Workers uncoiling cable from a spool, laying the cable on the ground have completed the 1 mile long install that can return electrical power to Fukushima reactor number 2. Reports vary as to the actual timeline of the work, but it appears the cable was in place by Friday, and the connections were then completed to the #2 reactor sometime Saturday evening.
It was not clear on Saturday if the cooling system pumps and other hardware were in operating condition:
But given the extent of damage, it is unclear whether the cooling system would work even if power is restored.
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“They plan to reconnect power to unit 2 once the spraying of water on the unit 3 reactor building is completed,” IAEA said in a statement. “The spraying of water on the unit 3 reactor building was temporarily stopped at [20:09 local time].”
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Norimitsu Onishi for the New York TImes reports that the new power cable was indeed connected to Reactor #2. TEPCO confirms that power has been connected to the control room for reactor #2 but they plan on replacing some electrical components that appear to have been damaged. This work is estimated to take between 2 and 3 days.
Both Xinhua and MNIreport that the new cable to reactor 2 will also allow power to be restored to Reactor 1.
日本のための祈り
Pray for Japan.
Additionally :
Work to restore electricity was being done in three separate reactor groups - Nos. 1 and 2; Nos. 3 and 4; and Nos. 5 and 6. The highest priority was the No. 2 reactor, Tepco said.
At the No. 6 reactor, its second emergency diesel power generator was repaired at 4:22 a.m. Saturday. With the generator able to provide electricity, Tepco could activate the heat exchanger at the No. 5 reactor's temporary storage pool for spent nuclear fuel rods, which decreased the temperature in the pool by about 1 C. Until then, Tepco had only one emergency generator at the No. 6 reactor that it used to circulate water in spent fuel rod pools at the Nos. 5 and 6 reactors
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