Water level rises at Fukushima No 2 reactor

Tokyo Electric Power Co has said the water level rose in a trench at the No 2 reactor at its Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, adding to concerns the utility might have to speed up transfer of the radioactive fluid to a waste-treatment facility and tanks.

Water rose three centimeters since yesterday, Naoki Tsunoda, a spokesman for the utility, said today. The increase may be happening as the company stopped a leak of radioactive water near the unit on April 6, he said.

The utility plans to begin using a remotely controlled helicopter to investigate conditions at the nuclear station tomorrow, a day behind schedule because of bad weather, according to Tsunoda. It plans to complete the release of radioactive water into the sea from a treatment facility today as planned, he said. The draining of water from pits outside the No 5 and No 6 reactors starts tomorrow, he said. “Work to restore the cooling systems is lagging behind because it’s taking longer than expected to drain radioactive water from the basements,” said Hironobu Unesaki, a nuclear engineering professor at Kyoto University.