Hole likely in Japan's reactor
Source: Agencies |
April 15, 2011, Friday
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Japan's fragile post-disaster political truce unravelled yesterday as the head of the main opposition party called on Prime Minister Naoto Kan to quit over his handling of the country's natural calamities and a nuclear crisis.
At the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant in the northeast of the country, engineers were struggling to find a new way to cool one of the six crippled reactors and Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said it was now "highly likely" there was a hole in the suppression unit of the reactor.
Kan, whose public support stands at about 30 percent, had sought a grand coalition to help the country recover from its worst ever natural disaster and enact bills to pay for the country's biggest reconstruction project since World War II.
But the head of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, who last week ruled out joining hands, yesterday pressured Kan to go.
"The time has come for (the prime minister) to decide whether he stays or goes," Kyodo news agency quoted Sadakazu Tanigaki as telling a news conference.
Upper House speaker Takeo Nishioka, a well-known Kan critic from the Democrats, also urged Kan to resign.
Kan, however, who took office last June, is not likely to step down readily, while opposition parties could come under fire if they try to take disaster budgets hostage in a political battle, analysts said.
Meanwhile, there has been no sign of a resolution of the atomic crisis.
The nuclear safety agency said a new plan for cooling one of six reactors at the Fukushima plant may be needed due to the large volume of highly radioactive water on site, and tests would be done to determine if damaged spent fuel rods were emitting radiation.
"It may be difficult to completely remove the contaminated water and so allow work to proceed (in restoring power to the cooling pumps). We may need to think of other options," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director-general of Japan's Nuclear Industry and Safety Authority.
Nishiyama said there was 20,000 tons of contaminated water in the basement and a tunnel under reactor No. 2.
"What makes the No.2 unit decisively different from No.1 and No.3 units is that it is highly likely that there is a hole on the (No.2 unit's) suppression chamber after an explosion was heard. It would be an accurate speculation that there is leakage," he said.
Engineers are also concerned that some spent fuel rods were damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and could be emitting high levels of radiation.
Japan's nuclear crisis has been rated on par with the world's worst nuclear crisis at Chernobyl in 1986.
At the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant in the northeast of the country, engineers were struggling to find a new way to cool one of the six crippled reactors and Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said it was now "highly likely" there was a hole in the suppression unit of the reactor.
Kan, whose public support stands at about 30 percent, had sought a grand coalition to help the country recover from its worst ever natural disaster and enact bills to pay for the country's biggest reconstruction project since World War II.
But the head of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, who last week ruled out joining hands, yesterday pressured Kan to go.
"The time has come for (the prime minister) to decide whether he stays or goes," Kyodo news agency quoted Sadakazu Tanigaki as telling a news conference.
Upper House speaker Takeo Nishioka, a well-known Kan critic from the Democrats, also urged Kan to resign.
Kan, however, who took office last June, is not likely to step down readily, while opposition parties could come under fire if they try to take disaster budgets hostage in a political battle, analysts said.
Meanwhile, there has been no sign of a resolution of the atomic crisis.
The nuclear safety agency said a new plan for cooling one of six reactors at the Fukushima plant may be needed due to the large volume of highly radioactive water on site, and tests would be done to determine if damaged spent fuel rods were emitting radiation.
"It may be difficult to completely remove the contaminated water and so allow work to proceed (in restoring power to the cooling pumps). We may need to think of other options," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director-general of Japan's Nuclear Industry and Safety Authority.
Nishiyama said there was 20,000 tons of contaminated water in the basement and a tunnel under reactor No. 2.
"What makes the No.2 unit decisively different from No.1 and No.3 units is that it is highly likely that there is a hole on the (No.2 unit's) suppression chamber after an explosion was heard. It would be an accurate speculation that there is leakage," he said.
Engineers are also concerned that some spent fuel rods were damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and could be emitting high levels of radiation.
Japan's nuclear crisis has been rated on par with the world's worst nuclear crisis at Chernobyl in 1986.
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