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| Blackout Halts Cooling System at Fukushima Plant | Blackout Halts Cooling System at Fukushima Plant |
| (about 11 hours later) | |
| TOKYO — Two pools for storing spent nuclear fuel remained without vital cooling systems more than 24 hours after a partial power failure at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan on Tuesday, the operator said. The company said it had restored the flow of cooling water to two other pools also affected by the blackout. | |
| The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, said temperatures in the two uncooled pools still remain well within safe levels. It said its engineers were trying to repair a faulty switchboard that it blamed for the outage that began on Monday night, halting pumps that inject cooling water into the four pools located near the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 reactors. | |
| All three of those reactor buildings, which also house the pools, were damaged by hydrogen explosions caused by the triple meltdown at the plant two years ago, after a huge earthquake and tsunami destroyed reactor cooling systems. The company, known as Tepco, said the current loss of cooling water was manageable because temperatures would remain at safe levels for at least four days, and the plant also has backup systems. | |
| Still, the problems underscore the continuing vulnerability of the plant, which is beginning a complex cleanup of the three damaged reactors that is expected to take decades. Some experts have warned that the current cooling systems, some of which were hastily built by engineers frantically struggling to regain control of the overheating reactors, could be knocked out by another large earthquake. | Still, the problems underscore the continuing vulnerability of the plant, which is beginning a complex cleanup of the three damaged reactors that is expected to take decades. Some experts have warned that the current cooling systems, some of which were hastily built by engineers frantically struggling to regain control of the overheating reactors, could be knocked out by another large earthquake. |
| "Fukushima Daiichi still runs on makeshift equipment, and we are trying to switch to something more permanent and dependable," a Tepco spokesman, Masayuki Ono, told reporters. "Considering the equipment situation, we may be pushing a little too hard." | |
| Much of the ongoing concern has focused on the pools near the reactors that are used to store spent fuel rods. These contain far more radioactive material and have less shielding from the outside than the reactors, raising the specter of another massive release of contaminated particles. | Much of the ongoing concern has focused on the pools near the reactors that are used to store spent fuel rods. These contain far more radioactive material and have less shielding from the outside than the reactors, raising the specter of another massive release of contaminated particles. |
| The four pools affected by Monday’s blackout contained more than 8,000 highly contaminated fuel rods, Tepco said. That would be enough to release far more radioactive material than the original accident in March 2011, which forced the evacuation of some 160,000 residents in northeastern Japan. Many of those evacuees still live in temporary shelters and may never be able to return home. | |
| On Tuesday, Tepco said it had restored cooling to two of the four pools by starting backup systems. It said it expected to soon resume cooling at a third pool, though restoring cooling water to the fourth pool might take until Wednesday. | |
| Tepco said it was investigating the cause of the current blackout, which it believes it has traced to the switchboard and attached cables. The company said it was readying a replacement switchboard in case it cannot fix the original one. | |
| It said the failure also briefly cut off electricity to the command center at the plant, though power was quickly restored. | |
| In a statement, the operator said the temperatures in the pool near the No. 4 reactor rose the highest since losing power, to 30 degrees Celsius, still well below the safety threshold of 65 degrees Celsius. Cooling systems at the No. 4 pool were restored Tuesday afternoon, the company said. | |
| The No. 4 pool has been a source of concern before, largely because the building in which it is housed was almost totally destroyed during the original accident by a hydrogen blast caused by melting atomic fuel. The explosion left the pool exposed to the outside air. Tepco has been building a new, more protected pool to which it plans to move the spent fuel rods. | The No. 4 pool has been a source of concern before, largely because the building in which it is housed was almost totally destroyed during the original accident by a hydrogen blast caused by melting atomic fuel. The explosion left the pool exposed to the outside air. Tepco has been building a new, more protected pool to which it plans to move the spent fuel rods. |