nuclear-news

It’s getting hotter in Fukushima’s supposedly “cold shutdown” nuclear plant

Rising temperatures trigger concern at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant Telegraph UK 7 Feb 12, Water temperatures at Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant have risen more than 20 degrees Celsius over the past week.  By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo 07 Feb 2012 Concerns are growing in relation to conditions at the plant, in northeast Japan, which was declared in a state of cold shutdown in December last year.

Temperatures at the bottom of the No. 2 reactor have climbed to over 70 degrees Celsius, marking a rise of more than 20 degrees since the start of February.

Boric acid has been injected into the reactor by workers of Tokyo
Electric Power Company (TEPCO), operators of the plant, in order to
prevent an accidental chain reaction.

The rate of cooling water injected into the unit was also increased as
part of the plant workers’ attempts to stem the surge in temperatures
in the reactor.

The government declared that the power plant was in a state of cold
shutdown on December 16, nine months after a major earthquake and
tsunami triggered a nuclear crisis…. It was too early to say the
plant is safe in December,” Tetsuo Ito, the head of the Atomic Energy
Research Institute at Kinki University in western Japan, told
Bloomberg. “A similar incident will probably occur again.”
The temperature problems coincided with reports that the government is
aiming to restart the first two nuclear reactors since last year’s
nuclear crisis as early as April……
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/9066687/Rising-temperatures-trigger-concern-at-Japans-Fukushima-nuclear-plant.html

February 8, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011, Japan, safety