Nuke reactor storage pool may be boiling: Japan

Hidehiko Nishiyama of the economy ministry that oversees nuclear safety told reporters on Tuesday that "we cannot deny the possibility of water boiling" in the pool.

This October 2008 photo shows the Fukushima No. 1 power plant of Tokyo Electric Power Co. at Okumamachi, Fukushima prefecture, northern Japan. Radiation leaked from the crippled nuclear plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan after a third reactor was rocked by an explosion on Tuesday, and a fourth caught fire in a dramatic escalation of the four-day-old catastrophe. Photo: AP.

A Japanese nuclear safety official says the water inside the waste fuel storage pool for a damaged reactor at an atomic power plant may be boiling.

Hidehiko Nishiyama of the economy ministry that oversees nuclear safety told reporters on Tuesday that “we cannot deny the possibility of water boiling” in the pool.

Mr. Nishiyama sought to avoid commenting on the potential risks from the rising temperatures caused by a failure of systems required to keep the spent fuel rods cool. He said the plant’s operator is considering what to do about the problem.