Breakthrough in fight at stricken nuclear plant
Source: Agencies |
March 23, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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Workers at Japan's leaking nuclear plant hooked up power lines to all six of the crippled complex's reactor units yesterday, but other repercussions from the massive earthquake and tsunami were still rippling across the nation.
The progress on the electrical lines at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was a welcome and significant advance after days of setbacks. With the power lines connected, officials hope to start up the overheated plant's crucial cooling system that was knocked out during the March 11 tsunami and earthquake that devastated Japan's northeast coast.
Tokyo Electric Power Co warned that workers still need to check all equipment for damage first before switching the cooling system on to all the reactor units - a process that could take days or even weeks.
Late last night, Tokyo Electric said lights went on in the central control room of Unit 3, but that doesn't mean power had been restored to the cooling system. Officials will wait until today to try to power up the water pumps to the unit.
In another advance, emergency crews dumped 18 tons of seawater into a nearly boiling storage pool holding spent nuclear fuel, cooling it to 50 degrees Celsius, Japan's nuclear safety agency said. Steam, possibly carrying radioactive elements, had been rising for two days from the reactor building, and the move lessens the chances that more radiation will seep into the air.
The latest measures bring authorities closer to ending a nuclear crisis.
Its power supply knocked out by the disasters, the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex has leaked radiation that has found its way into vegetables, raw milk, the water supply and even seawater across a band of Japan. The resulting fears of radiation have reverberated well beyond the disaster area.
"We must overcome this crisis that we have never experienced in the past, and it's time to make a nationwide effort," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said yesterday.
In the town of Kawamata, just outside Fukushima, hundreds of people who had moved from their homes near the nuclear plant crowded into a school gymnasium to hear about the impact of radiation on health from a doctor from Nagasaki, the city destroyed by an atomic bomb to end World War II.
"I want to tell you that you are safe. You don't need to worry. The levels of radiation here are clearly not high enough to cause damage to your health," Noboru Takamura said. "Outside the 30 kilometer zone, there is no need to hang your laundry indoors or wear surgical masks, unless you have hay fever."
Virtually everyone in the hall was wearing a mask.
Public sentiment is such in the area that Fukushima's governor rejected a request from the president of Tokyo Electric, who wanted to apologize for the troubles.
Yuhei Sato said: "Considering the anxiety, anger and exasperation being felt by people in Fukushima, there is no way for me to accept their apology."
Much of the broader public's concern has centered on radiation contamination of food and water. The government has already ordered a ban on spinach, canola and raw milk from the prefectures around Fukushima. The sea off the nuclear plant is showing elevated levels of radioactive iodine and cesium, prompting the government to test seafood.
Officials and health experts say the doses are low and not a threat to human health unless the tainted products are consumed in abnormally excessive quantities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said radiation seeping into the environment was a concern and needed to be monitored. IAEA monitoring stations have detected radiation 1,600 times higher than normal levels in an area about 20 kilometers from the power station.
Radiation at that level, while not high for a single burst, could harm health if sustained. The levels drop dramatically the farther you go from the nuclear complex.
The progress on the electrical lines at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was a welcome and significant advance after days of setbacks. With the power lines connected, officials hope to start up the overheated plant's crucial cooling system that was knocked out during the March 11 tsunami and earthquake that devastated Japan's northeast coast.
Tokyo Electric Power Co warned that workers still need to check all equipment for damage first before switching the cooling system on to all the reactor units - a process that could take days or even weeks.
Late last night, Tokyo Electric said lights went on in the central control room of Unit 3, but that doesn't mean power had been restored to the cooling system. Officials will wait until today to try to power up the water pumps to the unit.
In another advance, emergency crews dumped 18 tons of seawater into a nearly boiling storage pool holding spent nuclear fuel, cooling it to 50 degrees Celsius, Japan's nuclear safety agency said. Steam, possibly carrying radioactive elements, had been rising for two days from the reactor building, and the move lessens the chances that more radiation will seep into the air.
The latest measures bring authorities closer to ending a nuclear crisis.
Its power supply knocked out by the disasters, the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex has leaked radiation that has found its way into vegetables, raw milk, the water supply and even seawater across a band of Japan. The resulting fears of radiation have reverberated well beyond the disaster area.
"We must overcome this crisis that we have never experienced in the past, and it's time to make a nationwide effort," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said yesterday.
In the town of Kawamata, just outside Fukushima, hundreds of people who had moved from their homes near the nuclear plant crowded into a school gymnasium to hear about the impact of radiation on health from a doctor from Nagasaki, the city destroyed by an atomic bomb to end World War II.
"I want to tell you that you are safe. You don't need to worry. The levels of radiation here are clearly not high enough to cause damage to your health," Noboru Takamura said. "Outside the 30 kilometer zone, there is no need to hang your laundry indoors or wear surgical masks, unless you have hay fever."
Virtually everyone in the hall was wearing a mask.
Public sentiment is such in the area that Fukushima's governor rejected a request from the president of Tokyo Electric, who wanted to apologize for the troubles.
Yuhei Sato said: "Considering the anxiety, anger and exasperation being felt by people in Fukushima, there is no way for me to accept their apology."
Much of the broader public's concern has centered on radiation contamination of food and water. The government has already ordered a ban on spinach, canola and raw milk from the prefectures around Fukushima. The sea off the nuclear plant is showing elevated levels of radioactive iodine and cesium, prompting the government to test seafood.
Officials and health experts say the doses are low and not a threat to human health unless the tainted products are consumed in abnormally excessive quantities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said radiation seeping into the environment was a concern and needed to be monitored. IAEA monitoring stations have detected radiation 1,600 times higher than normal levels in an area about 20 kilometers from the power station.
Radiation at that level, while not high for a single burst, could harm health if sustained. The levels drop dramatically the farther you go from the nuclear complex.
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