#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO Says Watering Had Some Effect on Reactor No.3

I'm afraid it was another grandstanding by the government, to show to the citizens that their government is on top of the situation.

Yomiuri Shinbun (in Japanese, emphasis added; 12:04AM, 3/18/2011) relays TEPCO's comment:

TEPCO said in the press conference on March 18 that dousing of the Reactor No.3 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant by the Self Defense Force using the SDF's large [high-powered] fire engines "had certain [positive] effects".

The SDF did the dousing 6 times using their fire engines from 7PM to 8PM on March 17. The fire engines were 10 meters (about 33 feet) away from the Reactor No.3. TEPCO had no precise information how much water went inside the Reactor No.3 building, but judging from the amount of steam coming out of the Reactor TEPCO said they believed the dousing was somewhat effective.

A heroic scene of the SDF battling nuclear fire only 10 meters away from the wrecked Reactor. Good PR for the prime minister.

Earlier, the SDF did the dousing from the air. From the reports in the Japanese media, that was mostly for the show. It endangered the SDF pilots by exposing them to high radiation (though they wore protective gears), but clearly with not much effect and the government abandoned that method.

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