No quick fix seen at Japan's nuclear plant

newport641

No quick fix seen at Japan's nuclear plant
FUKUSHIMA, Japan – Officials raced Monday to restore electricity to Japan's leaking nuclear plant, but getting the power flowing will hardly be the end of their battle: With its mangled machinery and partly melted reactor cores, bringing the complex under control is a monstrous job.
Restoring the power to all six units at the tsunami-damaged complex is key, because it will,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], in theory, power up the maze of motors,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], valves and switches that help deliver cooling water to the overheated reactor cores and spent fuel pools that are leaking radiation.
In another setback,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the plant's operator said Monday it had just discovered that some of the cooling system's key pumps at the complex's troubled Unit 2 are no longer functional — meaning replacements have to be brought in. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it had placed emergency orders for new pumps, but how long it would take for them to arrive was unclear.
If officials can get the power turned on, get the replacement pumps working and get enough seawater into the reactors and spent fuel pools, it would only take a day to bring the temperatures back to a safe,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], cooling stage, said Ryohei Shiomi, an official with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
And if not?