Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, February 20 (Reporter Hua Yi) According to a report by the Japan Broadcasting Association TV on the 20th, the water level in the containment of the 1 and 3 units of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company may be affected by the earthquake on the 13th of this month. They were dropped by tens of centimeters.
Tokyo Electric Power and Japanese government regulators said that this did not affect the cooling of the nuclear fuel residues of the two units, nor did it affect the outside world.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company confirmed on the evening of the 18th that the water level in the containment of the above two units had dropped. The water level in the containment of Unit 1 was originally about 1.9 meters higher, and dropped by 40 to 70 cm; the water level in the containment of Unit 3 was originally about 6.3. M, dropped by about 30 cm.
As of the 19th, the water level in the containment of the two units was still falling at a rate of several centimeters per day.
On the evening of the 13th, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred in the sea near Fukushima Prefecture.
Tokyo Electric Power Company believes that this new earthquake may worsen the damage to the unit containment caused by the "March 11" earthquake and nuclear leakage in 2011, and the cooling water in the containment will leak more into the building where the unit is located.
TEPCO stated that the thermometer set at the bottom of the reactor did not rise, and there was no problem with the cooling of nuclear fuel residues; monitoring also did not find abnormal radiation levels inside the pressure vessel, indicating that it currently has no impact on the outside world.
Japan’s Atomic Power Regulatory Commission also believes that changes in the water level have not affected the cooling of nuclear fuel residues.
Affected by the massive earthquake and tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011, units 1 to 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant suffered a serious nuclear leakage accident, and the cores of units 1 to 3 were melted down.
After the accident, Tokyo Electric Power Company continued to inject water into the containment of Units 1 to 3 to cool the reactor core and recover sewage. At present, more than 1.2 million tons of radioactive sewage have been stored.
How to remove hundreds of tons of high-level radioactive nuclear fuel residues and dispose of a large amount of radioactive sewage has become the biggest problem faced by the disposal of the nuclear power plant.