Workers Enter No. 1 Reactor Building

Workers entered the building of the No. 1 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant early Monday, making preparations for a new cooling system that would enable a safe shutdown.

A spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said nine workers entered the building around 4 a.m. local time (1900 GMT Sunday) for about 30 minutes. He said the crew initially took radiation-level tests, the results of which would be released at a briefing scheduled later in the day.

In addition, they began to clear equipment so a new cooling system can be installed. This will allow for continuous cooling of water circulating through the reactor. louis vuitton diaper bag, water is being injected from the outside, which creates pools of radioactive water that makes repair work difficult. Tepco hopes to create a closed-loop system for the water, which would be cooled by newly installed fan units and then fed back into the reactor.

If the system works for reactor No. 1, the most severely damaged of the three units in operation at the time of the disaster, work will then begin on units No. 2 and No. 3. The work is a key part of Tepco's road map to bring the units to a safe shutdown and eliminate any further radiation leaks within six to nine months.