Japan scrambles to avert nuclear disaster, global fears mount

A handout photo shows Tokyo Electric Power Co. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant reactor no. 4 (center) and no. 3 (L) in northern Japan March 15, 2011. Picture taken March 15, 2011. REUTERS/Tokyo Electric Power Co.

TOKYO, (Reuters) – Operators of a quake-crippled  nuclear plant in Japan said they would try again tomorrow to  use military helicopters to douse overheating reactors, as U.S.  officials warned of a rising risk of a catastrophic radiation  leak from spent fuel rods.
Officials scrambled to contain the nuclear crisis with a  variety of patchwork fixes. The top U.S. nuclear regulator  warned that one reactor’s cooling pool for spent fuel rods may  have run dry and another was leaking.
“We believe that around the reactor site there are high  levels of radiation,” Gregory Jaczko, head of the Nuclear  Regulatory Commission, told a House Energy and Commerce  subcommittee hearing.
“It would be very difficult for emergency workers to get  near the reactors. The doses they could experience would  potentially be lethal doses in a very short period of time.”

A handout photo shows Tokyo Electric Power Co. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant reactor no. 4 (center) and no. 3 (L) in northern Japan March 15, 2011. Picture taken March 15, 2011. REUTERS/Tokyo Electric Power Co.
A handout photo shows Tokyo Electric Power Co. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant reactor no. 4 (center) and no. 3 (L) in northern Japan March 15, 2011. Picture taken March 15, 2011. REUTERS/Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Health experts said panic over radiation leaks from the  Daiichi plant was also diverting attention from other threats to  survivors of Friday’s 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami, such as  the cold or access to fresh water.
The head of the world’s nuclear watchdog, meanwhile, said it  was not accurate to say things were “out of control” in Japan,  but the situation was “very serious”, with core damage to three  units at the plant, around 240 kms (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
The latest photographs from the plant showed severe damage  to some of the buildings after several blasts.
A stream of gloomy warnings and reports on the Japan  crisis from experts and officials around the world triggered  something of a meltdown in U.S. markets on Wednesday, with the  Japanese yen surging to a record high against the dollar and all  three major stock indexes slumping on fears of slower worldwide  growth. European markets fared similarly.
Traders were glued to their screens, hitting the sell button  every time officials gave ever bleaker assessments of the  situation on the ground in Japan.

Heavy snow falls on rubble and rescue workers at a devastated factory area hit by an earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, northern Japan March 16, 2011. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Heavy snow falls on rubble and rescue workers at a devastated factory area hit by an earthquake and tsunami in Sendai, northern Japan March 16, 2011. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

G7 Finance ministers will hold a conference call later  tomorrow to discuss steps to help Japan cope with the  financial and economic impact of the disaster, a source  said.
Japan’s government said radiation levels outside the plant’s  gates were stable but, in a sign of being overwhelmed, appealed  to private companies to help deliver supplies to tens of  thousands of people evacuated from around the complex.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) officials said bulldozers  attempted to clear a route to the reactor so firetrucks could  gain access and try to cool the facility using hoses. Company  officials also said limited power could be supplied to the  facility at some point which could help restart pumps.

Members of the Japan Self Defence force walk through the snow-covered ruins of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, days after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami March 16, 2011. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
Members of the Japan Self Defence force walk through the snow-covered ruins of Kamaishi, Iwate Prefecture, days after the area was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami March 16, 2011. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

