The rat (more about)

Rat suspected of causing power problem at Fukushima plant

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130321p2g00m0dm023000c.html

TEPCO: Rat likely caused Fukushima power failure

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20130321_04.html

Tokyo Electric Power Company says a small animal may have caused a power failure at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

A utility spokesperson says the firm's engineers found the burnt body of what looked like a rat near a switchboard installed outside the building.

He said the engineers suspect the animal touched the switchboard which caused a short circuit, resulting in the blackout on Monday.

He also said many parts of the plant lost power as there was no emergency electrical circuit system due to a temporary integration of 2 power lines as a result of construction work.

The power failure led to operations being suspended at 9 facilities in the Fukushima plant. The affected units include the pools of the No. 1, 3 and 4 reactors and another pool to cool down spent fuel rods.

Workers managed to get the cooling system functioning again early Wednesday, some 29 hours after the blackout started.

This is the first power failure at the Fukushima plant to stop the cooling systems for several hours since the March 2011 accident.

TEPCO engineers are investigating the cause of the short circuit.

They are planning on moving the outdoor switchboards inside. They are also thinking of setting up an auxiliary power unit for the cooling pools.