Fukushima blackout investigators examine dead rat

[AsahinaKimi]

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

A dead rat was found lying near equipment that likely short-circuited this week and plunged critical cooling systems at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant into crisis again.

Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant operator, said on March 20 they found the remains of a rodent inside the housing of a scorched switchboard.

They now believe that is where the blackout began, possibly when the rat climbed across live terminals and shorted them together.

Power was lost to a cooling system that keeps the water of fuel rod storage pools from heating up.

The outage lasted a little over a day. All cooling equipment was back up early on March 20.

more...
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201303210068

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Rats!!!!