Infographic: What Is a Nuclear Meltdown?

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A partial meltdown of nuclear fuel rods has occur in two , or perhaps three , atomic reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power works in Japan . How did it happen ?

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Nuclear Meltdown Infographic

Radiation Detection Manager Jeff Carey, with Southern California Edison, takes a radiation reading at the dry storage area during a tour of the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station south of San Clemente, CA

A crowd of people in Sants train station in Barcelona, Spain.

A black and white photo of a large mushroom cloud from a nuclear blast

A top down view of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory�s 1960s molten salt reactor experiment, an early precursor to the Chinese reactor.

A rendering of batteries with a green color and a radioactive symbol

Screen-capture of a home security camera facing a front porch during an earthquake.

The explosion happened on a sea platform off Nenoksa, Russia, killing nuclear engineers and causing huge radiation spikes in the nearby city of Severodvinsk.