Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday it found no visible damage to nuclear fuel assemblies in a spent fuel pool at its crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant from a steel beam that recently fell into the pool.
On Saturday, a seven-meter-long beam weighing 470 kilograms fell into the pool at the plant’s No. 3 reactor during work to remove debris from the reactor building.
On Monday, using an underwater camera, TEPCO found a steel beam at the bottom of the pool, which is 11.5 meters deep. The firm was to continue its probe Tuesday as it cannot confirm that the beam was the one that fell Saturday. The beam, which had been near the pool, slipped and fell into the pool when plant workers were trying to retrieve it using a remote-controlled crane. Nobody was injured in the incident.
In the pool are 514 spent fuel assemblies and 52 unused fuel assemblies. Each assembly contains 72 fuel rods. According to TEPCO, fuel assemblies could be damaged if an object weighing more than 300 kilograms hit them directly. But the firm does not think Saturday’s incident caused any major damage to the assemblies because no significant changes have so far been observed in the amount of radioactive materials in the water or in the water level, company officials said.
– source yomiuri.co.jp