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A Round Up of Reports On Fukushima Reactor Response

 

 


# 5403

 

This morning a brief listing of news stories surrounding the ongoing crises at the Fukushima nuclear plant as provided by NKH World News .

 

 

Attempts to douse the overheating reactors with water ferried in by helicopter abandoned due to high levels of radioactivity.

 

 

 

SDF gives up on dousing No.3 reactor

Japan's Self-Defense Forces have postponed a mission to dump water by helicopter on the No.3 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, because radiation above the facility has climbed too high for such work.

 

White plumes started rising from the reactor on Wednesday morning. Tokyo Electric Power Company says the vapor was steam caused by water evaporating from the reactor's storage pool for spent fuel rods, which is heating up.

 

In an effort to avert the fuel rods' exposure, a Self Defense Force CH47 helicopter took off from the Sendai base hauling a large container of water on Wednesday afternoon.

 

But the plan was aborted after radiation levels above the plant were found to have largely exceeded 50 millisieverts -- the maximum permissible for SDF personnel on a mission.

 

 

Meanwhile, the emergency radiation monitoring and forecasting system, put in place as a public safety measure in the areas surrounding Japan’s nuclear power plants, is apparently inoperative due to quake damage.

 

Radioactivity forecast system down

A computer system that forecasts the spread of radioactivity has not been working due to malfunctioning monitoring posts around a troubled nuclear power plant in quake-hit Fukushima Prefecture.

 

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says it does not know when the system will be back in operation.

 

The system, called SPEEDI, predicts how radioactive substances will spread in case of radiation leakage from nuclear power plants, based on measurements taken at various locations, prevailing winds and other weather conditions.
SPEEDI data are intended to be used to draw up evacuation plans for residents around power plants in case of accidents.

 

The system is monitored at government offices, including the industry ministry and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency in Tokyo.

 

 

And lastly, Cabinet Secretary Edano is reassuring people who live at least 20 km away from the Fukushima nuclear plant that radiation levels at this point pose no health risk.

 

Edano:No health risk 20km away from plant

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano says the level of radiation detected about 20 kilometers from the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant does not pose an immediate health risk.

 

Edano was referring to a maximum radiation level of 0.33 millisieverts per hour detected by Japan's science ministry on Tuesday evening.

 

He told reporters on Wednesday that this level of radiation would not have a negative effect on human health even if one worked outdoors in the area for a period of several days.

(Continue. . . )

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