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Smoke over Fukushima plant
Photo: AP

Japan asks for US help in nuclear crisis

UN atomic energy chief calls tsunami disaster 'race against the clock' that demands global cooperation. Survivors observe minute of silence marking one week since devastating earthquake hit Japan

Japan reached out Friday to the US for help in reining in the crisis at its dangerously overheated nuclear complex, while the UN atomic energy chief called the disaster a race against the clock that demands global cooperation.

 

At the stricken complex, military fire trucks sprayed the troubled reactor units for a second day, with tons of water arcing over the facility in desperate attempts to douse the units and prevent meltdowns that could spew dangerous levels of radiation.

 

"The whole world, not just Japan, is depending on them," Tokyo office worker Norie Igarashi, 44, said of the emergency teams at the plants.

 

Last week's 9.0 quake and tsunami in Japan's northeast set off the nuclear problems by knocking out power to cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on the northeast coast. Since then, four of the troubled plant's six reactor units have seen fires, explosions or partial meltdowns.

 

"We see it as an extremely serious accident," Yukiya Amano, the head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters Friday just after arriving in Tokyo. "This is not something that just Japan should deal with, and people of the entire world should cooperate with Japan and the people in the disaster areas."

 

"I think they are racing against the clock," he said of the efforts to cool the complex.

 

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Survivors observe minute of silence

 

One week after the quake and tsunami - which left more than 6,500 dead and over 10,300 missing - emergency crews are facing two challenges in the nuclear crisis: cooling the reactors where energy is generated, and cooling the adjacent spent fuel pools where used nuclear fuel rods are stored in water.

 

Both need water to keep their uranium cool and stop them from emitting radiation, but with radiation levels inside the complex already limiting where workers can go and how long they can remain, it's been difficult to get enough water inside.

 

Water in at least one fuel pool - in the complex's Unit 3 - is believed to be dangerously low, exposing the stored fuel rods. Without enough water, the rods may heat further and spew out radiation.

 

"Dealing with Unit 3 is our utmost priority," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.

 

Edano said Friday that Tokyo is asking the US government for help and that the two are discussing the specifics.

 

"We are coordinating with the US government as to what the US can provide and what people really need," Edano said.

 

A defense ministry official said that a US military fire truck was standing by to help supply water to the crippled reactor units, though the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the vehicle would be driven by Japanese workers.

 

Minute of silence

Meanwhile, tsunami survivors observed a minute of silence Friday afternoon at the one-week mark since the 9.0-magnitude quake, which struck at 2:46 pm. Many of them were bundled up against the cold at shelters in the disaster zone, pressing their hands together in prayer.

 

Low levels of radiation have been detected well beyond Tokyo, which is 140 miles (220 kilometers) south of the plant, but hazardous levels have been limited to the plant itself. Still, the crisis has forced thousands to evacuate and drained Tokyo's normally vibrant streets of life, its residents either leaving town or holing up in their homes.

 

"I feel a sense of dread," said Yukiko Morioka, 63, who has seen business dry up at her lottery ticket booth in Tokyo. "I'm not an expert, so it's difficult to understand what's going on. That makes it scarier."

 

President Barack Obama appeared on television to assure Americans that officials do not expect harmful amounts of radiation to reach the US or its territories. He also said the US was offering Japan any help it could provide.

 

Police said more than 452,000 people made homeless by the quake and tsunami were staying in schools and other shelters, as supplies of fuel, medicine and other necessities ran short. Both victims and aid workers appealed for more help, as the chances of finding more survivors dwindled.

 

At the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, a core team of 180 emergency workers has been rotating out of the complex to minimize radiation exposure.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.18.11, 10:10
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