Regulators confirm level 1 incident at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant

Japan's nuclear regulatory authority said Wednesday that recently confirmed trouble with fuel rods stored in a spent nuclear fuel pool at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant is a level 1 incident on a 7-point international scale.

A pair of fuel rods was touching as a result of deformation in the bundle of fuel rods, leading the Nuclear Regulation Authority to determine that the fuel had likely been loaded to the reactor core "in an abnormal situation." The NRA's assessment of the incident is provisional.
[link to english.kyodonews.jp]
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