TOKYO (AP) – The operator of the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant said Monday that two seismometers at one of its three molten reactors have been out of operation since last year and did not collect data when a powerful earthquake struck area earlier this month.
The recognition raised new questions about whether the company’s risk management has improved since a massive earthquake and the 2011 tsunami destroyed much of the plant.
The malfunctioning seismometers appeared Monday during a meeting of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority to discuss new damage to the plant as a result of a magnitude 7.3 earthquake that affected the region on 13 February. Pressure and cooling water levels dropped in Unit 1 and 3 reactors, indicating damage to their primary containment chambers.
The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has been repeatedly criticized for cover-ups and delays in disclosing problems at the plant.
Regulatory officials asked TEPCO at the meeting why it had no seismological data from the Unit 3 reactor for Saturday’s quake, and utility officials acknowledged that its seismometers had failed (one in July and the other in July). in October) and which had never been repaired.
TEPCO also said the seismometers, except for two, of the reactor buildings that survived the 2011 disaster were submerged by tsunami water and have never been replaced.
During Monday’s meeting, regulators said they were concerned about falling levels and water pressure in the primary containment chambers of Units 1 and 3 because of the possibility that the quake had extended existing damage or would have opened new leak routes, and urged the company to check for increased radiation levels in the groundwater surrounding the reactor buildings.
TEPCO said so far no anomaly has been detected in the water samples.
The new damage could further complicate the already difficult process of dismantling the plant and add to the large amounts of contaminated water stored in the plant.
Since the 2011 disaster, cooling water has been constantly escaping from damaged primary containment vessels in the basements of reactor and turbine buildings, where the volume increases as groundwater seeps. cooling water, while the rest is stored in about 1,000 tanks.
TEPCO initially reported that there had been no anomalies in the plant since Saturday’s earthquake. On Monday, however, about 20 of the tanks were said to have slipped slightly due to the quake, which had tilted a storage container carrying radioactive waste and the plant’s asphalt pavement was cracked.