Japan's nuclear safety agency will begin inspecting the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant from Monday to see if it can safely remain in a state of cold shutdown.

Officials from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency plan to check equipment and contingency preparations by examining manuals and interviewing workers during their three-week inspections.

Among the seven types of equipment to be checked is a reactor cooling system that recycles decontaminated water from the facility.

Another is a nitrogen-injection system to prevent hydrogen explosions within the disabled reactors.

Agency officials say they will open the onsite inspections to the media. The checks will be the first safety tests required under law since the March 11th accident.

The government declared on December 16th that the Fukushima Daiichi reactors had achieved a state of cold shutdown.

This means reactor temperatures have stabilized below 100 degrees Celsius, and the release of radioactive substances has been contained.

News credit: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120203_30.html

Image credit: http://rt.com/files/news/fukushima-frozen-pipes-leak-301/window-fukushima-nuclear-crippled.n.jpg