TEPCO repeatedly halts water treatment system due to alarm
Jun. 30, 2011
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday that it was repeatedly forced to suspend operation of a newly installed radioactive water treatment system at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after an alarm, warning of malfunction, sounded.
The utility company, known as TEPCO, resumed operation of the ''circulating injection cooling'' system late Wednesday night. It was halted twice earlier in the day -- once due to water leakage from holes in a hose connecting a storage tank and a pump that sends water to the reactors and again after an alarm went off, warning of troubles at water treatment devices.
While the system was down, TEPCO continued operations to cool the troubled nuclear reactors at the power plant using decontaminated water, company officials said.
Repeated problems with the water treatment system have prevented the utility from commencing stable cooling operations using recycled water.
Faced with the impending overflow of highly radioactive water accumulating in the complex into the sea and high radiation levels in reactor buildings, the system's continuous operation is vital for containing the crisis.
The first alarm went off around 2:50 p.m. as water leaked from a tank that temporarily stores water decontaminated by an installation developed by France's Areva SA, the company said, adding that water overflowed from the tank onto its pan after workers opened its lid.
The hose in which the holes were found is made of polyvinyl chloride, measuring 10 centimeters in diameter and 20 meters long, the utility said.
Regarding the water treatment devices, around 50 tons of water was also found to have leaked from a drainpipe under a tank of a component that removes salt from decontaminated water, but the leak stopped after workers closed off the pipe, TEPCO said.
The plant operator restarted the operation around 6:45 p.m., but again halted it when an alarm indicating an abnormality sounded.
TEPCO said that workers also entered the fifth floor of the building housing the No. 4 reactor Wednesday to check the working environment and equipment in preparation for the creation of a system to efficiently cool the spent nuclear fuel pool inside, which lost its cooling function after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The ''circulating injection cooling'' system has run into repeated problems. On Monday, TEPCO halted water injection shortly after it started sending cooling water into reactors because water leaked from a hose carrying cleaned water to reactors from a storage tank. The utility resumed operation Tuesday but problems continued, with water found trickling near a pump.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on June 30, 2011)
The utility company, known as TEPCO, resumed operation of the ''circulating injection cooling'' system late Wednesday night. It was halted twice earlier in the day -- once due to water leakage from holes in a hose connecting a storage tank and a pump that sends water to the reactors and again after an alarm went off, warning of troubles at water treatment devices.
While the system was down, TEPCO continued operations to cool the troubled nuclear reactors at the power plant using decontaminated water, company officials said.
Repeated problems with the water treatment system have prevented the utility from commencing stable cooling operations using recycled water.
Faced with the impending overflow of highly radioactive water accumulating in the complex into the sea and high radiation levels in reactor buildings, the system's continuous operation is vital for containing the crisis.
The first alarm went off around 2:50 p.m. as water leaked from a tank that temporarily stores water decontaminated by an installation developed by France's Areva SA, the company said, adding that water overflowed from the tank onto its pan after workers opened its lid.
The hose in which the holes were found is made of polyvinyl chloride, measuring 10 centimeters in diameter and 20 meters long, the utility said.
Regarding the water treatment devices, around 50 tons of water was also found to have leaked from a drainpipe under a tank of a component that removes salt from decontaminated water, but the leak stopped after workers closed off the pipe, TEPCO said.
The plant operator restarted the operation around 6:45 p.m., but again halted it when an alarm indicating an abnormality sounded.
TEPCO said that workers also entered the fifth floor of the building housing the No. 4 reactor Wednesday to check the working environment and equipment in preparation for the creation of a system to efficiently cool the spent nuclear fuel pool inside, which lost its cooling function after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The ''circulating injection cooling'' system has run into repeated problems. On Monday, TEPCO halted water injection shortly after it started sending cooling water into reactors because water leaked from a hose carrying cleaned water to reactors from a storage tank. The utility resumed operation Tuesday but problems continued, with water found trickling near a pump.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on June 30, 2011)
