Japan nuclear plant power 'close' Skip to main content

Japan nuclear plant power 'close'

A wrecked building lying on its side in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, 18 March 18 PM Naoto Kan said "we must rebuild Japan from scratch"

Japan quake

Workers are close to restoring power to cooling systems at a quake-hit Japanese nuclear power plant, officials say.
Engineers are expected to connect a new power line to four of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, north of Tokyo, by the end of Saturday.
The earthquake and tsunami it triggered crippled the plant's cooling systems, raising concerns over radiation leaks.
Just over 7,300 people are known to have died in the disaster on 11 March. About 11,000 more remain missing.
The authorities have begun building temporary homes for some of the hundreds of thousands of people still sheltering at emergency evacuation centres.
Many survivors have been braving freezing temperatures without water, electricity, fuel or enough food.
Japan has been shaken by scores of tremors since 11 March - one of magnitude 6.1 hit the Ibaraki area south of Fukushima on Saturday. There were no immediate reports of any damage.
Alert level raised Firefighters have continued to spray water to cool the dangerously overheated fuel rods at the ageing Fukushima plant, in a desperate attempt to avert a meltdown.
The storage pools, which contain used fuel rods, also need a constant supply of water.
Engineers have now connected a power cable to the outside of the plant. Further cabling is under way inside to try to restart water pumps in four of the six reactors.
A nuclear safety agency official said: "We are scheduled to restore electricity at number 1 and 2 [reactors] today.

Fractured Fukushima

  • Reactor 1: Fuel rods damaged after explosion on Saturday 12 March
  • Reactor 2: Damage to the core, prompted by a blast on Tuesday, helped prompt raising of the nuclear alert level
  • Reactor 3: Contains plutonium, core damaged by explosion on Monday; roof blown off building; water level in fuel pools said to be dangerously low
  • Reactor 4: Hit by explosion on Tuesday, fire on Wednesday; roof blown off building; water level in fuel pools said to be dangerously low
  • Reactors 5 & 6: Spent fuel pool temperatures way above normal levels
"Reactors number 5 and 6 also will be powered today. They are scheduled to restore power to number 3 and 4 tomorrow [Sunday]."
Given the scale of the damage, it is not certain the cooling systems will work even if power is restored. Workers are also boring holes in roofs at the plant to prevent a potential gas explosion.
On Friday officials raised the alert level at the plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale of atomic incidents.
The crisis, previously rated as a local problem, is now regarded as having "wider consequences".
However health officials have said radiation levels in the capital Tokyo, 240km (150 miles) to the south, were not harmful.
On Saturday, officials said they had found radiation levels above safety limits in milk and spinach originating from farms in Fukushima prefecture and neighbouring Ibaraki, but they stressed the radiation still represented no risk to human health.
Meanwhile, reports that a young man had been found in a wrecked house eight days on from the quake have proved false, after it emerged that he had in fact returned to his ruined home from an evacuation centre.
Katsuharu Moriya, a man in his 20s, was found on Saturday by emergency workers in the city of Kesennuma, in Miyagi prefecture - one of the hardest-hit regions.
Millions of people have been affected by the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami; about 400,000 people are homeless.
The government has now conceded it was too slow in dealing with the nuclear crisis.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano accepted that "in hindsight, we could have moved a little quicker in assessing the situation and co-ordinating all that information and provided it faster".
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has sought to form a crisis cabinet to tackle reconstruction, but the leader of Japan's conservative opposition rejected an offer to join a grand coalition.
Mr Kan said in a television address on Friday: "We will rebuild Japan from scratch. We must all share this resolve."
BBC news graphic
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12793925
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thai penis whitening trend raises eyebrows

Image copyright LELUXHOSPITAL Image caption Authorities warn the procedure could be quite painful A supposed trend of penis whitening has captivated Thailand in recent days and left it asking if the country's beauty industry is taking things too far. Skin whitening is nothing new in many Asian countries, where darker skin is often associated with outdoor labour, therefore, being poorer. But even so, when a clip of a clinic's latest intriguing procedure was posted online, it quickly went viral. Thailand's health ministry has since issued a warning over the procedure. The BBC Thai service spoke to one patient who had undergone the treatment, who told them: "I wanted to feel more confident in my swimming briefs". The 30-year-old said his first session of several was two months ago, and he had since seen a definite change in the shade. 'What for?' The original Facebook post from the clinic offering the treatment, which uses lasers to break do...
1 comment
Read more

Ancient Rakhine City of Mrauk-U Proposed for UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Irrawaddy YANGON—Myanmar’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture submitted the final draft of its nomination for Mrauk-U to become a World Heritage Site to UNESCO on Monday, four months after the ministry submitted the first draft of its nomination in September 2019. If the application succeeds, Mrauk-U will be the third place in Myanmar to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, after the ancient cities of Bagan and Pyu. Mrauk-U is located in northern Rakhine State, around 60 km from the state capital of Sittwe. The ancient city was the seat of Arakanese kings from the 1400s until the late 1700s. At the height of their power, they controlled an area covering large parts of eastern Bengal, modern-day Rakhine State and the western part of central Myanmar. Much of the city’s remains are well-preserved and some 380 historic temples are scattered between the lush hills of northern Rakhine. Mrauk-U Heritage Trust chairwoman Daw Khin Than told The Irrawaddy on Tue...
1 comment
Read more

Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera

The Life Story of A Distinguished And Outstanding Bhikkhu The Most Venerable Saradawpharagree Sri Bhaddanta Chandramani Mahathera The Buddhist missionary Saradaw Ashin U Chandramani was endowed with great gifts and led a famous and long life. He was a very well known, distinguished and outstanding Bhikkhu Mahathera. While living in the Kushinagar Monastery, a place close to where the Lord Buddha had passed away to Nirvana, the Government of India had offered, and he had accepted, the highest, most honourable and respected title "Guru Guru MahaGuru". He became the first ever President of all Buddhists in India.A World Buddhist Conference took place in Kathmandu during the reign of King Mahindra of Nepal. The Conference was very well attended by over one hundred thousand Buddhists from various parts of the world and it was opened by King Mahindra himself. As requested by the King, Saradawpharagree blessed all the participants with the power of Triple Gems...
Post a Comment
Read more