140,000 sealed indoors as nuclear crisis grows
Source: Agencies |
March 16, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors yesterday after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by the deadly earthquake and tsunami.
In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation had spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan's northeastern coast.
The region was shattered by last Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged millions into misery and pummeled the world's third-largest economy.
Japanese officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency that the reactor fire was in a fuel storage pond - an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool - and that "radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere."
Long after the fire was extinguished, a Japanese official said the pool might still be boiling, though the levels of radiation had dropped dramatically by the end of the day.
That reactor, Unit 4, had been shut down before the quake for maintenance.
Last night, officials at the plant said they were considering asking for help from the United States and Japanese militaries to spray water from helicopters into the pool.
If the water boils, it could evaporate, exposing the rods. The fuel rods are encased in safety containers meant to prevent them from resuming nuclear reactions, officials said.
But they acknowledged that there could have been damage to the containers. They also confirmed that the walls of the storage pool building were damaged.
Experts noted that much of the leaking radiation was apparently in steam from boiling water. It had not been emitted directly by fuel rods, which would be far more virulent, they said.
"It's not good, but I don't think it's a disaster," said Steve Crossley, an Australia-based radiation physicist.
Even the highest detected rates were not automatically harmful for brief periods, he said. "If you were to spend a significant amount of time - in the order of hours - that could be significant," Crossley said.
Less clear were the results of the blast in Unit 2, near a suppression pool which removes heat under a reactor vessel, said plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. The nuclear core was not damaged but the bottom of the surrounding container may have been, said a spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency.
Though Kan and other officials urged calm, yesterday's developments fueled a growing panic in Japan and around the world amid widespread uncertainty over what would happen next.
In the worst case scenario, one or more of the reactor cores would completely melt down, a disaster that could spew large amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere.
Workers at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex have been desperately trying to use seawater to cool the fuel rods in the complex's reactors.
Yesterday's explosion was the third at the complex since Friday.
Afterward, officials in Ibaraki, a neighboring prefecture just south of the area, said up to 100 times the normal levels of radiation were detected. While those figures are worrying if there is prolonged exposure, they are far from fatal.
Tokyo reported slightly elevated radiation levels, but officials said the increase was too small to threaten the 39 million people in and around the capital.
Closer to the stricken nuclear complex, the streets in the coastal city of Soma were empty as the residents who remained heeded the government's warning to stay indoors.
The radiation fears added to the catastrophe unfolding in Japan, where at least 10,000 people are believed to have been killed and millions of people were facing a fifth night with little food, water or heating in near-freezing temperatures. Up to 450,000 people are in temporary shelters.
Hundreds of aftershocks have shaken Japan's northeast and Tokyo since the original quake, including one last night whose epicenter was hundreds of kilometers southwest and inland.
Officials have only been able to confirm a death toll of around 3,300 but those who were involved in the 2004 Asian tsunami said there was no question more people died and warned that, like the earlier disaster, thousands may never be found.
In a rare bit of good news, rescuers yesterday found two survivors in the rubble left by the tsunami that hit the northeast, including a 70-year-old woman whose house was torn from its foundations.
In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation had spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan's northeastern coast.
The region was shattered by last Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged millions into misery and pummeled the world's third-largest economy.
Japanese officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency that the reactor fire was in a fuel storage pond - an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool - and that "radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere."
Long after the fire was extinguished, a Japanese official said the pool might still be boiling, though the levels of radiation had dropped dramatically by the end of the day.
That reactor, Unit 4, had been shut down before the quake for maintenance.
Last night, officials at the plant said they were considering asking for help from the United States and Japanese militaries to spray water from helicopters into the pool.
If the water boils, it could evaporate, exposing the rods. The fuel rods are encased in safety containers meant to prevent them from resuming nuclear reactions, officials said.
But they acknowledged that there could have been damage to the containers. They also confirmed that the walls of the storage pool building were damaged.
Experts noted that much of the leaking radiation was apparently in steam from boiling water. It had not been emitted directly by fuel rods, which would be far more virulent, they said.
"It's not good, but I don't think it's a disaster," said Steve Crossley, an Australia-based radiation physicist.
Even the highest detected rates were not automatically harmful for brief periods, he said. "If you were to spend a significant amount of time - in the order of hours - that could be significant," Crossley said.
Less clear were the results of the blast in Unit 2, near a suppression pool which removes heat under a reactor vessel, said plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. The nuclear core was not damaged but the bottom of the surrounding container may have been, said a spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency.
Though Kan and other officials urged calm, yesterday's developments fueled a growing panic in Japan and around the world amid widespread uncertainty over what would happen next.
In the worst case scenario, one or more of the reactor cores would completely melt down, a disaster that could spew large amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere.
Workers at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex have been desperately trying to use seawater to cool the fuel rods in the complex's reactors.
Yesterday's explosion was the third at the complex since Friday.
Afterward, officials in Ibaraki, a neighboring prefecture just south of the area, said up to 100 times the normal levels of radiation were detected. While those figures are worrying if there is prolonged exposure, they are far from fatal.
Tokyo reported slightly elevated radiation levels, but officials said the increase was too small to threaten the 39 million people in and around the capital.
Closer to the stricken nuclear complex, the streets in the coastal city of Soma were empty as the residents who remained heeded the government's warning to stay indoors.
The radiation fears added to the catastrophe unfolding in Japan, where at least 10,000 people are believed to have been killed and millions of people were facing a fifth night with little food, water or heating in near-freezing temperatures. Up to 450,000 people are in temporary shelters.
Hundreds of aftershocks have shaken Japan's northeast and Tokyo since the original quake, including one last night whose epicenter was hundreds of kilometers southwest and inland.
Officials have only been able to confirm a death toll of around 3,300 but those who were involved in the 2004 Asian tsunami said there was no question more people died and warned that, like the earlier disaster, thousands may never be found.
In a rare bit of good news, rescuers yesterday found two survivors in the rubble left by the tsunami that hit the northeast, including a 70-year-old woman whose house was torn from its foundations.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
