Temperature inside No. 4 reactor pool remains high at 91 C
Baku, April 23 (AZERTAC). The temperature inside a pool for spent nuclear fuel at the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant remains high at around 91 degrees Celsius, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said.
The company said that the pool`s water level was also low -- just about 2 meters above the top of the fuel rods. TEPCO said the data, obtained by using a remotely controlled pumping vehicle on April 22, reflected the fact that it was limiting the volume of pumped water to correspond to the amount that had evaporated due to the fuel rods` heat.
The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said on April 23 that it will pump an additional 140 metric tons of water into the pool in a bid to raise the water level by about two meters and cool down the water.
A hydrogen explosion rocked the No. 4 reactor on March 15, destroying a regular circulation-cooling system that uses sea water. Since then, TEPCO has continued to pump water into the pool for spent nuclear fuel.
On April 12, TEPCO took samples of water from the pool using a remotely controlled concrete-pumping vehicle and found the temperature there to be 90 C, up from 84 C a day before the explosion. The water level was about three meters above the top of the fuel rods.
The utility`s latest measurements were designed to evaluate the effects of its water-pumping efforts.
Raising the amount of water into the pool will cool the fuel rods but results in an overflow of water contaminated with radioactive materials. TEPCO thus faces with a dilemma.
TEPCO initially planned to photograph the fuel rods inside the pool using an underwater camera on April 22 to check for damage to the rods, but it dropped the plan because the camera could only withstand temperatures of up to 50 C.
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