Tepco staff have ‘satisfactorily’ completed a drill that sets up alternative cooling arrangements for a Fukushima Daiichi spent fuel pool, performing tasks such as laying pipes and starting up portable pumps.
The drill postulated a simultaneous loss of spent fuel pool circulating cooling systems and an inability to recover them, for example because of another tsunami. Site technical standards that have been recently adopted by the government now stipulate this annual drill.
• The water decontamination apparatus at the Fukushima Daiichi site has been hit by a series of leaks, probably caused by water freezing. These sites included a valve flange around the evaporation concentration apparatus demineraliser, a vent valve around a standby reactor injection pump, and a valve flange of mini-flow piping of waste RO supply pump. Although some photographs taken on the site show relatively small leaks, the leaked water is highly radioactive.
The site has experienced severe winter cold, with site temperatures dipping below -10°C (14°F). Although measures were taken to protect exposed points from freezing, these will be supplemented with the construction of heaters and other protection measures during the next few days.
