Camera in no.4 - not exactly reassuring

March 16, 2012

Camera inserted in Fukushima No.4 reactor

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120316_35.html

Debris from a hydrogen explosion and large volume of floating objects were observed inside the Number 4 reactor of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company used an underwater camera to survey the reactor on Thursday.

It is the first such attempt since the reactor building was damaged by a hydrogen explosion 4 days after the earthquake and tsunami last March.

Wreckage, which included two pieces of long, thin sheets, was seen at the bottom of the reactor and a large number of floating white objects were also observed.

Similar floating matter was also found in the spent fuel pool inside the building, causing the pool's visibility to fall from 5 meters last month to one meter now.

TEPCO plans to start removing 1,535 fuel rods from the pool by December next year and temporarily keep them on the plant premises.

It says removal of the spent fuel from the pool requires a visibility of at least 7 meters and that it will investigate how the floating matter was created.