The Morning Report

From NEI’s Japan Earthquake launch page:

UPDATE AS OF 10:00 A.M. EDT, SUNDAY, MARCH 20:

A two-part operation to spray water into the used fuel pool at Fukushima Daiichi reactor 4 ended just before 7 A.M. EDT. Japan's defense ministry announced that the Self Defense Force discharged more than 100 tons of water at the pool, and concluded that much of it reached inside the reactor building.

This was the first time since the March 11 quake that reactor 4 has been doused. Yesterday the Tokyo elite fire services used a high-pressure fire truck to spray water for more than 13 hours into the fuel pool of reactor 3.

The ministry also reported conducting surface temperature measurements of reactors 1 through 4 from a helicopter to evaluate the effect of the water discharge operations. The surface temperature of each unit is below 100 degrees Celsius.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said this morning that pressure within the reactor containment vessel from reactor 3 has begun to stabilize and has decided against an operation to vent gases to reduce pressure inside the containment vessel.

TEPCO is continuing work to restore electricity to reactor 2. A power cable has been connected from a nearby transmission line. TEPCO hopes to have power restored to the reactor's control room sometime today. Connections to reactors 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are to follow.

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