A team of UN nuclear inspectors arrived in Japan yesterday to assess the condition of a nuclear power plant severely damaged in an earthquake last month, Japanese officials said.
The July 16 magnitude-6.8 quake in Niigata Prefecture killed 11 people and injured more than 1,000. It also caused numerous malfunctions and leaks at the plant -- the world's largest in terms of capacity -- and raised concerns about safety at Japan's nuclear power stations.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team, led by Philippe Jamet, director of the Nuclear Installation Safety Division, will start examining the plant today and will return to Tokyo on Friday for talks with Japanese nuclear safety officials, according to a statement by the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
The team will compile a report after the inspection.
"We'll collect information and identify the lessons learned that are the most important for the international community," Jamet told reporters at Narita International Airport near Tokyo. "We're here ... to make an independent examination."
Jamet said that he and his team would try to "look at everything" but that they would have to be selective because of time constraints.
Japanese officials, already at the plant for investigations, will cooperate with the six-member IAEA team, but the UN agency's probe will be independent, agency officials said.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co has come under fire in the wake of the powerful quake, which triggered a small fire at the plant.
The company has also revealed hundreds of other incidents and damage in the aftermath, including a radioactive water leak into the sea, though the amount of radioactivity released was minimal.
Plant officials said they had not foreseen such a powerful quake hitting the facility, and repeatedly underreported its impact afterward.
The company said the radiation from the leaks was far below levels people would naturally breathe in through the air, but the prefecture's government requested that the IAEA visit.
"The accident created anxiety among the people and the prefecture has been hit hard by harmful rumors," Niigata Governor Hirohiko Izumida said.
Nuclear experts said the plant proved solid, and blamed human error for the leaks, singling out the failure to turn off a fan that apparently emitted the radioactive particles.
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for
Israel yesterday said it has begun preparations for the departure of large numbers of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in line with US President Donald Trump’s plan for the territory, while Egypt has launched a diplomatic blitz behind the scenes to try and head off the plan. The Trump administration has already dialed back aspects of the proposal after it was widely rejected internationally, saying the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. US officials have provided few details about how or when the plan would be carried out. Trump yesterday said that Israel would turn Gaza over to the US after the