nuclear-news

Cooling restored at all Fukushima fuel pools
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/2…

Tokyo Electric Power Company says it has restored all 4 cooling systems for the spent fuel pools at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. They had stopped working on Monday afternoon, raising concerns about a rise in the cooling water’s temperature.

A power failure suspended the cooling systems for the spent fuel pools of the No. 1, 3 and 4 reactors as well as a shared pool in the plant’s compound.

TEPCO repaired the cooling systems step by step.
The utility says it finished repairing the one for a shared pool early Wednesday morning. The shared pool contains the largest number of spent fuel rods that need to be cooled down constantly.

TEPCO officials said 3 power distribution boards had stopped working, leading to the halt of the cooling systems. The boards were using electricity from outside the plant.

The firm continues to investigate what caused the boards to stop functioning.

TEPCO says the temperature of the No. 4 pool was the highest among the 4 pools, and was 25 degrees Celsius one hour before the power failure on Monday.

The temperature rose above 30 degrees Celsius at 4:30 PM on Tuesday. TEPCO said this level will not affect cooling, as it is below the safety threshold of 65 degrees.

The firm says the power failure did not affect the water injection to the No. 1, 2 and 3 reactors. The reactors suffered core meltdowns in the early days of the nuclear crisis triggered by the March 2011 quake and tsunami.

The utility also says no change has been observed in radiation levels at monitoring posts around the plant.

Mar. 19, 2013 – Updated 15:55 UTC (00:55 JST)

****~~~~ it took the RESIDENTS to ask for back up Generators, it took TEPCO THREE HOURS TO NOTIFY RESIDENTS OF THE BLACKOUT~~~~~~*****

Fukushima urges TEPCO to restore cooling
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/2…

Fukushima Prefecture has asked Tokyo Electric Power Company to restore the cooling system at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The cooling system was suspended after a momentary power outage on Monday evening.

Fukushima Prefecture sought an explanation of the problem from 2 TEPCO officials on Tuesday morning.

An official of Fukushima Prefecture, Shoji Furuichi, said TEPCO had not yet identified the cause of the trouble, fueling concerns among local residents.

He also asked the utility to ensure safety by installing multiple power-generation units at the plant and to step up its monitoring system so similar problems can be detected in their early stages.
He also asked TEPCO to swiftly provide residents with information on any problems that arise at key facilities and explain their estimated impact and risks in an easy-to-understand way. This time, the power outage was made public 3 hours after it took place.

A university student in Fukushima city said the delayed announcement, as well as the outage itself, causes her serious concern, as such delays could seriously affect residents if the situation required them to evacuate.

A company employee in his 60s said he is concerned that the prolonged outage could affect cooling operations at the plant, which is still storing a number of fuel rods.

Mar. 19, 2013 – Updated 10:10 UTC (19:10 JST)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOd2uk…
Fukushima Blackout Update 3/19/13: Cooling restored at 2 Fukushima reactors
See links below that video