TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese nuclear safety official says a pool for storing spent fuel at the crippled nuclear plant is heating up, with temperatures around the boiling point.
Nuclear safety agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama told reporters March 22 that the high temperatures in the spent fuel pool are believed to be the cause of steam that has wafted from Fukushima Dai-ichi’s Unit 2 since Monday.
The hot storage pool is another complication in bringing the plant under control and ending a nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeast coast.
If water in the pool bubbles away and exposes fuel rods, more radiation would be thrown off.
