TEPCO confirms 5 cracks at nuclear reactor - report
Date: 07-Oct-02
Country: JAPAN
The report came only days after TEPCO was reprimanded by the trade ministry for falsifying reports on nuclear safety inspections in the 1980s and 1990s, and hiding the existence of cracks in the shrouds of several of its reactors.
Company officials were quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying that TEPCO had confirmed five cracks in the shroud of a reactor at its Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant.
The cracks were up to three centimetres long, but their depth was unknown, the officials were quoted as saying.
TEPCO officials were not immediately available to comment on the report.
TEPCO said on Tuesday that it had already closed seven nuclear reactors, and planned to close another later this month, for safety checks.
Nuclear power provides a third of resource-poor Japan's energy, but a series of accidents has eroded public faith in the industry.
In 1999 Japan's worst ever nuclear accident occurred at a plant at Tokaimura, 140 km (90 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
It exposed hundreds of residents, plant workers and emergency personnel to radiation, and two plant workers died.