The minister, Gunther Oettinger, made the comments in a briefing with members of the EU parliament. He also said, "In the coming hours, there could be further catastrophic events."
Electricity restored at reactor No. 2
Monday, March 21, 2011
By MASAMI ITO and JUN HONGO
Staff writers
Quote:
Tokyo Electric Power Co. restored electricity to the power center of the Fukushima No. 1 power plant's No. 2 reactor Sunday afternoon and will attempt to turn on its cooling system and other safety equipment to get the upper hand on the nuclear crisis.
Tepco is working round the clock to connect lengthy power cables to the crippled plant, where four of its six reactors have leaked or are continuing to leak radiation.
The March 11 quake and tsunami cut off all power to the reactors, killing critical safety features — most notably the systems that cool the fuel rods in the cores and the spent fuel rods stored in their containment pools — allowing them to get dangerously hot.
The No. 2 reactor is the first of the six to have power restored from outside the plant.
Tepco will first try to turn on the lights in the central control room before moving to power up instruments that measure pressure, temperature and radiation inside the reactor. If successful, the next step will be to turn on the cooling systems.
Also critical is determining whether any equipment was destroyed by the earthquake or seawater.
Strong radiation is making it difficult for workers to stay in the area long enough to connect power cables to reactors 3 and 4, Tepco said.
Meanwhile, reactors 5 and 6 were stable Sunday after cold shutdowns executed at the facilities succeeded after emergency power was restored by generators Saturday, authorities said.
Earlier in the day, firefighters and Self-Defense Forces personnel continued to direct streams of seawater at the buildings housing the No. 3 and 4 reactors, hoping to fill pools containing the overheating spent fuel rods.
In all since Thursday, 2,600 tons of seawater have been shot at the pool in the No. 3 reactor. It's unknown how much water actually entered the pool, which has a capacity of 1,400 tons.
At one point the same day, the pressure in the No. 3 reactor was rising, prompting Tepco to consider releasing more radioactive gas into the environment to avert serious damage to the containment vessel, the nuclear safety agency said Sunday afternoon.
But officials later backtracked and said the pressure in the vessel, which houses lethal radioactive materials, had stabilized. They said they would observe the situation carefully and "not immediately" take the risky measure.
Tepco had considered releasing the contaminated steam directly into the environment, not through a "suppression pool" as it did earlier in the crisis.
Even so, the government said it wasn't necessary to expand the evacuation area beyond the current 20-km radius from the plant.
The pressure needs to be lowered to protect the structural integrity of the reactor, and the first step is to open the valve on a pipe connected to the suppression pool, which contains water. By going through the suppression pool, the reactor's steam would liquefy before being released to lower the pressure inside the containment vessel.
But if the pool is already filled with water, a valve on the reactor itself would need to be opened and the radiation level of the released gas would be higher than with the first method, explained Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
"Without water, there would be more radioactive substances in the gas released into the environment," Nishiyama said.
Nishiyama added that if the trickier option is used, they may have to evacuate Tepco staff from the plant.
The government has evacuated people within 20 km of the plant, and those between 20 to 30 km are being told to stay inside.
Amid concern that rain might soon fall in the area, Nishiyama stressed that the radiation level was not high enough to affect people's health but urged people to avoid getting wet.
"The level has no impact on the human body. But it's better that people should try not to get hit by the rain as much as possible," he said.
Meanwhile, efforts continued on all fronts at the plant, as work on restoring electricity and spraying seawater on the overheated nuclear reactors continued around the clock.
Tepco said it was making progress on rebuilding the electrical grid.
In addition to rebooting the cooling system, Tepco hopes it can get a detailed picture of the damage once electricity in the power plant's central control room is restored.
Tepco said it succeeded in bringing power cables to reactors 1 and 2 but hadn't completed the necessary checks to restart equipment.
The operator can't restart the cooling systems for the reactors until it confirms the damage to the transformers, motors, pumps and other gear, a Tepco official said, adding that it was unlikely the procedures would be finished by the end of Sunday.
Tepco also revealed Sunday that one of its workers has been exposed to more than 100 millisieverts while on-site.
I'm glad some progress has been made. Yesterday I was reading an article on The New York Times about the psychological and environmental impact of another nuclear disaster in Japan, and the future didn't look promising.
