Nuclear Reactor Japan: Explosion Video at Fukushima Daiichi Plant

by MROliver | March 12, 2011 at 11:38 am

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There Was An Explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi Plant on Saturday, Which Was Caused By a Pumping System That Failed

Crews at the Fukushima Daiichi plant are working around the clock to fix the cooling system so as to prevent a nuclear meltdown.

Radioactive cesium at the plant indicates fuel rod may have melted according to Japan's news agency.

According to CNN, three reactors at the plant were working when the earthquake struck Japan on Friday. When an earthquake hits, the reactors are designed to shut down automatically, and emergency generators pump water around the reactors to cool them down. However, the back-up generators were affected by the tsunami and those stopped working about an hour after the quake struck.

The blast was not caused by damage to the nuclear reactor but by a pumping system that failed as crews tried to bring the reactor's temperature down, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Saturday. He said the plant operator confirmed there was no damage to the steel container housing the reactor.

Malcolm Grimston, Associate Fellow for Energy, Environment and Development at London's Chatham House, said he believed the explosion had been caused by a build-up of pressure inside the inner containment of the reactor.

A lot was learned from the incident at Three Mile Island, and crews are hoping a similar event can be avoided here.