Up and Coming: Radiation soars at Japan reactor

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Radiation soars at Japan reactor

Lighting restored in control room of Unit 2 reactor at Fukushima, 26 March

Lighting is restored in the control room of reactor 2 at Fukushima

The operator of a stricken Japanese nuclear plant has been berated by officials for a lack of transparency and failures to protect workers.

The government said Tokyo Electric Power Co had to provide information more promptly.

The nation's nuclear agency said the operator of the Fukushima plant had made a number of mistakes, including worker clothing.

The plant was damaged in the deadly 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

The death toll has now passed 10,000, and more than 17,440 people are missing.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has now sent extra teams to the Japanese nuclear plant.

IAEA director Yukiya Amano told the New York Times that the nuclear emergency could last weeks, if not months.

Japanese government spokesman Yukio Edano said Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) had to be more transparent in the wake of an incident this week in which three workers were exposed to radiation levels 10,000 times higher than normal, suffering burns.

Fukushima Daiichi No. 1 atomic power plant

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says the Japanese government has tried to reassure people about the plant's safety

"We strongly urge Tepco to provide information to the government more promptly," Mr Edano said.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), said two injured workers were wearing boots that only came up to their ankles and afforded little protection.

He said Tepco also knew of high air radiation at one reactor several days before the incident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant 240km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

"Regardless of whether there was an awareness of high radioactivity in the stagnant water, there were problems in the way work was conducted," Mr Nishiyama said.

Mass burials have been held, including here at Yamamoto

He said Tepco had been warned and measures to improve safety had been put in place.

Emergency workers are still battling to cool the reactors and prevent a meltdown. They have now switched to using more favoured fresh water as a coolant, rather than sea water.

There had been fears the salt in sea water could further corrode machinery. The fresh water is being pumped in so that contaminated radioactive water can be extracted.

The team of more than 700 engineers has found radioactive water in three of the six reactors.

Four of the reactors are still considered volatile.

The US 7th Fleet is sending barges loaded with 500,000 gallons of fresh water.

Mr Edano said: "We seem to be keeping the situation from turning worse. But we still cannot be optimistic."

Mr Amano told the New York Times that Japan was "still far from the end of the accident".

Although he saw some "positive signs", particularly the restoration of electric power, he said: "More efforts should be done to put an end to the accident."

A child holds bottled water in Tokyo, Japan (24 March 2011)

Q&A: Health effects of radiation A new way to look at radiation

His main fears were that the lack of coolant would mean spent fuel rods would remain exposed to the air, and then heat up, releasing radioactive material.

On Friday, levels of radioactive iodine in the sea near the Fukushima plant were recorded at 1,250 times higher than the safety limit.

The readings were taken about 300m (984ft) offshore. It is feared the radiation could be seeping into groundwater from one of the reactors.

But the radiation will no longer be a risk after eight days because of iodine's half-life, officials say.

China, Singapore, Hong Kong and other Asian importers have banned some imports of vegetables, seafood and milk products for fear of contamination.

Australia, the European Union, the United States and Russia have followed suit.

Meanwhile in Japan's tsunami disaster zone, the military has helped supply food and water and has continued clearing areas to try to recover more bodies.

There has been a need for mass burials in some areas along the coast.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are still housed in temporary shelters such as gymnasiums.

The Japanese government has put the rebuilding cost at $309bn (£191.8bn).

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

Read the terms and conditions

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.