Core of Japanese nuke plant may have melted through containment vessel

Bad news. I'm not finding this reported by much other media, though not sure how to interpret that. From the Guardian:

The radioactive core in a reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor, experts say, raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site.

The warning follows an analysis by a leading US expert of radiation levels at the plant. Readings from reactor two at the site have been made public by the Japanese authorities and Tepco, the utility that operates it.

Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian workers at the site appeared to have "lost the race" to save the reactor, but said there was no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe.

More from the German press:

Findings of plutonium traces outside Japan's stricken Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant have reinforced the view that there has been a partial reactor meltdown, Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Tuesday.

And a brief mention this morning from Reuters here.