Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Japan Continues Efforts to Cool Crippled Reactors

Japan Continues Efforts to Cool Crippled Reactors

Japan says it may be several more days before power is restored to the reactor for which a core containment vessel may have been damaged. It is one of three reactors at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant with cores that, officials say, may have partially melted. Seawater has been pumped into them to prevent the fuel from being exposed.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company says external lines have been re-connected to the crippled facility. That will allow plant operators to again properly monitor radiation levels, illuminate control rooms and stabilize the cooling process.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, the deputy director general of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, says stabilizing the Number-2 reactor is going to take some time.

Nishiyama says the electrical wiring has failed on the motor of the pump that circulates water in the pool for the used fuel rods. Replacement parts, he says, are being ordered.
For now, firefighters taking turns to avoid excessive radiation exposure are continuing to spray water on fuel pools at reactors where electricity has not been restored.

Scientists say the Number-3 reactor, containing mixed oxide fuel, presents the most severe risk among all of the six reactors. It would be expected to emit highly toxic plutonium in the event of a meltdown.
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