Maybe it's time to change some thermometers

TEPCO notifies gov't of plan to replace thermometer at Fukushima plant

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120303p2g00m0dm019000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday it has notified the government of a plan to set up a new temperature gauging device replacing a troubled thermometer at a reactor at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

According to a report to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the utility is considering putting a thermometer down to a depth of 15 to 20 meters through an existing pipe to gauge the temperature of water at the bottom of the No. 2 reactor.

But the company said it may be able to start the work in late July at the earliest, citing the need for complicated work such as passing a thermometer through a tiny hole measuring only 6 millimeters in diameter.

TEPCO also said the No. 2 reactor is equipped with 41 thermometers, of which 16 are currently usable.

Readings of one of the three thermometers rose abnormally at the bottom of the unit last month, temporarily topping 400 C, while the two others read around 30 C. TEPCO concluded the thermometer had broken down.