(The seawater used to cool the plant is corroding the coolant pipes and will lead to stoppage of all coolant.)
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Friday continued to face difficulties in controlling the amount of water being injected into the three crippled reactors at the plant, which is critical to keeping the melted fuel inside cool.
The amount of water injected into the reactors dropped below the minimum required level twice on the previous day. Workers have operated valves to increase the coolant, but the water flow is falling from time to time compared with the initially set level.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. has yet to nail down the cause, but it suspects something may be stuck inside the pipes, hampering the flow of water.