Rat at Fukushima Plant May Have Caused Blackout
Source: NYT
TOKYO The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant said Wednesday that it had found what it believes was the cause of an extended blackout that disabled vital cooling systems earlier this week: the charred body of a rat.
The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, said when its engineers looked inside a faulty switchboard, they found burn marks and the rodents scorched body. The company said it appeared that the rat had somehow short-circuited the switchboard, possibly by gnawing on cables.
The company, known as Tepco, has blamed problems with the switchboard for the power failure that began Monday, cutting off the flow of cooling water to four pools used to store more than 8,800 nuclear fuel rods. It took Tepco almost a day to restore cooling to the first of the affected pools, with cooling of the final pool resuming early Wednesday.
Tepco said it would have taken several days for temperatures in the pools to have risen above the safe level of 65 degrees Celsius, or 149 degrees Fahrenheit. Still, the blackout served as an uncomfortable reminder to many Japanese about the continuing vulnerability of the plant, which suffered a triple meltdown in March 2011 after a huge earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems. It was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/world/asia/rat-at-fukushima-plant.html
riqster
(13,986 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)darkangel218
(13,985 posts)dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)darkangel218
(13,985 posts)madokie
(51,076 posts)Probably should have been darth cheney and little boots. Either way you know who I was alluding to, my bet is anyway
bluedigger
(17,086 posts)There's never just one rat.
dembotoz
(16,806 posts)bluedigger
(17,086 posts)Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)PB
UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)csziggy
(34,136 posts)bluedigger
(17,086 posts)ChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)dembotoz
(16,806 posts)the new glow in the dark meatballs from ikea
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Brigid
(17,621 posts)It got into a transformer and chewed the wires. The neighborhood is full of old wood frame houses; it's lucky the whole area didn't go up in flames.
bluedigger
(17,086 posts)I kind of expected a nuke plant to be better protected against such things.
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)Fuddnik
(8,846 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,057 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)mountain grammy
(26,622 posts)It was a "rat like" animal.
http://enenews.com/rat-like-animal-blamed-for-fukushima-blackout
Trillo
(9,154 posts)or a metaphorical one?
Tikki
(14,557 posts)Tikki