Due to the Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyou-Oki Earthquake which occurred on March
11, 2011, TEPCO's facilities including our nuclear power stations have
been severely damaged. We deeply apologize for the anxiety and
inconvenience caused.
With regard to the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, on
April 17, we have compiled the roadmap towards restoration from the
accident and on July 19 we accomplished the Step1 target "Radiation dose
is in steady decline". Then on December 16 we confirmed the accomplishment
of the Step 2 target "Release of radioactive materials is under control
and radiation doses are being significantly held down".
By bringing the reactors and spent fuel pools to a stable cooling
condition and mitigating the release of radioactive materials, we will
make every effort to enable evacuees to return to their homes and for all
citizens to be able to secure a sound life.
Below is the status of TEPCO's major facilities.
*Updates since the previous press release underlined.
[Nuclear Power Station]
·Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: Unit 1 to 3: shut down due to
the earthquake
(Units 4 to 6: outage due to regular inspections)
*At 2:22 pm on December 15, we started transferring accumulated water
from the basement of Unit 3 turbine building to Centralized Radiation
Waste Treatment Facility (Process Main Building). At 10:04 am on
December 17, we stopped it.
*At 10:12 on December 17, we started transferring accumulated water from
the basement of Unit 2 turbine building to Centralized Radiation Waste
Treatment Facility (Miscellaneous Solid Waste Volume Reduction Treatment
Building [High Temperature Incinerator Building] and Process Main
Building). At 12:24 pm on the same day, we stopped the transfer since
the water level at Unit 2 turbine building did not change. Then we
confirmed at the site that the switching valve of the transfer line was
closed and that there was no leakage from the line. Then we opened the
valve and restarted the transfer at 1:22 pm on the same day.
*At 10:23 on December 17, in the spent fuel pool alternative cooling
system, an alarm for "Air fin cooler panel malfunction" was triggered.
After the investigation at the site, it was confirmed that the secondary
system pressure decreased and the circulating pump (A) was shutdown
automatically. After the detailed investigation, it was confirmed that
the water leaked through the drainage line in the safety valve installed
in the upside of the pump (A). As the position of the handle of the
valve was off the usual position, we fixed it and at around 11:00 the
leaking stopped. After that, we increased the system pressure.
Confirming that no water leaked through the system, at 13:39, we
restarted the circulating pump (A) and cooling the spent fuel pool. The
leaked water from the drainage line is for the fire extinction purpose
(filtered water) and does not contain radioactive materials. The
temperature of the spent fuel at the cold shutdown and restart is 13°C
and no there is no temperature rising.
·Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1 to 4: shutdown due to the earthquake
·Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Station: Units 5, 6: under normal
operation
(Units 1 to 4 and 7: outage due to regular inspections)
[Thermal Power Station]
·Power supply has returned to normal and facilities damaged by the
earthquake are now being handled in a timely manner.
[Hydro Power Station]
·Power supply has returned to normal and facilities damaged by the
earthquake are now being handled in a timely manner.
[Impacts on Transmission Facilities]
·Power supply has returned to normal and facilities damaged by the
earthquake are now being handled in a timely manner.
[Impacts on Power Supply and Demand Balance]
This winter, there will be some minus factors such as the regular
inspection of Unit 5 at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station. On the
other hand, there will be several plus factors such as the recovery of the
common thermal power stations which suffered the earthquake. As a result,
we expect to secure 54.9 GW (at the end of December), 54.6 GW (at the end
of January), 53.7 GW (at the end of February) supply power.
Compared to the maximum demand in the last winter, which is 51.5 GW, we
will have 2.2 - 3.4 GW generation reserve margin.
We expect to maintain stable power supply this winter, however, as there
remains possibilities of unplanned shutdowns at our power stations and
growth in the demand according to the rapid change in the temperature, we
would like to ask your reasonable effort to save electricity.
We will continue to make our efforts to maintain stable operation and
maintenance of the power facilities in order to "prevent in principle" the
planned blackouts and secure power supply.
Appendix: Past Progress (As of 3:00 pm, December 17, 2011) (PDF 230KB)
Appendix: Past Progress (From March 11, 2011 to July 31, 2011) (PDF 225KB)
* Revised past progress