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Finding places to store water remains the biggest imperative at Fukushima Daiichi, in part because flooding has blocked access to the reactors' disabled cooling pumps.

Those efforts inched forward Friday, as the government Buy nike cheap mens acg sandals black,moved water that had been stored in a tank outside the building of reactor No. 2 into a vessel even farther away. Having emptied the tank close to the reactor's turbine building, plant operators hope to fill it with the contents of a condenser unit inside the turbine building. Once that vessel is empty, in turn, officials hope to fill it with radioactive runoff water. Similar transfer processes are under way at reactors No. 1 and 3.

Authorities want to switch to regular cooling systems so they can stop using the jury-rigged systems—spraying water at reactors and spent-fuel pools, or injecting water into the vessels that surround the reactor core.

The station's three most troubled reactors—Nos.Buy nike cheap mens acg sandals black, 1, 2 and 3—were stable on Friday, according to Tepco and the government, measured by pressure and temperature readings. "We have to remove the water and establish a sustainable cooling system as soon as possible," said Mr. Nishiyama. "The status of the reactors is to a certain degree stable, but it still does not allow us to be optimistic."

Mr. Nishiyama's caution was echoed by Prime MinisterBuy nike cheap mens acg sandals black, Naoto Kan. "We are ready to fight a long battle," he said. "But we will surely prevail."