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Japan Nuclear Fight May Have Turned Corner

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By KOSAKU NARIOKA

TOKYO—The battle to bring the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in

Japan under control may have turned a corner, with cooling functions at two reactors

apparently working again, a development that could ease a nuclear emergency that

has gripped the nation for more than a week.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric

Power Co., 9501.TO -0.47% said it got

cooling functions at reactors No. 5 and

No. 6 working and that temperatures at

the spent fuel storage pools at these

reactors are closer to regular levels.

Also Sunday, the utility reported some

success in hosing down the troubled No.

3 reactor, the focus of the most intense

efforts to keep the temperature of

radioactive material under control. The

radiation level there had fallen to 2,758

microsieverts per hour late Saturday

versus 3,443 microsieverts earlier in the

day. The more recent level is just above

the highest recommended level of

exposure per year, according to U.S.

guidelines.

Officials also said they restored power

cables to the troubled No. 1 and No. 2

reactors and hoped to restore power

later Sunday.

Japan's Self Defense Force started shooting water Sunday at the plant's No. 4

reactor, though this operation was later halted. The SDF was trying to direct water into

the reactor's spent fuel tank to help cool fuel rods and keep them immersed in water

to prevent them from overheating and releasing more radioactive material.

The United Nation's nuclear watchdog said Saturday that the nuclear accident at the

plant hasn't widened in the past three days and that the risk of a worst-case-scenario

meltdown is now reducing day by day, though the situation still is very serious.

Getty Images

A fire engine doused reactor number 3 of TokyoElectric Power Co. Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclearpower station No.1 at Okuma town inFukushima prefecture on Friday.

Enlarge Image

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"I prefer not to speculate about the future, but as days go by, the risk of a total

meltdown is reducing," said Graham Andrew, special adviser to the International

Atomic Energy Agency's director general, at a press briefing in Vienna, adding "there

are still risks that it could get worse."

Underscoring the lingering risk, Tokyo Electric, known as Tepco, said Sunday

morning local time that high radiation levels are delaying the restoration of power to

the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors, which have been the main focus of concern in recent

days because of the fear that pools of spent fuel rods stored there could overheat,

resulting in the release of radioactive material.

While the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors are the least problematic of all of the reactors that

were slammed by a tsunami after a magnitude 9.0 quake rocked northeastern Japan

on March 11, the fact that Tepco has managed to make progress in keeping their

temperatures down is a major step in helping to contain the threat of overheating and

the possibility of further radiation leakage.

As of early Sunday, the temperature in

the pool at reactor No. 5 was 37.1

degrees Celsius, while the temperature

for reactor No. 6 was 41.0 degrees,

Tepco said. Japan's nuclear regulatory

agency said that the temperature in the

pool Saturday at reactor No. 5 was 48

degrees and 67 degrees at reactor No.

6.

A typical spent fuel pool is kept at a

temperature below 25 degrees Celsius

under normal operating conditions.

Power for reactors No. 1 and No. 2 were initially expected to be restored Saturday

afternoon, but moved back the timing as workers had to shield many pieces of

equipment from the water spraying operations.

Another Tepco spokesman said on Saturday that in order to supply power to all of the

reactors all of the cables need to be connected and checked along with other

equipment.

Even if cables and other equipment function properly, to operate the reactor's cooling

system the company will first have to check that all the equipment used in the system

still works, the spokesman said.

—Mari Iwata, Juro Osawa and Flemming Emil Hansen contributed to this article.

Write to Juro Osawa at juro.osawa@dowjones.com

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