Japan's disaster toll rises with 18,000 deaths
Mar. 20, 2011 11:05 PM ET
Quote:
FUKUSHIMA, Japan (AP) — The toll of Japan's triple disaster came into clearer focus Monday after police estimates showed more than 18,000 people died, the World Bank said rebuilding may cost $235 billion and more cases of radiation-tainted vegetables and tap water turned up.
Japanese officials reported progress over the weekend in their battle to gain control over a nuclear complex that began leaking radiation after suffering quake and tsunami damage, though the crisis was far from over, with a dangerous new surge in pressure reported in one of the plant's six reactors.
The announcement by Japan's Health Ministry late Sunday that tests had detected excess amounts of radioactive elements on canola and chrysanthemum greens marked a low moment in a day that had been peppered with bits of positive news: First, a teenager and his grandmother were found alive nine days after being trapped in their earthquake-shattered home. Then, the operator of the overheated nuclear plant said two of the six reactor units were safely cooled down.
"We consider that now we have come to a situation where we are very close to getting the situation under control," Deputy Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama said.
Still, serious problems remained at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex. Pressure unexpectedly rose in a third unit's reactor, meaning plant operators may need to deliberately release radioactive steam. That has only added to public anxiety over radiation that began leaking from the plant after a monstrous earthquake and tsunami devastated northeastern Japan on March 11 and left the plant unstable. As day broke Monday, Japan's military resumed dousing of the complex's troubled Unit 4.
The World Bank said in report Monday that Japan may need five years to rebuild from the catastrophic disasters, which caused up to $235 billion in damage, saying the cost to private insurers will be up to $33 billion and that the government will spend $12 billion on reconstruction in the current national budget and much more later.
The safety of food and water was of particular concern. The government halted shipments of spinach from one area and raw milk from another near the nuclear plant after tests found iodine exceeded safety limits. Tokyo's tap water, where iodine turned up Friday, now has cesium. Rain and dust are also tainted.
Early Monday , the Health Ministry advised Iitate, a village of 6,000 people about 30 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of the Fukushima plant, not to drink tap water due to elevated levels of iodine. Ministry spokesman Takayuki Matsuda said iodine three times the normal level was detected there — about one twenty-sixth of the level of a chest X-ray in one liter of water.
In all cases, the government said the radiation levels were too small to pose an immediate health risk.
But Tsugumi Hasegawa was skeptical as she cared for her 4-year-old daughter at a shelter in a gymnasium crammed with 1,400 people about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the plant.
"I still have no idea what the numbers they are giving about radiation levels mean. It's all so confusing," said Hasegawa, 29, from the small town of Futuba in the shadow of the nuclear complex. "And I wonder if they aren't playing down the dangers to keep us from panicking. I don't know who to trust."
All six of the nuclear complex's reactor units saw trouble after the disasters knocked out cooling systems. In a small advance, the plant's operator declared Units 5 and 6 — the least troublesome — under control after their nuclear fuel storage pools cooled to safe levels. Progress was made to reconnect two other units to the electric grid and in pumping seawater to cool another reactor and replenish it and a sixth reactor's storage pools.
But the buildup in pressure inside the vessel holding Unit 3's reactor presented some danger, forcing officials to consider venting. The tactic produced explosions of radioactive gas during the early days of the crisis.
"Even if certain things go smoothly, there would be twists and turns," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters. "At the moment, we are not so optimistic that there will be a breakthrough."
Growing concerns about radiation add to the overwhelming chain of disasters Japan has struggled with since the 9.0-magnitude quake. The resulting tsunami ravaged the northeastern coast. All told, police estimates show more than about 18,400 died. More than 15,000 deaths are likely in Miyagi, the prefecture that took the full impact of the wave, said a police spokesman.
"It is very distressing as we recover more bodies day by days," said Hitoshi Sugawara, the spokesman.
Police in other parts of the disaster area declined to provide estimates, but confirmed about 3,400 deaths. Nationwide, official figures show the disasters killing more than 8,600 people, and leaving more than 12,800 people missing, but those two lists may have some overlap.
The disasters have displaced another 452,000, who are living in shelters.
