Kyodo News is reporting that Tepco has a new plan for external cooling systems.
Meanwhile, the utility is considering installing circulating water cooling systems for reactors and spent fuel storage pools outside the reactor buildings at the plant in a bid to bring it under control, sources familiar with the matter said.
The new systems would cool nuclear fuel inside the reactors and spent fuel pools in a stable manner. They would involve heat exchangers and circulation pumps to drain reactor coolant water from the containment buildings, cooling it with seawater and then sending it back to the reactors, the sources said.
TEPCO appears to have already placed orders for dozens of gasketed plate heat exchangers -- each measuring 3 meters high, 1 meter wide and 2 meters long -- for such systems, the sources said.
No time frame for implementing this plan is given. However, with access to the cooling systems hindered by highly contaminated water and condenser water storage space now reduced by half (due to the weight making them unsafe in the event of another quake), this new plan offers an alternative to the plants own cooling systems.
The heat exchangers can be connected to the external emergency connections currently being used.
It's worth noting that even if the dewatering and contaminated water storage problems were resolved, the condition of the equipment in the turbine buildings is unknown.
At the very least, this plan beats diapers and kitty litter.