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183912
Mon, 05/23/2011 - 18:17
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https://oananews.org//node/183912
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TEPCO rules out quake as causing coolant loss at crippled nuke plant
TOKYO, May 23 Kyodo - The powerful March 11 earthquake did not cause any major damage to reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, such as a loss of coolant water, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday, denying the temblor was responsible for a nuclear fuel meltdown at the plant's No. 1 reactor.
It had been suspected that the No. 1 reactor core suffered a meltdown shortly after the plant was rattled by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake.
But the plant operator, known as TEPCO, has attributed the meltdown to the massive tsunami that followed the quake, saying that the tsunami crippled backup generators at the six-reactor plant, leading to the loss of cooling functions at the reactors' cores.
''We have judged that over the period between the quake's occurrence and the arrival of the tsunami, there wasn't an accident in which coolant water was lost at reactors,'' said Junichi Matsumoto, a TEPCO spokesman, at a news conference, citing operating data analysis of the plant.
The utility will report to its watchdog, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, on its analysis on the timeline of the country's worst nuclear disaster and make the information public on Tuesday, utility officials said.
But it has also been known that a massive amount of radiation was detected at the plant's No. 1 reactor on the day the quake struck, and that critical facilities at the plant are feared to have suffered severe damage due to the temblor.
Matsumoto said the utility will carefully analyze relevant data, adding, ''We can't deny the possibility that there may have been leaks and damage that do not show up in parameters.''
At the No. 1 reactor, fuel meltdown is believed to have occurred on the morning after the quake, followed by a hydrogen explosion at 3:36 p.m. that blew off the upper part of a building housing the reactor.
Before the blast, TEPCO was slow to relieve pressure that had built up inside the reactor's containment vessel, a maneuver that involved letting out radioactive steam but one that would prevent a far more disastrous explosion of the vessel.
It also temporarily suspended on the night of March 12 the injection of seawater into the reactor vessel that had been conducted to cool its overheating fuel inside.
Similar meltdowns are feared to have occurred at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors because coolant water injection was also suspended there for more than six hours shortly after the disaster struck the power plant.
It had been suspected that the No. 1 reactor core suffered a meltdown shortly after the plant was rattled by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake.
But the plant operator, known as TEPCO, has attributed the meltdown to the massive tsunami that followed the quake, saying that the tsunami crippled backup generators at the six-reactor plant, leading to the loss of cooling functions at the reactors' cores.
''We have judged that over the period between the quake's occurrence and the arrival of the tsunami, there wasn't an accident in which coolant water was lost at reactors,'' said Junichi Matsumoto, a TEPCO spokesman, at a news conference, citing operating data analysis of the plant.
The utility will report to its watchdog, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, on its analysis on the timeline of the country's worst nuclear disaster and make the information public on Tuesday, utility officials said.
But it has also been known that a massive amount of radiation was detected at the plant's No. 1 reactor on the day the quake struck, and that critical facilities at the plant are feared to have suffered severe damage due to the temblor.
Matsumoto said the utility will carefully analyze relevant data, adding, ''We can't deny the possibility that there may have been leaks and damage that do not show up in parameters.''
At the No. 1 reactor, fuel meltdown is believed to have occurred on the morning after the quake, followed by a hydrogen explosion at 3:36 p.m. that blew off the upper part of a building housing the reactor.
Before the blast, TEPCO was slow to relieve pressure that had built up inside the reactor's containment vessel, a maneuver that involved letting out radioactive steam but one that would prevent a far more disastrous explosion of the vessel.
It also temporarily suspended on the night of March 12 the injection of seawater into the reactor vessel that had been conducted to cool its overheating fuel inside.
Similar meltdowns are feared to have occurred at the Nos. 2 and 3 reactors because coolant water injection was also suspended there for more than six hours shortly after the disaster struck the power plant.
