"TOKYO -- Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of Japan today declared that the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been brought to a state of cold shutdown, turning a corner in the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
'The nuclear reactors have reached a state of cold shutdown and therefore we can now confirm that we have come to the end of the accident phase of the actual reactors,' Prime Minister Noda told a news conference.
The cold shutdown state - when water used to cool nuclear fuel rods remains below boiling point so the fuel cannot reheat - is a target in the second phase of a timetable established by the government and the plant's owner-operator Tokyo Electric Power Company to bring the crippled facility under control."
Environment News Service had the story December 16, 2011.
SEE ALSO:
"Prospects Murky as N-Shutdown Eyed" (Daily Yomiuri)
"After Nuclear Milestone, a Long Road" (Wall St. Journal)
"Fukushima Nuclear Shutdown: 'No Progress Is Being Made'" (ZDNet)
"News Navigator: What Is a 'Cold Shutdown' at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant?" (Mainichi Daily News)
"Mob Involved in Fukushima Clean-Up: Japan Reporter" (AFP)
Prime Minister Declares 'Cold Shutdown' of Fukushima Reactors
Source: ENS, 12/20/2011
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