Fukushima Cooling System DELIBERATELY SHUT DOWN BEFORE TSUNAMI HIT

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Nuclear plant cooling system manually shut down

The operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says workers may have manually shut down the No.1 reactor's emergency cooling system in order to prevent damage to the reactor. It says pressure inside the reactor had dropped sharply after the earthquake struck the plant on March 11th.

Tokyo Electric Power Company on Monday disclosed records of its operations at the plant.

They show that the reactor automatically halted operations after the earthquake.

The emergency cooling system was automatically activated but stopped about 10 minutes later and remained off for about 3 hours until after the tsunami arrived.

More + Video: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/17_22.html

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Edano caught off guard by new pre-tsunami nuclear plant info
http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/edano-caught-off-guard-by-new-pre-tsunami-nuclear-plant-info
Tuesday 17th May, 12:53 PM JST

TOKYO —

Top government spokesman Yukio Edano said Tuesday he was unaware of the latest information that the cooling system at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was shut down manually.

‘‘I learned about it for the first time from today’s media reports,’’ Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano told a news conference, adding that he would seek verification of the story from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co, and if true, urge it to explain to the central government how and why the measure was taken.

Only after that would the government make its assessment about the action and ask TEPCO to fully disclose such information, he said.

TEPCO released data Monday of the Fukushima plant immediately after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled the plant’s critical cooling systems, with the findings raising the prospect that the cooling system was shut down manually.