TEPCO resumes works on ice wall

July 28, 2015

Ice wall building resumes

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/nuclear.html

Jul. 28, 2015 - Updated 11:58 UTC+2

The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has resumed building an underground ice wall after a brief equipment failure.

Tokyo Electric Power Company has been conducting trials to create a barrier of frozen soil around the reactor buildings to keep groundwater from seeping into them.

On Tuesday morning, workers responding to an alarm found smoke rising from a power cable.

They confirmed that all the equipment to build the ice wall had stopped working due to a power failure.

The staff found no problems with the equipment and resumed work in the afternoon using another power system.

The power failure also partially stopped a system that sends nitrogen into the containment vessels of 3 reactors. That work has been resumed as well.

TEPCO says the power cable that was emitting smoke had short-circuited.

The utility is investigating what may have triggered the problem.