Tokyo Electric Power Company confirmed on Tuesday that there had been meltdowns of fuel rods at three of the plant’s reactors early in the crisis.

The reconstruction of Japanese towns and cities devastated by a deadly earthquake and tsunami last month could take a decade, an advisory panel says.

Engineers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo said on Sunday they were no closer to restoring the plant’s cooling system.

Radiation levels have soared in seawater near Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, officials said on Saturday.

Japanese engineers were frantically attempting on Saturday to pump out puddles of radioactive water at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.