Cooling system stops at No.5 reactor in Fukushima

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Cooling system stops at No.5 reactor in Fukushima

English.news.cn 2011-05-29 10:14:04

TOKYO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Cooling system at a reactor of the crippled Fukushima

No.1 nuclear power plant stopped from Saturday, the plant's operator said

Sunday.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the pumps to cool the nuclear reactor and fuel

pool have stopped at the No. 5 unit, and the operator is now working to switch

to backup pumps to restore the cooling system.

When a worker at the plant became aware of the problem at 9 p.m. Saturday, the

temperature of the reactor stood at 68 degrees Celsius and that of the fuel pool

at 41 degrees Celsius.

They had risen to 87 degrees Celsius and 44 degrees Celsius, respectively, by

the time TEPCO began work to restore operations shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, it

said.