Fukushima Power Won’t Guarantee Cooling, France’s ASN Says

[jpak]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-18/fukushima-power-won-t-guarantee-cooling-france-s-asn-says-1-.html

Getting power supply to the crippled Fukushima atomic plant in Japan is the first of several steps needed to restore cooling systems and is no guarantee of success, according to France’s nuclear regulator.

“We must avoid being overly optimistic,” Philippe Jamet, a commissioner at the Autorite de Surete Nucleaire, said at a briefing in Paris today. Many tests are needed to find out if the pumps will work, he said.

“This will likely take human intervention, like going into control rooms to reconnect valves,” he said. Potentially high radiation levels in areas within the reactor site could make these tasks difficult.

Engineers plan to work into the night to restore power to two reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s tsunami-damaged plant, a step that may improve the odds that a nuclear meltdown can be averted. Tepco said it may finish reconnecting a power line to the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors by tomorrow morning. The electrical link would be used to restart pumps needed to protect fuel rods from overheating.

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[Wilms]

1. Predicted on DU days ago.

We'll see how this goes. I fear it will be like other efforts so far.