Japan’s prime minister says the situation at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant remains grave and he cannot be optimistic.
A new shadow has been cast over efforts to control the radiation leak at the plant and the government says it is worried highly radioactive water is leaking from reactor No. 3.
A second pool of contaminated water has also been found in the basement of the No. 1 reactor.
Speaking through an interpreter, prime minister Naoto Kan says the situation there remains grave and unpredictable, but he has paid tribute to the plant workers in an address to the nation.
“We are trying to prevent a deterioration of the situation and we are still not in a position where we can be optimistic,” he said.
Mr Kan has called for national unity.
“I would like to encourage the Japanese public to strengthen our unity and to work with our hearts as one to overcome this disaster,” he said.
The No. 3 reactor is a particular concern because it is the only one of six at the plant to use a potentially volatile mix of uranium and plutonium.
A hydrogen explosion badly damaged the unit’s outer building on March 14 and a partial meltdown is also suspected.
Two workers from the plant were rushed to hospital on Thursday after receiving radiation burns from standing in the puddle near the No. 3 reactor with a radiation level 10,000 times higher than normal.
High levels of radioactive iodine have also been found in seawater near the nuclear plant.
The seawater sample was taken around 300 metres from the nuclear plant near its drain outlets.
Japan’s Nuclear Safety Agency says the level of radioactive iodine was more than 1,200 times the legal limit.
Government officials insist there is no immediate threat to human health and they expect the radiation will be significantly diluted before it affects fish.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which operates the stricken plant, said it may take another month to achieve a cold shutdown – when reactor temperatures fall below boiling point and cooling systems are back at atmospheric pressure.
“It is possible that the pressure vessel containing the fuel rods in the reactor is damaged,” a TEPCO spokesman said of reactor No. 3.
The new safety scare could hamper urgent efforts to restore power to the all-important cooling systems at the plant.
“Radioactive substances have leaked to places far from the reactor,” said Hideyuki Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan’s nuclear safety agency.
“As far as the data show, we believe there is a certain level of containment ability but it’s highly possible that the reactor is damaged.”
Higher radioactivity has also been detected in the ocean near the Fukushima plant on Japan’s Pacific coast, raising public fears about the safety of fish and seaweed, traditional staples in the island nation’s diet.
China, South Korea and the EU have now joined Australia, the United States, Russia and other nations in restricting food imports from Japan, which itself has halted vegetable and dairy shipments from the region near the atomic plant.
Two weeks after a giant earthquake hit and sent a massive tsunami crashing into the Pacific coast, the death toll from Japan’s worst post-war disaster topped 10,000 and there was scant hope for 17,500 others still missing.
The tsunami obliterated entire towns and some 250,000 homeless in almost 2,000 shelters are still braving privations and a winter chill, with a degree of discipline and dignity that has impressed the world.
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