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Robots detect dangerous spike in reactor 3 radiation French-style air coolers eyed in effort to bring down the heat By Kanako Takahara Staff writer Remotely operated robots detected a high radiation level of up to 57 millisieverts per hour Monday in a reactor building of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, an obstacle that hinders workers from engaging in key repair work inside for long hours, the government's nuclear watchdog said Monday. On Sunday, the U.S.-made robots checked the radiation level, temperatures and oxygen concentrations of reactor units 1 and 3 to see if workers can go deep inside...

Friday, March 25, 2011 High Radiation Leak Suggests Damage To No. 3 Reactor Vessel: Agency TOKYO (Kyodo)--A high-level radiation leak detected Thursday at one of six troubled reactors at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant indicates possible damage to the reactor's vessel, pipes or valves, the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Friday. Three workers at the No. 3 reactor's turbine building, connected to the reactor building, were exposed Thursday to water containing radioactive materials 10,000 times the normal level, with two of them taken to hospital due to possible radiation burns to their feet, the plant operator Tokyo...

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Black Smoke Rising From Japan's Crippled Nuclear Plant TOKYO (Kyodo)--Black smoke has been seen rising from the No. 3 reactor at Japan's stricken nuclear power station, its operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) said Wednesday.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Lights Back In Reactor No. 3 Control Room At Stricken Plant TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Room lights at the No. 3 nuclear reactor control room at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (9501) Fukushima Daiichi power station are now lit, with power supplied from outside the facility, the Japanese utility said

Sunday, March 20, 2011 Tepco: No Need To Release Steam From No. 3 Reactor, Pressure Stabilized OSAKA (Dow Jones)--Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) confirmed Sunday that pressure levels inside the containment vessel of the No. 3 reactor at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have stabilized, and there is currently no need to release possibly radioactive steam. The company said at a news conference in Tokyo that pressure inside containment vessel began rising on Saturday evening, then stabilized at elevated levels.

Sunday, March 20, 2011 Japan Nuclear Agency: Pressure Inside No. 3 Reactor Containment Vessel Rising TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Japan's nuclear safety agency said Sunday that pressure levels are rising inside the containment vessel at reactor No. 3 at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said at a press conference that plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) will open valves at the reactor in a bid to reduce pressure levels, an operation that it said could result in the release of radioactive steam. If a mechanism at the reactor know as the suppression chamber---which...

01.00 Matt Alt, a writer and translator, tweets: Second drop of water at 9:53am local time, appears to have hit both #3, #4 00.59 The Foreign and Commonweath Office has updated travel advice and told Britons to observe a 50mile radius exclusion zone from Fukushima. 00.52 A Japanese military helicopter dumped water from a huge bucket onto the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, television images showed. 00.50 Mat Alt, a writer and translator, tweets Chinook helicopter just dropped water on #3! 00.47 Operators at Fukushima plant hope to run an electricity cable to the site that could help pump water...

SDF Choppers Unable To Drop Water On Nuke Reactor Due To Radiation TOKYO (Kyodo)--The Self-Defense Forces will not conduct a planned operation Wednesday to drop water from helicopters on the troubled No. 3 reactor of the Fukushima nuclear power plant because of the high radiation level around the plant, Defense Ministry officials said. The Ground Self-Defense Force helicopters were on standby to drop water on the reactor as it is feared the reactor may have released radioactive steam due to damage to its containment vessel.

Smoke Rising Near Troubled Fukushima Nuke Plant TOKYO (Kyodo)--White smoke has been seen rising from around the No. 3 reactor of the quake-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant since around 10 a.m. Wednesday, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said, noting it may be steam. The development came after TEPCO, the operator of the plant, reported that a fire broke out again earlier in the day at the plant's troubled No. 4 reactor but that flames were no longer visible about 30 minutes later.