Fuel, food and water remain scarce. The government in recent days acknowledged being caught ill-prepared by an enormous disaster that the prime minister has called the worst crisis since World War II.
Bodies are piling up in some of the devastated communities and badly decomposing even amid chilly rain and snow.
"The recent bodies — we can't show them to the families. The faces have been purple, which means they are starting to decompose," says Shuji Horaguchi, a disaster relief official setting up a center to process the dead in Natori, on the outskirts of the tsunami-flattened city of Sendai. "Some we're finding now have been in the water for a long time, they're not in good shape. Crabs and fish have eaten parts."
Contamination of food and water compounds the government's difficulties, heightening the broader public's sense of dread about safety. Consumers in markets snapped up bottled water, shunned spinach from Ibaraki — the prefecture where the tainted spinach was found — and overall expressed concern about food safety.
Experts have said the amounts of iodine detected in milk, spinach and water pose no discernible risks to public health unless consumed in enormous quantities over a long time. Iodine breaks down quickly, after eight days, minimizing its harmfulness, unlike other radioactive isotopes such as cesium-137 or uranium-238, which remain in the environment for decades or longer.
High levels of iodine are linked to thyroid cancer, one of the least deadly cancers if treated. Cesium is a longer-lasting element that affects the whole body and raises cancer risk.
Rain forecast for the Fukushima area also could further localize the contamination, bringing the radiation to the ground closer to the plant.
Edano tried to reassure the public for a second day in a row. "If you eat it once, or twice, or even for several days, it's not just that it's not an immediate threat to health, it's that even in the future it is not a risk," Edano said. "Experts say there is no threat to human health."
No contamination has been reported in Japan's main food export — seafood — worth about $1.6 billion a year and less than 0.3 percent of its total exports.
Amid the anxiety, there were moments of joy on Sunday. An 80-year-old woman and her teenage grandson were rescued from their flattened two-story house after nine days, when the teen pulled himself to the roof and shouted to police for help.
Other survivors enjoyed smaller victories. Kiyoshi Hiratsuka and his family managed to pull his beloved Harley Davidson motorcycle from the rubble in their hometown of Onagawa. The 37-year-old mechanic said he knows it will never work anymore. "But I want to keep it as a memorial."
TOKYO – Japan was rattled by a strong aftershock and tsunami warning Thursday night nearly a month after a devastating earthquake and tsunami flattened the northeastern coast.
The Japan meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning for a wave of up to one meter. The warning was issued for a coastal area already torn apart by last month's tsunami.
Officials say Thursday's quake was a 7.4-magnitude and hit 25 miles (40 kilometers) under the water and off the coast of Miyagi prefecture. The quake that preceded last month's tsunami was a 9.0-magnitude.
Buildings as far away as Tokyo shook for about a minute.
U.S. Geological Survey gave the preliminary magnitude as 7.4 and it struck off the eastern coast 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Sendai and 90 miles (140 kilometers) from Fukushima. It was about 215 miles (345 kilometers) from Tokyo.
The depth was 25 miles (40 kilometers). Shallower quakes tend to be more destructive.
Hundreds of aftershocks have shaken the northeast region devastated by the March 11 earthquake, but few have been stronger than 7.0.
TOKYO – Japan was rattled by a strong aftershock and tsunami warning Thursday night nearly a month after a devastating earthquake and tsunami flattened the northeastern coast.
The Japan meteorological agency issued a tsunami warning for a wave of up to one meter. The warning was issued for a coastal area already torn apart by last month's tsunami.
Officials say Thursday's quake was a 7.4-magnitude and hit 25 miles (40 kilometers) under the water and off the coast of Miyagi prefecture. The quake that preceded last month's tsunami was a 9.0-magnitude.
Buildings as far away as Tokyo shook for about a minute.
U.S. Geological Survey gave the preliminary magnitude as 7.4 and it struck off the eastern coast 60 miles (100 kilometers) from Sendai and 90 miles (140 kilometers) from Fukushima. It was about 215 miles (345 kilometers) from Tokyo.
The depth was 25 miles (40 kilometers). Shallower quakes tend to be more destructive.
Hundreds of aftershocks have shaken the northeast region devastated by the March 11 earthquake, but few have been stronger than 7.0.
