News From The Meltdowns: Cooling Stopped At Fukushima; IAEA "Inspection"

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/ DEAD RATS HALT FUKUSHIMA COOLING SYSTEM The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant briefly switched off a spent fuel cooling system on Monday after it found dead rats near a transformer. Tokyo Electric Power Company says a worker found 2 dead rats in a box of an outdoor transformer connected to the cooling system for a spent fuel pool. One of them had apparently been electrocuted. TEPCO halted the system at the No.2 reactor for about 4 hours until workers confirmed that it was working normally. Company officials say the pool's water temperature was 14 degrees Celsius when they restarted the system, and that this is far lower than its internal safety limit of 65 degrees. Last month, a rat wandered into an outdoor switchboard at the plant and caused a power failure of up to 29 hours at spent fuel pools and some other facilities. Monday's trouble occurred as the plant operator is taking steps to keep small animals away from key electrical devices. The utility says it has not yet implemented measures for the transformer at the No.2 reactor. Apr. 22, 2013 - Updated 09:21 UTC IAEA ENDS REVIEW OF FUKUSHIMA DECOMMISSIONING PLAN The International Atomic Energy Agency says the main and most immediate challenge in decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is managing the accumulated radioactive wastewater. An IAEA team of experts has wound up eight days of checking Japan's efforts to decommission the crippled plant. The team conducted interviews with government and TEPCO officials and visited the site. At a news conference in Tokyo on Monday, team leader Juan Carlos Lentijo referred to a series of wastewater leaks at the facility. He urged the government and the operator to enhance the management of wastewater, as well as to further examine and explain the impact of such water on the plant's immediate environs. Lentijo also referred to Monday's temporary halting of a spent fuel cooling system at the No.2 reactor after two dead rats were found near an outdoor transformer connected to the system. He said replacing temporary devices with permanent ones is important but that it is also important to be able to respond quickly to problems. The IAEA team will publish its final report within a month. Apr. 22, 2013 - Updated 10:27 UTC DOMESTIC TRAVEL EXPECTED TO REACH RECORD HIGH Amid expectations for economic recovery, a record number of people are planning to travel domestically during the upcoming vacation period. According to a survey by a leading travel agency, 22.2 million people are expected to travel within Japan between April 25th and May 5th. The number is one percent more than the same period last year, and a new high. On the other hand, the number of overseas travelers is expected to decline by 5 percent to 566,000, due to a sharp decline in people going to China and South Korea. It is the first decrease in 5 years. The jump in domestic travelers is believed to reflect people's expectations of an economic recovery. Another factor is this year's calendar, which makes it difficult to take many days off to travel abroad. The travel agency also expects travelers to spend more on lodging and food than last year. Apr. 21, 2013 - Updated 15:36 UTC FAIR USE NOTICE: Any copyrighted (©) material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, which constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.