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Pump for Reactor Stops in Japan | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
TOKYO — The operator of Japan’s wrecked nuclear plant said Monday that a pump used to cool one of the damaged reactors had stopped, possibly because of human error, in the latest problem at the facility. | TOKYO — The operator of Japan’s wrecked nuclear plant said Monday that a pump used to cool one of the damaged reactors had stopped, possibly because of human error, in the latest problem at the facility. |
The operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, said it was able to use a backup pump to restart cooling immediately on Monday morning. | The operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, said it was able to use a backup pump to restart cooling immediately on Monday morning. |
The stopped pump served the No. 1 unit, one of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant that were destroyed in March 2011 when a huge earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems. The fuel cores in the overheating reactors melted down, causing violent explosions that destroyed the reactor buildings. | The stopped pump served the No. 1 unit, one of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant that were destroyed in March 2011 when a huge earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems. The fuel cores in the overheating reactors melted down, causing violent explosions that destroyed the reactor buildings. |
The pump that halted on Monday was in a makeshift cooling system that dumps hundreds of tons of water daily onto the three damaged reactor cores. Tepco said the shutdown might have been due to a faulty electric switchboard, a problem that halted the cooling systems before. | |
However, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, the government’s nuclear watchdog, gave an alternate explanation in a news release, saying a worker might have accidentally shut down the main pump by hitting the stop button during a routine check. | However, the Nuclear Regulation Authority, the government’s nuclear watchdog, gave an alternate explanation in a news release, saying a worker might have accidentally shut down the main pump by hitting the stop button during a routine check. |
The incident is the latest in a string that has undermined public faith in the ability of Tepco to handle the plant’s cleanup. |