Last week the temperature in Fukushima Daiichi's #2 reactor vessel - as measured at the "0" position gage - began rising in an erratic manner. Over the weekend the gage shot over 80ºC, causing TEPCO to have to report that if the reading is accurate, the #2 reactor can no longer be considered to be in a state of "cold shutdown."

A hole was drilled in the #2 reactor containment vessel for insertion of an industrial endoscopy camera on January 19th, revealing high gamma radiation, no water level or evidence of corium, and a steady dripping of water through the breached reactor vessel. Which was reported to have "melted through" in the early days of the mid-March 2011 disaster.