Setback

Damage at Japan Reactor Worse Than Expected

Government to help Tepco compensate victims.

There may be a complication in Tepco's plan to bring the Fukushima reactors under control in the next nine months. One of the reactors previously thought to be relatively undamaged was found to have surprisingly low water levels. Workers were able to get close enough to the No. 1 reactor Thursday to attach a water gauge, which showed that the water was three feet below where the fuel rods would normally stand. The rods themselves seem to have melted and slumped to the bottom of the containment vessel. But the overall temperature of the reactor indicates that though the fuel had melted, the water kept it cool, and therefore not as dangerous as a worst case scenario. Meanwhile, the Japanese government says it will help Tepco compensate victims of the nuclear disaster, an undertaking that could run into the tens of billions of dollars.