AlHijjah 6, 1432, Nov 2, 2011, SPA -- The operator of a damaged Japanese power plant said Wednesday it had started to inject boric acid to control a possible nuclear reaction in one of its crippled reactors, dpa reported. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which runs the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, said there may have been a "temporal occurrence of criticality" in reactor 2 and that it would continue to monitor the situation. Gas samples taken Tuesday from inside the containment vessel of reactor 2 contained radioactive xenon 135, a gas usually generated by nuclear fission, TEPCO said. The operator also detected both xenon 133 and xenon 135 isotopes from gas samples on Monday. As there was no change in the temperature, pressure or radiation levels in the reactor, the operator said the situation was not serious. The plant 250 kilometres north-east of Tokyo suffered meltdowns at three reactors including reactor 2 after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami shut down its cooling systems. Fires and explosions after the disaster left it leaking radioactive susbtances into the environment.
