Water injection problems not resolved

September 1, 2012

TEPCO facing difficulties in water injection at Daiichi plant

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120901p2g00m0dm002000c.html

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Friday continued to face difficulties in controlling the amount of water being injected into the three crippled reactors at the plant, which is critical to keeping the melted fuel inside cool.

The amount of water injected into the reactors dropped below the minimum required level twice on the previous day. Workers have operated valves to increase the coolant, but the water flow is falling from time to time compared with the initially set level.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. has yet to nail down the cause, but it suspects something may be stuck inside the pipes, hampering the flow of water.

The temperature of the reactor pressure vessels has remained unaffected so far, the utility added.

The current water injection system was set up after the nuclear disaster triggered by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The three reactors suffered meltdowns. The fuel is believed to have melted through the pressure vessels and been accumulating in the outer primary containers, but detailed conditions remain unknown.