Japan Orders Nuclear Plant Operators to Obtain More Emergency Generators
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TOKYO -- Radiation readings spiked sharply in one reactor at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after a powerful aftershock late Thursday, according to data released by the government, a development that might indicate new damage to the already compromised reactor.
But the plant owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said the gauge used to measure radiation was most likely broken.
The high radiation was measured in the drywell of Reactor No. 1, directly below the reactor pressure vessel and part of the primary containment that is a crucial barrier preventing the escape of radioactive materials. The drywell reading raised the worrisome possibility that some of the nuclear core, perhaps molten, had escaped from the vessel, although this was far from certain.
Experts said, however, that keeping water in the drywell could prevent such a disaster.
On Tuesday the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission set off alarms when it said that such a leak might have happened in the No. 2 reactor at the plant, based on a high radiation reading in its drywell. But the agency has since appeared to step back slightly from that theory, emphasizing that its judgment was based on speculation because no one can get close enough to the reactor to judge what is really happening.
And on Saturday, Eliot Brenner, a spokesman for the commission, agreed with the power company's assessment that the high reading in the No. 1 reactor was likely in error because there had not been a sharp increase in pressure or temperature in the drywell.
The radiation readings, while still quite high, were down Friday from the highest level, which was recorded a half-hour after the 7.1- magnitude aftershock.
The Japanese government, meanwhile, ordered reactor operators on Saturday to bring in additional emergency diesel generators, as the aftershock again demonstrated the potential for such events to shut down portions of the power grid.
The new government order came after problems were reported at two other nuclear power plants, both run by the Tohoku Electric Power Company. The plants suffered temporary losses of cooling to spent fuel pools, electricity cutoffs and problems with backup diesel generators after Thursday's aftershock.
First Published April 10, 2011 12:01 am
