Work to restore electricity and crucial cooling systems at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant resumed Tuesday, a day after workers were forced to evacuate when unidentified smoke spewed from reactors No. 2 and No. 3.
Firefighters sprayed a massive amount of water onto the spent nuclear fuel pool at the No. 3 reactor, while restarting similar efforts at the No. 4 reactor, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co.
Although white smoke — possibly steam — billowed continuously from the buildings housing the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors, Tepco said work could proceed as radiation levels didn't surge at the site.
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said he believes the smoke rising from the No. 2 reactor was vapor given off by the water that has been sprayed, while the blackish smoke briefly detected Tuesday at the No. 3 reactor was likely rubble that caught fire following a rise in temperature.
Work to restore electricity resumed at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
With power restored to the No. 3 reactor, all of the plant's six reactors have now been hooked up so that key equipment can be restarted, including ventilation systems to filter radioactive substances from the air and gauges in the control room.
Workers still need to check the condition of each piece of equipment before feeding the power in, the nuclear safety agency said.
Tepco hopes to restore power to key equipment, including data measuring devices, and functions by Wednesday for the No. 1 and 2 reactors and by Thursday for the No. 3 and 4 reactors, Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said.
All that of course depends on how damaged the equipment is. Seawater and heavy duty power equipment do not mix very well, and if they miss anything, turning on the juice may seriously damage or destroy the equipment that's left. Meanwhile, radiation levels near the plant continue to remain elevated in the ocean.
Still, that's a good thing to an extent, there's no fishing around the plant, so there's no fish to be sold that may be tainted...for now.
Hideo Morimoto, director at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, said the radiation in the sea-water would dissipate and other coastal nations were not at risk. "At current levels of radiation, it's impossible for it to reach oceans worldwide," he told Reuters, noting it would not add in any way to the natural radiation already in sea-water.
"It's at levels where we can carry out daily lives," he said.
There was no immediate word whether the elevated radiation levels could be transmitted by seafood from these waters, but the local fishing industry has been wrecked by the quake and tsunami.
"There are no fish coming from the regions that were hit, so no fish (being sold) are contaminated," said Rika Tatsuki of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations.
Still, that's a good thing to an extent, there's no fishing around the plant, so there's no fish to be sold that may be tainted...for now.
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