The video images showed a small amount of vapor or steam, but
the origin wasn't clear. It was detected in the morning and was
continuing in the afternoon. The reactor's spent fuel pool was
stable and measurements of the temperatures and pressure have
not changed significantly, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
Workers were continuing to inject water into the No. 3
reactor to cool it, the utility said.
The No. 3 reactor was one of three at the Fukushima Dai-ichi
plant where the nuclear cores overheated and melted after the
2011 earthquake and tsunami. Radiation spewed from the plant and
still contaminates the air, water and soil nearby.
TEPCO is relying on a makeshift system of hoses and pumps to
keep the reactors from overheating, and the site still is
littered with damaged vehicles, twisted metal and other debris
left by the waves that swept through the plant and knocked out
its power. The utility has estimated that shutting down the
plant will take 40 years.
The Fukushima accident was the world's worst nuclear disaster
since Chernobyl in 1986. Thousands of people have been unable to
return to their homes near the plant because radiation levels
are still high.
Most of Japan's nuclear reactors remain shut down for safety
checks following the disaster.
[Associated
Press]
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