ID :
179995
Wed, 05/04/2011 - 17:00
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/179995
The shortlink copeid
Work for full restoration of reactor cooling system to start Sun.
TOKYO, May 4 Kyodo - Tokyo Electric Power Co. will start work Sunday to install a new cooling system at a reactor of its radiation-leaking Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the operator said Wednesday.
The company stopped short of saying when it can activate the new cooling system but said it will take up to several days to bring the No. 1 reactor to all but a stable condition called ''cold shutdown'' for the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant.
The operator has only been putting water into the reactor as its cooling system broken down in the disaster. With the new system, the operator can circulate coolant water between the containment of the reactor and outer equipment.
The utility also said it wants to install the new cooling system at the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, where the original cooling functions have also been lost, but it does not yet know when it can do so.
As the spread of high levels of radioactive substances has forced residents in nearby municipalities to evacuate for an indefinite period, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the same day the government will judge early next year if the evacuees could return home.
''We will be able to see a certain stable condition early next year if the restoration work goes as scheduled,'' Kan said during a meeting with the mayor of Futaba, one of the affected municipalities. TEPCO forecasts it may stabilize the damaged reactors in about six to nine months.
''At that point, we will determine if the evacuating people could return home by taking monitoring results into consideration,'' Kan said during the meeting in Kazo, Saitama Prefecture, where some people from Futaba are being housed in shelters.
In Fukushima Prefecture, TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu toured some municipalities and apologized to residents and local government officials for the crisis at the plant.
At a shelter in Nihonmatsu, Shimizu knelt down in front of about 150 evacuees, saying, ''I apologize from deep in my heart. We'll do our utmost so you can go back to your hometowns.''
The company stopped short of saying when it can activate the new cooling system but said it will take up to several days to bring the No. 1 reactor to all but a stable condition called ''cold shutdown'' for the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant.
The operator has only been putting water into the reactor as its cooling system broken down in the disaster. With the new system, the operator can circulate coolant water between the containment of the reactor and outer equipment.
The utility also said it wants to install the new cooling system at the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, where the original cooling functions have also been lost, but it does not yet know when it can do so.
As the spread of high levels of radioactive substances has forced residents in nearby municipalities to evacuate for an indefinite period, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the same day the government will judge early next year if the evacuees could return home.
''We will be able to see a certain stable condition early next year if the restoration work goes as scheduled,'' Kan said during a meeting with the mayor of Futaba, one of the affected municipalities. TEPCO forecasts it may stabilize the damaged reactors in about six to nine months.
''At that point, we will determine if the evacuating people could return home by taking monitoring results into consideration,'' Kan said during the meeting in Kazo, Saitama Prefecture, where some people from Futaba are being housed in shelters.
In Fukushima Prefecture, TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu toured some municipalities and apologized to residents and local government officials for the crisis at the plant.
At a shelter in Nihonmatsu, Shimizu knelt down in front of about 150 evacuees, saying, ''I apologize from deep in my heart. We'll do our utmost so you can go back to your hometowns.''
