Dangerous breach suspected at Japanese nuclear plant

source: manila bulletin
TOKYO, Japan (AP, Reuters) – A suspected breach in the reactor core at one unit of a stricken Fukushima nuclear plant could mean more serious radioactive contamination, Japanese officials said Friday, revealing what may prove a major setback in the mission to bring the leaking plant under control.



The uncertain situation halted work Friday at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, where dozens had been working feverishly to stop the overheated plant from leaking dangerous radiation, officials said.

Suspicions of a possible breach were raised when two workers waded into water 10,000 times more radioactive than normal and suffered skin burns when the water splashed over their protective boots, the Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency said.

However, though damage cannot be ruled out, the cause remained unclear, spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama told reporters.

That could mean a serious reversal after days of apparently steady progress in containing radiation leaks after a killer earthquake and tsunami tore through the Fukushima nuclear power complex north of Tokyo two weeks ago.

More than 700 engineers have been working in shifts around the clock to stabilize the six-reactor Fukushima complex but they pulled out of some parts when three workers replacing a cable at the No. 3 reactor were exposed to high contamination on Thursday, officials said.

Two were taken to hospital with possible radiation burns after radioactive water seeped over their boots.

“The contaminated water had 10,000 times the amount of radiation as would be found in water circulating from a normally operating reactor," said Japanese nuclear agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama.

“It is possible that there is damage to the reactor.”

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the three injured workers were carrying radiation meters but ignored an alarm when it rang. Engineers would be briefed again on safety.

Heightened by widespread public ignorance of the technicalities of radiation, alarm has been spreading.

Officials have previously said that small explosions at the reactor could have damaged it, but the high seepage of radiation could imply worse damage than previously believed.

But Hideo Morimoto, director at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, said it need not be a major setback.

“I feel if the pressure vessel has been seriously damaged, then far more radiation would have leaked,” he said.

However, the No. 3 reactor is also the only one to use plutonium in its fuel mix, which is more toxic than the uranium used in the other reactors.

Operators have been struggling to keep cool water around radioactive fuel rods in the reactor's core after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami cut off power supply to the plant and its cooling system.

Damage could have been done to the core when a March 14 hydrogen explosion blew apart Unit 3’s outer containment building.

This reactor, perhaps the most troubled at the six-unit site, holds 170 tons of radioactive fuel in its core.

Previous radioactive emissions have come from intentional efforts to vent small amounts of steam through valves to prevent the core from bursting.

However, releases from a breach could allow uncontrolled quantities of radioactive contaminants to escape into the surrounding ground or air.

Operators stopped work Friday at units 1 through 3 to check on radiation levels.

In China, authorities there found two Japanese travelers arriving with high radiation levels Friday in the latest consequence of contamination from the crippled nuclear plant in Japan.

China’s customs body said the pair had medical treatment for radiation levels “seriously” over the limit, but they did not present a risk to others after flying to Wuxi in the east.

Until now, no one in Japan except workers at the stricken plant has been found with seriously elevated radiation levels, and Japan's foreign ministry noted that as of March 18, the International Civil Aviation Association had declared that screening of airline passengers from Japan was not necessary.

The first case of contaminated Japanese traveling abroad came after injuries to workers slowed the battle to control the Fukushima complex 240 kilometers north of Tokyo.

27,000 dead, missing

As well as causing the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986, the magnitude 9.0 quake and ensuing wall of water that tore in from the Pacific killed 9,811 people and left 17,541 more missing, according to latest police figures.

Kyodo news agency said the death toll had topped 10,000.

Despite increased radiation reports, fears of a catastrophic meltdown at the Fukushima plant are receding.

Two of the reactors are now regarded as safe in what is called a cold shutdown. While four remain volatile, emitting steam and smoke periodically, but work is advancing to restart water pumps needed to cool fuel rods inside those reactors.

“It’s much more hopeful,” said Tony Roulstone, a nuclear energy expert at Cambridge University.

Vegetable and milk shipments from the areas near the plant have been stopped, and Tokyo’s 13 million residents were told this week not to give tap water to babies after contamination from rain put radiation at twice the safety level.

But it dropped back to safe levels the next day, and the city governor cheerily drank water in front of cameras at a water purifying plant.

Despite government reassurances and appeals for people not to panic, there has been a rush on bottled water and shelves in many Tokyo shops remained empty of the product Friday.

In the Philippines, while the national government failed to get a “go-signal” from the Japanese government that will allow the country to send a search-and-rescue team to Japan, more than 10 metric tons of relief goods worth P848,445 will be flown instead to the quake-ravaged country.

In a statement issued Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the relief goods will be flown to Japan “free of charge” by the country's flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL).

The relief goods consist of food packs, towels, noodles, dust masks, and mats provided by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). They are scheduled to arrive in Japan Friday evening.

The items, which have been earmarked by the Japanese government for distribution to individuals and families in Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures, will be turned over by Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel M. Lopez to Japanese authorities.

DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario also vowed that the Philippine embassy will intensify its efforts to locate and assist Filipinos in the northern part of the country, which continues to reel from the devastation wrought by the earthquake and tsunami, remains under threat from the nuclear emergency at the damaged nuclear plants in Fukushima.

source: manila bulletin