Japanese Nuclear Reactor Shut Down

["Mario Iannaccone" <miannacc@dhhs.state.nh.us>]

01:58 AM ET 07/12/99

 Japanese Nuclear Reactor Shut Down
        TOKYO (AP) _ Engineers shut down a nuclear reactor in western
 Japan this morning after monitoring equipment showed it was leaking
 radioactive water, an official said.
        The No. 2 reactor operated by Japan Atomic Power Co. in Tsuruga,
 200 miles west of Tokyo, was manually shut down at 6:48 a.m.,
 company spokesman Yoshikazu Murabe said.
        There was no danger of radioactivity escaping into the outside
 environment, he said.
        An estimated 50 tons of water used for cooling the inside of the
 reactor had leaked out, and the device was still leaking as of
 noon, ``but at a lower volume than earlier,'' Murabe said.
        The reactor was shut down after plant engineers noticed a fire
 alarm sounding inside the vessel that houses the reactor. A sensor
 inside the vessel detected radiation levels that were twice the
 normal level, he said.
        Engineers lowered the output of electricity from the pressurized
 light-water type reactor and eventually shut it down completely,
 Murabe said.
        The cause of the leak was not yet known, as plant workers were
 waiting for the vessel containing the reactor to cool off before
 investigating, Murabe said.
        Japan, a country poor in natural resources, relies on nuclear
 power for about one-third of its electricity, according to
 government figures.
        The reactor involved in today's leak began operating
 commercially in 1987 and leaked water on a separate occasion in
 December 1996. No leak of radioactivity into the outside
 environment was reported in that accident.

Submitted by
Mario Iannaccone,
Health Physicist
miannacc@dhhs.state.nh.us


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