“People would not be in immediate danger if they went  outside with these levels. I want people to understand this,”  Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference,  referring to people living outside a 30-km (18-mile) exclusion  zone.
High radiation levels on Wednesday prevented a helicopter  from dropping water into the No. 3 reactor to try to cool its  fuel rods after an earlier explosion damaged the unit’s roof and  cooling system.
Officials from TEPCO said shortly after midnight (1500 GMT)  that they would ask the military to make a second attempt later  tomorrow.
The plant operator described No. 3 — the only reactor at  that uses plutonium in its fuel mix — as the “priority”.     Plutonium, once absorbed in the bloodstream, can linger for  years in bone marrow or liver and lead to cancer.
If cooling operations do not proceed well, the  situation will “reach a critical stage in a couple of days”,  said an official with the government’s Nuclear and Industrial  Safety Agency.
The situation at No. 4 reactor, where the fire broke out,  was “not so good”, TEPCO added, while water was being poured  into reactors No. 5 and 6, indicating the entire six-reactor  facility was now at risk of overheating.
“Getting water into the pools of the No.3 and No.4 reactors  is a high priority,” Said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a senior official  at Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Administration.
“It could become a serious problem in a few days,” he said.

UNPRECEDENTED CRISIS, SAYS EMPEROR

A car sits atop another in an area affected by an earthquake and tsunami in Miyako, Iwate prefecture March 14, 2011. REUTERS/Aly Song
A car sits atop another in an area affected by an earthquake and tsunami in Miyako, Iwate prefecture March 14, 2011. REUTERS/Aly Song

Japanese Emperor Akihito, delivering a rare video message to  his people today, said he was deeply worried by the   crisis which was “unprecedented in scale”.
“I hope from the bottom of my heart that the people will,  hand in hand, treat each other with compassion and overcome  these difficult times,” the emperor said.
Panic over the economic impact of last Friday’s massive  earthquake and tsunami knocked $620 billion off Japan’s stock  market over the first two days of this week, but the Nikkei  index rebounded on Wednesday to end up 5.68 percent.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Agency  plan to keep the stock market open despite calls for a halt to  trading, mainly from foreign financial institutions, the Nikkei  business daily said.
TSE President Atsushi Saito said the exchange “will continue  to provide investors with an opportunity to trade”, calling it  “an important piece of social infrastructure”.
“If we put a stop to trading, it will be seen as a  confirmation of the concerns among foreigners and could trigger  panic,” a senior TSE official was quoted as saying by the  Nikkei.
Estimates of losses to Japanese output from damage to  buildings, production and consumer activity ranged from between  10 and 16 trillion yen ($125-$200 billion), up to one-and-a-half  times the economic losses from the devastating 1995 Kobe  earthquake.
Damage to Japan’s manufacturing base and infrastructure is  also threatening significant disruption to the global supply  chain, particularly in the technology and auto sectors.

EMBASSIES URGE CITIZENS TO LEAVE
Scores of flights to Japan have been halted or rerouted and   air travellers are avoiding Tokyo for fear of radiation. On  Thursday the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo urged citizens living within  50 miles (80 kms) of the Daiichi plant to evacuate or remain  indoors “as a precaution”, while Britain’s foreign office urged  citizens “to consider leaving the area”.

A family walks past rubble after the earthquake and tsunami in Minamisanriku City, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan March 16, 2011. REUTERS/Kyodo
A family walks past rubble after the earthquake and tsunami in Minamisanriku City, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan March 16, 2011. REUTERS/Kyodo

The warnings were not as strong as those issued earlier by   France and Australia, which urged nationals in Japan to leave  the country. Russia said it planned to evacuate families of  diplomat on Friday.
In a demonstration of the qualms about nuclear power that  the crisis has triggered around the globe, China announced that  it was suspending approvals for planned plants and would launch  a comprehensive safety check of facilities.
China has about two dozen reactors under construction and  plans to increase nuclear electricity generation about  seven-fold over the next 10 years.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said nuclear power was  safe provided power stations were built in the right place and  designed and managed properly. Russia ordered checks at nuclear  facilities on Tuesday.
In Japan, the plight of hundreds of thousands left homeless  by the earthquake and devastating tsunami that followed worsened  following a cold snap that brought snow to worst-affected areas.
Supplies of water and heating oil are low at evacuation  centres, where many survivors wait bundled in blankets.
About 850,000 households in the north were still without  electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co.  said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households  lack running water.