Japan: 70 pct of reactor fuel rods may be damaged

  TOKYO (AP) _ Japan's nuclear safety agency says 70 percent of the nuclear fuel rods in an earthquake-stricken reactor may have been damaged following an explosion.

   An agency spokesman, Minoru Ohgoda, said Wednesday that the damage occurred in Unit 1 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex.

The facility has suffered explosions and fires since Friday's massive quake and tsunami damaged its cooling system.

   Ohgoda said that ``it's likely that roughly about 70 percent of the fuel rods may be damaged.''

   But he said ``we don't know the nature of the damage, and it could be either melting, or there might be some holes in them.''