Fukushima Plant's Cooling System Fails—Again

Second cooling glitch in a month
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 5, 2013 2:40 AM CDT
Fukushima Plant's Cooling System Fails—Again
This aerial file photo taken on March 11, 2013, shows reactor buildings Unit 1 to 4, from right in the middle of the photo, at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan.   (AP Photo/Kyodo News, File)

Japanese nuclear regulators say the cooling system has failed for a storage pool for fuel at one of the reactors at the tsunami-damaged nuclear plant in the northeast. There was no immediate danger from the failure, the second at the plant in a month. A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulation Authority says an alarm went off today about the problem at reactor No. 3. The cause is still under investigation.

A spokesman for the plant's operator said the cooling system can be turned off for two weeks before temperatures approach dangerous levels. The Fukushima Dai-ichi plant went into multiple meltdowns after the March 2011 tsunami. The plant is being decommissioned, but continues to have glitches. Last month, a power outage led to a cooling system not working for two days. (More Fukushima Daiichi stories.)

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