Jiji Press | Daily Yomiuri

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday that the amounts of water injected into the damaged reactors at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant decreased for unknown reasons.

TEPCO continues to inject water into the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors at the plant, all of which have experienced fuel meltdowns, to prevent the reactors from heating up again.

On Thursday afternoon, the volumes of water injected into the three reactors dropped suddenly below the required levels. The amounts returned to normal following adjustments made to pump valves, but they decreased again Friday, TEPCO officials said.

TEPCO has set the amount of water injected into the No. 1 reactor at 5 tons per hour and at 7 tons per hour for each of the No. 2 and No. 3 reactors. But the amounts decreased by 0.1 tons to 0.7 tons in the early hours of Friday.

In response, TEPCO adjusted the water flow at 3:50 a.m., 7:24 a.m. and 11:05 a.m. Company officials said the temperatures at the bottoms of the three reactors have not changed significantly despite the water decrease.

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