Monday, March 14, 2011

Good News on Japanese Nukes: "Cold shutdowns at Fukushima Daini " (GE; HIT; CCJ)

The operator of the plants, Tokyo Electric Power closed limit-down on the TSE First Section, in U.S. trade the plant designer, GE, is down 3.83% at $19.58 while the manufacturer, Hitachi, is down 15.78% at $49.79.
From World Nuclear News:
Two more reactors at Fukushima Daini have now achieved cold shutdown with full operation of cooling systems. Engineers are working for the same at the last unit.

The power plant's four boiling water reactors stopped automatically on last week's earthquake. At unit 3 the shutdown appears to have gone exactly as expected, with no systems damaged by the huge earthquake or tsunami. It went from power production to cold shutdown - where coolant water is at less than 100ºC - in about 34 hours.

All the reactors have remained safe, but damage to the emergency core cooling systems of units 1, 2 and 4 led to the announcement of emergency status. Those reactors used their a secondary system, the make up water condensate system, and this was used to maintain coolant levels above the reactor core. An additional emergency notice came from unit 1 concerning the temperature of a suppression chamber, which reached 100ºC after some time.

The plant then continued in a relatively steady state throughout 12 March, with coolant levels always maintained but a high level of attention from engineers. Units 1, 2 and 4 were prepared for potential pressure release, but this was never required....MORE
At least one of the cold shutdowns is confirmed by the IAEA:
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
Japanese authorities have reported to the IAEA that Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 has experienced decreasing coolant levels in the reactor core. Officials have begun to inject sea water into the reactor to maintain cooling of the reactor core....MORE
HT on both: boingboing of all people!