Japan’s nuclear crisis deepened yesterday with another fire at a quake-hit atomic power plant and a radiation spike there that forced the temporary evacuation of workers.
Military helicopters carrying giant buckets were preparing to drop water on the stricken plant, which has been hit by four explosions and two fires since Friday’s earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems.
However, media reports quoting defense ministry officials said the attempt was postponed because of high radiation levels over the Fukushima No. 1 plant, 250km northeast of Tokyo.
Photo: REUTERS
A police water cannon truck was also deployed to the site to help, Kyodo News reported.
Scared Tokyo residents filled outbound trains and rushed to shops to stock up on face masks and emergency supplies, amid fears of radiation headed their way. Some foreign residents have also left the city.
The radiation level in Tokyo was normal yesterday, officials said. Levels had risen on Tuesday, but not to a degree hazardous to health.
Chief government spokesman Yukio Edano made an apparent attempt to ease fears in the face of mounting overseas concern.
He said radiation poses no immediate health threat outside a zone within 20km of the plant, which has already been evacuated.
“I have been informed that the figures monitored today [outside the zone] were not anything that would harm human health immediately,” Edano told a briefing.
The day began with a pre-dawn blaze at the plant’s No. 4 reactor. This apparently died out of its own accord, but in mid-morning a cloud of smoke or steam was seen rising from the No. 3 reactor.
Radiation levels then rose sharply at the plant — prompting a brief evacuation of workers — but fell soon afterwards.
Edano said the most likely explanation for the sudden rise was an emission of radioactive steam from the No. 3 reactor’s containment vessel, although he stressed nothing had been confirmed.
There was no need at present to expand the evacuation zone around the plant, he said. At 4pm the radiation level was stable at around 1.5 millisieverts near the front gate, the spokesman said.
Edano said workers were preparing another attempt to pump water around the overheating reactor fuel rods to cool them down.
The government had earlier reported apparent damage to the suppression pool surrounding the base of the containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor.
It was unclear how much damage, if any, there had been to the steel and concrete containment vessels around the reactors.
However, there are also major fears about pools holding spent fuel rods at the plant, which also need water to keep them cool. Unlike the reactors, they have no containment vessels.
If water evaporates, the spent rods will be exposed to the air and radioactive material will be released into the atmosphere.
One of these pools “is the major concern” in the crisis, presenting the risk of radioactivity being released directly into the air, France’s Nuclear Safety Authority said.
It said the evaporation of water in the pool was continuing.
Eight experts from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission were due to arrive yesterday to advise on managing the situation, the foreign ministry said. It was not immediately known if they would go to Fukushima.
In an indication of the damage so far, the nuclear safety agency said 70 percent of the fuel rods at the No. 1 reactor and 33 percent at the No.2 reactor are believed to be damaged.
It was possible the rods’ metal cladding had melted, exposing the radioactive core, a spokesman said, citing information from plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.
The French nuclear authority has said the disaster equated to a six on the seven-point international scale for nuclear accidents, ranking the crisis second only in gravity to Chernobyl.
Japanese Emperor Akihito in a rare television address yesterday expressed deep concern over the escalating nuclear crisis and said he prayed for people’s safety after last week’s quake-tsunami disaster.
The 77-year-old, who has the great respect of many Japanese, admitted in the pre-recorded comments that the country still did not know how many people had died in the twin disasters.
He thanked emergency personnel for their efforts to locate the many missing and help survivors battling difficult conditions including increasingly cold temperatures.
“The number of people killed is increasing day-by-day and we do not know how many people have fallen victim,” Akihito said. “I pray for the safety of as many people as possible.”
“People are being forced to evacuate in such severe conditions of bitter cold, with shortages of water and fuel ... I cannot help praying that rescue work is done swiftly and people’s lives get better, even a little,” he said.
A spokesman for the Imperial Household Agency said it was the first time the emperor had addressed the nation on television in the wake of a natural disaster.
The toll of the dead and missing from the quake and tsunami has topped 11,000, with 3,676 confirmed dead and 7,558 unaccounted for, the national police agency said yesterday.
Akihito also said he was “deeply concerned” about the “unpredictable” situation at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant.
“I sincerely hope that we can keep the situation from getting worse,” Akihito said.
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