Crippled Japan nuclear plant hit by power failure—report

Unit 1 reactor building, left, and Unit 2 of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant are seen through a bus window in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. A power failure at the tsunami-crippled nuclear plant forced operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to suspend systems to cool spent fuel pools at three reactor units, a report said Tuesday, March 19, 2013. AP PHOTO/ITSUO INOUYE

TOKYO—A power failure at Japan’s tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant forced operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. to suspend systems to cool spent fuel pools at three reactor units, a report said Tuesday.

The incident has not so far affected water injection to the number 1 and number 3 reactors, which suffered core meltdowns soon after the start of the March 2011 nuclear crisis, according to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), Kyodo news agency said.

No major changes have been observed in radioactivity levels detected by nearby monitoring posts after the incident, which happened just before 7:00 pm (1000 GMT) on Monday.

As of 1:45 a.m. Tuesday, TEPCO has not been able to bring the system back online, the Kyodo report said.

The problems with electrical power have also led to the suspension of operation of equipment to treat contaminated discharge including radioactive materials.

According to the NRA, TEPCO reported to regulators that electricity went out at the plant’s accident response centre at about 6:57 pm Monday.

If no cooling steps are taken, the temperature of the water inside the spent fuel tank at the number 4 unit, which has posted the highest temperature, would reach 65 degrees Celsius (149 degrees Fahrenheit)—the upper safety margin limit TEPCO has set—within four to five days, the power company said.

The meltdown at the core of three of Fukushima’s six reactors occurred after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and ensuing huge tsunami shut off the power supply and cooling system.