Japan hopes to restore power at two crippled reactors today

An aerial view taken from a helicopter from Japan’s Self-Defence Force shows steam rising from the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex in this handout taken March 16, 2011 and released March 17, 2011. REUTERS/Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO)/Handout

TOKYO, (Reuters) – Japanese engineers raced to  restore a power cable to a quake-ravaged nuclear power plant today in the hope of restarting pumps needed to pour cold water  on overheating fuel rods and avert a catastrophic release of  radiation.

An aerial view taken from a helicopter from Japan’s Self-Defence Force shows steam rising from the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex in this handout taken March 16, 2011 and released March 17, 2011. REUTERS/Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO)/Handout

Officials said they hoped to fix the cable to two reactors  on Friday and to two others by Sunday, but said work would stop  in the morning to allow helicopters and fire trucks to resume  pouring water on the Fukushima Daiichi plant, about 240 km (150  miles) north of Tokyo.

“Preparatory work has so far not progressed as fast as we  had hoped,” an official of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power  Co (TEPCO) told a news briefing, adding that engineers had to be  constantly checked for radiation levels.

Washington and other foreign capitals have expressed growing  alarm about radiation leaking from the plant, severely damaged  by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami a week ago that  triggered a series of destructive explosions and compromised the  nuclear reactors and spent fuel storage tanks.

Worst case scenarios would involve millions of people in  Japan threatened by exposure to radioactive material, but  prevailing winds are likely to carry any contaminated smoke or  steam away from the densely populated Tokyo area to dissipate  over the Pacific ocean.

U.S. President Barack Obama said the crisis posed no risk to  any U.S. territory. He nevertheless ordered a comprehensive  review of domestic nuclear plants.

“We do not expect harmful levels of radiation to reach the  United States, whether it’s the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska, or  U.S. territories in the Pacific,” Obama said. “That is the  judgment of our Nuclear Regulatory Commission and many other  experts.”

Yukiya Amano, head of the Vienna-based International Atomic  Energy Agency (IAEA), was due back in his homeland later on  Friday with an international team of experts after earlier  complaining about a lack of information from Japan.

Graham Andrew, his senior aide, called the situation at the  plant “reasonably stable “ but the government said  white smoke or steam was still rising from three reactors and  helicopters used to dump water on the plant had shown exposure  to small amounts of radiation.

“The situation remains very serious, but there has been no  significant worsening since yesterday,” Andrew said.

Even if TEPCO manages to connect the power, it is not clear  the pumps will work as they may have been damaged in the  earthquake or subsequent explosions.

U.S. officials took pains not to criticise Japan’s  government, but Washington’s actions indicated a divide with its  close ally about the perilousness of the world’s worst nuclear  accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

COOLING POOL MAY
HAVE RUN DRY

The top U.S. nuclear regulator said the cooling pool for  spent fuel rods at the complex’s reactor No.4 may have run dry  and another was leaking.

Gregory Jaczko, head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory  Commission, told a congressional hearing that radiation levels  around the cooling pool were extremely high, posing deadly risks  for workers still toiling in the wreckage of the power plant.

He said it could take weeks to successfully cool  down the reactors.

Japan’s nuclear agency said it could not confirm if water  was covering the fuel rods. The plant operator said it believed  the reactor spent-fuel pool still had water as of Wednesday, and  made clear its priority was the spent-fuel pool at the No.3  reactor.

Yesterday, military helicopters dumped about 30 tonnes of  water, all aimed at this reactor. One emergency crew temporarily  put off spraying the same reactor with a water cannon due to  high radiation, broadcaster NHK said, but another crew later  began hosing it.

Latest images from the plant showed severe damage, with two  of the buildings a twisted mangle of steel and concrete.

DOLLAR GAINS AS FINANCIAL
LEADERS INTERVENE

The Group of Seven rich nations yesterday agreed to join in  rare concerted intervention to restrain a run-away yen, hoping  to calm global markets after a wild week of often panic selling.

The U.S. dollar immediately surged almost two yento 81.15 yen   , leaving behind a record low of 76.25 hit on Thursday.  Japan’s Nikkei share index climbed 2.5 percent,  recouping some of the week’s stinging losses.

U.S. markets, which tanked on Wednesday on the back of the  crisis, rebounded on Thursday but investors were not convinced  the advance would last.

The government warned Tokyo’s 13 million residents to  prepare for a possible large-scale blackout but later said there  was no need for one. Still, many firms voluntarily reduced  power, submerging parts of the usually neon-lit city in  darkness.  Yesterday, the U.S. embassy in Tokyo urged citizens living  within 80 km (50 miles) of the Daiichi plant to evacuate or  remain indoors “as a precaution”, while Britain’s foreign office  urged citizens “to consider leaving the area”.