Japan's earthquake-stricken nuclear complex is still emitting radiation but the source is unclear, a senior UN atomic agency official said, as workers made progress restoring electric power to the site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also raised concerns about a lack of information from Japanese authorities, as workers battling to cool the nuclear reactors faced rising temperatures around the core of one reactor.
"We continue to see radiation coming from the site ... and the question is where exactly is that coming from?" James Lyons, a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a news conference in Vienna on Tuesday. Despite hopes of progress in the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century, triggered by an earthquake and tsunami that left at least 21,000 people dead or missing, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it needed more time before it could say the reactors were stabilised.
Senior IAEA official Graham Andrew said that the overall situation remained "very serious" and that the UN atomic watchdog was concerned it had not received some information from Japan about the Fukushima nuclear plant. The IAEA also lacks data on the temperatures of the spent fuel pools of reactors 1, 3 and 4, he said, though Japan was supplying other updates.
Technicians working inside an evacuation zone around the plant on Japan's north-east Pacific coast, 250 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, have attached power cables to all six reactors and started a pump at one to cool overheating nuclear fuel rods. Local media reported late on Tuesday that lighting had been restored at one of the control rooms, bringing the operators a step closer to reviving the plant's cooling systems. Earlier smoke and steam were seen rising from two of the most threatening reactors, No 2 and No 3, threatening to dash hopes of progress in bringing them under control.
There have been several blasts of steam from the reactors during the crisis, which experts say probably released a small amount of radioactive particles. Hidehiko Nishiyama, the deputy-director general of Japan's nuclear safety agency, later said the smoke at reactor No 3 had stopped and there was only a small amount at No 2. He gave no more details, but a TEPCO executive vice president, Sakae Muto, said the core of reactor No 1 was now a worry with its temperature at 380-390 Celsius (715-735 Fahrenheit).
"We need to strive to bring that down a bit," Muto told a news conference, adding that the reactor was built to run at a temperature of 302 C (575 F). Reuters earlier reported that the Fukushima plant was storing more uranium than it was originally designed to hold, and that it had repeatedly missed mandatory safety checks over the past decade, according to company documents and outside experts. TEPCO said radiation was found in the Pacific Ocean nearby, not surprising given rain and the hosing of reactors with sea-water. TEPCO officials have said some of the water from the hosing was spilling into the sea.
Radioactive iodine in the sea samples was 126.7 times the allowed limit, while caesium was 24.8 times over, the Kyodo news agency said. That still posed no immediate danger, TEPCO said. "It would have to be drunk for a whole year in order to accumulate to 1 millisievert," a TEPCO official said, referring to the standard radiation measurement unit. People are generally exposed to 1-10 millisieverts a year from background radiation caused by substances in the air and soil.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday he was concerned about radioactive fallout affecting the 55,000 troops in and around Japan, many involved in a massive relief operation for Washington's close ally. "We're watching it very carefully. We're very concerned about the health of our men and women in uniform," he said. "But we're also deeply concerned about the well being of our Japanese allies. So we will do what's best both for our men and women in uniform and our alliance," Gates told reporters in Moscow.
Comments
Comments are closed.