November 15, 2002

Status of Investigation into Cause of Water Leakage in PWR Fuel Storage Pool of Spent Fuel Receiving/Storage Facility in Reprocessing Establishment

Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited

JNFL cut out test pieces from an area of penetrating leakage identified in a welding line at the bottom of the PWR fuel storage pool, and investigated them in detail at an external research facility. As a result of the investigations carried out to date, it was found that the welds in the area of leakage had some members that had only their surfaces welded and joined. Essentially, the lining plate at the bottom should have been directly welded and jointed to the embedded hardware.  JNFL will continue to investigate in detail the conditions of this event and identify the cause.