Steam again - What is it this time?

July 23, 2013

Steam again seen at No. 3 reactor building at Fukushima Daiichi plant

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130723p2g00m0dm072000c.html

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Kyodo) -- Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, said Tuesday it has confirmed "something like steam" is coming out of the No. 3 reactor building again.

Tokyo Electric, known as TEPCO, said one of its monitoring cameras showed what appeared to be steam coming out of the building's fifth floor just above the reactor container at around 9:05 a.m. Tuesday.

The steam continued to be seen at 10:30 a.m., TEPCO officials said.

Last Thursday, a similar phenomenon was confirmed at the same reactor building. But no steam was seen the following day.

As rain hit the power plant Monday night, rainwater may have evaporated after falling on the lid of the reactor container, whose temperature was around 38 C.

At around 9 a.m. Tuesday, the ambient temperature was 20.3 C and the humidity level was 91.2 percent around the reactor building, TEPCO said.

No major change was reported in the radiation level around the reactor building, the officials said.

TEPCO has suspended work to remove rubble at the reactor building due to the apparent steam emission, they said.