Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and former senior policy adviser to the U.S. It is likely that the reactor will have to be decommissioned because of the contamination by salts and other substances, experts said, according to Kyodo.Įdano on Sunday said the cooling operation at Unit 1 was going smoothly. 1 reactor where the melting occurred with seawater and pour in boric acid, which absorbs neutrons, an operation expected to take several hours, Kyodo reported.įilling the entire reactor container with seawater will take about 10 days, Edano said. Releases of air with radioactive material were being considered for Daini units 1, 2, and 3.Įarlier Edano said TEPCO has begun new cooling operations to fill the Daiishi No. TEPCO on Sunday also said it was preparing pressure reducing measures for its nearby Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station, where four reactors were shut down due to earthquakes. It is the first time a Japanese nuclear plant has ever experienced any level of reactor core melting. Officials said that at one point, the Unit 1 was releasing each hour the amount of radiation a person normally absorbs from the environment each year. Radioactive cesium and iodine were detected near the facility Saturday, indicating that the melting had occurred, Kyodo News Service reported. The blast destroyed the exterior walls of a building, but did not breach the steel housing enveloping the reactor there, officials said. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS Tepco / X80001Ī similar radiation increase was seen Saturday during venting at the No. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. REUTERS/TEPCO/Handout (JAPAN - Tags: DISASTER ENERGY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. Tokyo Electric Power Co also said fuel may have been damaged by falling water levels at the Daiichi facility, one of its two nuclear power plants in Fukushima, some 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo. Japanese authorities battling to contain rising pressure in nuclear reactors damaged by a massive earthquake were forced to release radioactive steam from one plant on Maafter evacuating tens of thousands of residents from the area. 1 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after an explosion that blew off the upper part of the structure is seen in this handout photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) in Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan, March 12, 2011. Released steam raised radiation levels above safety limits outside the Unit 3 reactor Sunday, TEPCO officials said, adding they informed the government of an "emergency situation." Still, they said, there was no immediate threat to human health.Įdano said the radiation levels later fell. The Unit 2 reactor, though shut down by the quake, was not in the same trouble. On Sunday TEPCO released air containing radioactive materials for more than 2 hours and injected water at the Unit 3 nuclear reactor container vessel to reduce pressure and temperature to save the reactor from a possible meltdown.Ĭritical core cooling systems failed at both reactors. Tokyo Electric Co., or TEPCO, Saturday began pouring seawater and boric acid into its Fukushima Daiichi power plant Unit 1 reactor, whose core partially melted.
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