to the ageing plant and knocked out cooling systems.

-AFP/ac