Troubled Japanese Nuclear Power Plant Hit by Power Outage

An unexplained partial power outage has shut down a crucial cooling system at Japan's tsunami-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The plant's operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), says equipment used to inject cooling water into spent fuel pools has been without electricity since Monday night, local time. TEPCO is investigating whether a broken switchboard is to blame for the outage.

TEPCO spokesperson Masayuki Ono told reporters Tuesday pool temperatures had risen slightly. But he said even the worst-affected reactor would remain safe for at least four days at the current rates.

"We believe there is still plenty of time before the temperature in the pools exceeds what we regard as the danger level of 65 degrees, so before that happens we will be doing our best to restore power."

Ono says TEPCO has a backup plan to inject cooling water into the pools if power cannot be restored within that timeframe.

There is a danger of radiation spewing into the environment if the water in the spent fuel pools reaches boiling point. So far there has been no change in radioactivity levels.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 shut off the plant's power and cooling systems, causing a meltdown in three nuclear reactors. It was the world's worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl accident in the Soviet Union.

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