Japan's nightmare gets even WORSE: All THREE damaged nuclear reactors now in 'meltdown' at tsunami-hit power station

By RICHARD SHEARS
Last updated at 4:13 PM on 14th March 2011

Fuel rods appear to be melting inside three over-heating reactors
Experts class development as 'partial meltdown'
Earlier blast at Fukushima nuclear plant felt 25 miles away
Eleven workers injured after hydrogen ignited
180,000 people have been evacuated from the area
Engineers desperately trying to cool reactors with sea water
Up to 160 people so far exposed to radiation
The Japanese nuclear reactor hit by the tsunami went into 'meltdown' today, as officials admitted that fuel rods appear to be melting inside three damaged reactors.
There have been explosions inside two over-heating reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, and the fuel rods inside a third were partially exposed as engineers desperately fight to keep them under control after the quake knocked out emergency cooling systems.
Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said it was 'highly likely' that the fuel rods inside the reactors are melting.
Some experts class that a partial meltdown of the reactor, but others would only use that term for times when nuclear fuel melts through a reactor's innermost chamber but not through the outer containment shell.
Japan is fighting to avoid a nuclear catastrophe after the tsunami. There was a hydrogen explosion at the reactor in Unit Three of the power station earlier today, in which eleven workers were hurt by the blast that was felt 25 miles away.

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