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The Tokyo Electric Power Company is trying to figure out why a system to decontaminate radioactive water at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi plant remains unstable.
The system funnels in radioactive water accumulated in the underground facility and reuses it as a reactor coolant after decontaminating radioactive substances.
TEPCO started the operation late last month.
The system sends 3.8 cubic meters of water per hour to each of the No.1 and No.2 reactors.
However, the operation has been unstable for the last 3 days. On Friday, the amount of water injected suddenly decreased to 3.4 cubic meters per hour at No.2 reactor, and then fell to 3.2 cubic meters on Saturday.
At No.1 reactor, water levels decreased to 3.3 cubic meters on Sunday morning.
The utility is examining the pumps each time the amount of water goes down in order to return the system to its previous volume.
On Sunday, the system was halted for 7 hours due to trouble with a device to remove salt from radioactive water. TEPCO restored operation with a back-up mechanism.
The utility says it will closely watch each system and try to track down the causes of the instability.
Monday, July 25, 2011 06:32 +0900 (JST)
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