At around 11:07 AM on September 22, during debris removal from the upper part of Unit 3 Reactor Building, a steel beam (approx. 300mmx200mmx7m, approx. 470kg) which had been on the side of the spent fuel pool (SFP) and found to be unstable slipped and fell into the pool when a worker was trying to grab it using an oil-pressure fork attached to the head of a crane.

In response to this incident, we received a directive document^*1 "A steel beam falling into Unit 3 spent fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Direction)" from the Nuclear Regulatory Authority on September 26. (Previously announced on September 26, 2012)

Based on the direction given, we evaluated the impact of this incident on the soundness of the spent fuel, the spent fuel storage rack and the spent fuel pool while investigating the cause of this matter and discussing recurrence prevention measures. On October 3, a report was submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Authority. (Previously announced on October 3, 2012)

Yesterday, we have received another directive document^*2 "A steel beam falling into Unit 3 spent fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Additional Direction)" from the Nuclear Regulatory Authority. In accordance with the direction given, we will promptly implement necessary measures and report the results.

End

*1 Directive document
"A steel beam falling into Unit 3 spent fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Direction)"

*2 Directive document
"A steel beam falling into Unit 3 spent fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Additional Direction)"

The aforementioned documents are available only in Japanese. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.