Japan Update 4: Smoke at Reactor 3 Stops, But Smoke At Reactor 2

[jpak]

http://www.automatedtrader.net/real-time-news/72152/japan-update4smoke-at-reactor-3-stops-but-smoke-at-reactor-2

TOKYO (MNI) - The black and grey smoke seen coming out of reactor 3 at the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant has stopped, Japan's nuclear safety agency said, according to news reports.

However, the agency also reported that white smoke was later seen escaping from the facility's reactor 2. The source of the smoke from both reactors was unclear, both the agency and the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), said.

Workers were evacuated from the plant earlier in the day when the smoke in reactor 3 was first observed, even though radiation levels around the facility were reported unchanged. There have been no reports yet of those workers returning to the plant. Hidehiko Nishiyama, spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said earlier in the day that although the smoke had been emerging from the southeast side of the reactor building, near the spent fuel rod pond of Reactor 3, authorities did not know the cause. TEPCO said this evening that the cause was still not known.

Meanwhile, the head of the UN nuclear agency said the Fukushima crisis remained "very serious," though he added that he had "no doubt" it would be overcome.

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[Statistical]

1. Interesting no rise in rad levels.

Nuclear plants do contain a large number of "conventional" systems. Heavy lift equipments, hydrolysis systems, machine shops, etc.