Japanese officials have conceded that the battle to salvage four crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant has been lost.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco], said the reactors would be scrapped, and warned that the operation to contain the nuclear crisis, now well into its third week, could last months.
Tepco's announcement came as new readings showed a dramatic increase in radioactive contamination in the sea near the atomic complex.
The firm's chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, said it had "no choice" but to scrap the Nos 1-4 reactors, but held out hope that the remaining two could continue to operate. It is the first time the company has conceded that the at least part of the plant will have to be decommissioned.
But the government's chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, repeated an earlier call for all six reactors at the 40-year-old plant to be decommissioned. "It is very clear looking at the social circumstances," he said.
Tens of thousands of people living near the plants have been evacuated or ordered to stay indoors, while the plant has leaked radioactive materials in to the sea, soil and air.
On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] suggested widening the 30-kilometre exclusion zone around the plant after finding that radiation levels at a village 40 kilometres from the plant exceeded the criteria for evacuation.
"We have advised [Japanese officials] to carefully assess the situation, and they have indicated that it is already under assessment," Denis Flory, a deputy director of the IAEA, said.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was due to arrive in Tokyo on Thursday to show support for the Fukushima operation and for talks with his Japanese counterpart, Naoto Kan. Sarkozy, the current G8 chair, is the first foreign leader to visit Japan since the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.
An emotional Kastumata apologised for the anxiety the crisis has caused.
Read More
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/31/japan-battle-save-nuclear-reactors-failed
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco], said the reactors would be scrapped, and warned that the operation to contain the nuclear crisis, now well into its third week, could last months.
Tepco's announcement came as new readings showed a dramatic increase in radioactive contamination in the sea near the atomic complex.
The firm's chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, said it had "no choice" but to scrap the Nos 1-4 reactors, but held out hope that the remaining two could continue to operate. It is the first time the company has conceded that the at least part of the plant will have to be decommissioned.
But the government's chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, repeated an earlier call for all six reactors at the 40-year-old plant to be decommissioned. "It is very clear looking at the social circumstances," he said.
Tens of thousands of people living near the plants have been evacuated or ordered to stay indoors, while the plant has leaked radioactive materials in to the sea, soil and air.
On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] suggested widening the 30-kilometre exclusion zone around the plant after finding that radiation levels at a village 40 kilometres from the plant exceeded the criteria for evacuation.
"We have advised [Japanese officials] to carefully assess the situation, and they have indicated that it is already under assessment," Denis Flory, a deputy director of the IAEA, said.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was due to arrive in Tokyo on Thursday to show support for the Fukushima operation and for talks with his Japanese counterpart, Naoto Kan. Sarkozy, the current G8 chair, is the first foreign leader to visit Japan since the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.
An emotional Kastumata apologised for the anxiety the crisis has caused.
Read More
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/31/japan-battle-save-nuclear-reactors-failed
No comments:
Post a Comment