Tokyo Electric Power Co. released on April 29 an image of fuel assemblies in the storage pool of spent fuel rods in the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. released on April 29 an image of fuel assemblies in the storage pool of spent fuel rods in the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
"Although the image shows some rubble sitting on part of a steel rack (of fuel assemblies), no serious damage was identified," TEPCO said.
This is the first time an image of fuel assemblies inside the pool was released to the public after the crisis unfolded at the plant as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake last month.
The image was taken April 28 with a camera on the tip of the long arm of a concrete pump used to spray water into the pool.
The image showed the status of the storage pool about six meters below the surface of the water.
Fuel assemblies are seen placed in each square of the steel rack in the pool. The image showed glittering new fuel assemblies and darker spent fuel rods. Seven control rods were shown on the right side.
Workers also collected 150 cc of water from the pool April 28 for analysis. Results showed the level of cesium-137 was 55 becquerels per 1 cc of water and that of iodine-131 was 27 becquerels per 1 cc of water, both lower than levels detected in a check of samples taken April 13.
TEPCO believes no additional leaks of radioactive materials have taken place at the reactor.
It said the radioactive materials detected in the latest check could have come from seawater sprayed into the pool to cool the reactor.
Seawater in the vicinity of the plant has been contaminated by radiation leaked by the facility.