TEPCO: meltdown occurred at Fukushima 16 hours after quake

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(In this Japan government photo handout via Reuters, a remote-controlled robot created by iRobot called "Packbot" is pictured by another "Packbot" near north side entrance of TEPCO's crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant No.3 reactor building. The image was captured on May 10, 2011.)

Z3N.tv: "Japan's Kyodo News has just reported that TEPCO, the nuclear power company in charge of the beleaguered Fukushima nuclear power plant, now claims that reactor number 1 had suffered a meltdown just 16 hours after the March 11 earthquake." The Z3N post translates and links to related news items from Japan news outlets.

NHK reports same here. And Japan Times also has an item up. A Wall Street Journal report here expands the story: three reactor cores have at least partially melted down at Fukushima.

(HT: Adario Strange.)