TOKYO — Japanese military helicopters dumped water Thursday from huge buckets onto the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, NHK reported.
Three twin-rotor CH-47 Chinooks from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) were used in the operation.
Two loads of seawater were dumped on the plant’s damaged No. 3 reactor, with the third load dropped on the No. 4 reactor.
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The helicopters have the capacity to dump 7.5 tons (6.8 tonnes) of water, but it was unknown how much water they were carrying.
Eleven water cannon trucks were also en route to the plant to spray water from the ground onto the No. 3 reactor.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said it was concerned about overheating at the No. 3 reactor’s cooling pool, which was damaged in last Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and following tsunami.
The SDF had planned to conduct the operation on Wednesday but was forced to abandon the mission due to high radiation levels.
Overheating has caused four hydrogen explosions and two fires at the plant as well as a partial meltdown at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors of the six-reactor facility, located about 155 miles (250km) northeast of Tokyo.