The company’s shares fell as much as 7.3 percent today to 420 yen in Tokyo and were at 426 yen at 12:30 p.m. The shares are down about 80 percent since the quake and tsunami struck, leaving more than 24,000 people dead or missing. Tepco on April 17 set out a plan to end the worst nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl disaster in six to nine months. The utility said it expects to achieve a coach handbags sustained drop in radiation levels at the plant within three months, followed by a cold shutdown, where core reactor temperatures fall below 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit). The utility known as Tepco has been struggling to cool reactors and stop radiation leaks at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi station since the power and water circulation was knocked out by the tsunami. Four of the station’s six reactors were damaged and yesterday Tepco confirmed the No. 1 fuel assembly melted within 16 hours of the disaster. The cores of reactors 2 and 3 may also have melted by the same amount, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at Tepco, said today. The company will make an announcement on the status of the two reactors later, he said, without giving a timeframe. Tepco said earlier it believes 35 percent of the rods of reactor No. 2 melted after cooling systems failed and 30 percent of those in the No. 3 unit. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said there’s no need to change the timetable for Tokyo Electric Power Co. to resolve the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986. “In terms of achieving cold-shutdown status within six to nine months, I believe we should be able to proceed without changing the timeframe,” Kan said today in parliament. “Tokyo Electric will announce a revision to its road map tomorrow and the shop online 2011 government will also issue its view on how to go forward with the plan.”
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