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Page added on July 18, 2013
Fukushima nuclear plant: Steam seen at reactor building
Steam has been seen rising from a reactor building at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator says.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said there was no emergency situation and there were no signs of increased radiation in the area.
It says it is investigating what is causing the steam at the damaged No 3 reactor building.
The plant, crippled by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, has seen a series of water leaks and power failures.
The tsunami knocked out cooling systems to the reactors, three of which melted down.
Water is being pumped into the reactors to cool them, but that has left Tepco with the problem of storing the contaminated waste water.
‘Monitor closely’
A worker first noticed the steam after reviewing camera footage taken of the building, Tepco said.
The operator said in a statement there was a “steam-like gas wafting through the air near the central part of the fifth floor [equipment storage pool side]” of the No 3 reactor building.
The reactor water injection and the cooling of the spent fuel pool were “continuing stably”, Tepco said. There were also no significant change in the temperature of the reactor.
“We will continue to monitor the status closely,” the statement added.
“We do not believe an emergency situation is breaking out although we are still investigating what caused this,” a spokesman told Agence-France Presse news agency.
Mayumi Yoshida, another Tepco spokesperson, told Reuters news agency: “We think it’s possible that rain made its way through the reactor building and having fallen on the primary containment vessel, which is hot, evaporated creating steam.”
This is the latest in a series of problems that the Fukushima power plant has faced in recent months.
Last week, a sharp increase in radioactive cesium was detected in groundwater 25m (82ft) from the sea.
In June, radioactive water was also found to be leaking from a storage tank.
Experts say years of work lie ahead before the problems at the plant can be fully contained.
4 Comments on "Fukushima nuclear plant: Steam seen at reactor building"
Beery on Thu, 18th Jul 2013 12:41 pm
“Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said there was no emergency situation and there were no signs of increased radiation in the area.”
Yeah, and we can all trust what TEPCO says, right?
Steam, in a place where there was no steam before, IS a sign of increased radiation.
Incompetence abounds at TEPCO.
Kenz300 on Thu, 18th Jul 2013 1:54 pm
There needs to be INDEPENDENT reporting of the stabilization process….. TEPCO and the government of Japan have shown that they are less than open and honest when it comes to this nuclear disaster.
This needs more coverage in the worlds media….
GregT on Thu, 18th Jul 2013 2:50 pm
Kenz,
The so called stabilization process is a natural process that will take hundreds or even thousands of years. There is no way for us humans to undo what we have started. The only hope is for containment. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to contain something when you do not even know where it is.
This is not a simple meltdown like Chernobyl, where a new dome can be built over top every 50 to 100 years, for the next several centuries, at increasing astronomical expense. Fukushima was built far to close to the ocean making containment extremely difficult, if not impossible. Oh, and did I mention the almost never ending astronomical expense?
BillT on Fri, 19th Jul 2013 1:24 am
Imagine 400+ Fukushimas in the near future…
“Can’t happen!”, you say. “BS!”, I say.
Why? Cost of maintaining a reactor after it stops being profitable is going to be astronomical. And the owner(s) walk away, leaving the governments of the world to clean up the mess, but the governments are broke and there is no way to clean up anything. What cost $1M today will cost $1B+ tomorrow. But they have to be keep cool for the next few hundred years…
Good luck with that!
And people think we are not headed for extinction…lol.