High radiation levels released from reactor No. nuclear experts say the gravest threat comes not from the radioactive fuel inside the plant's reactors but from the pools containing used fuel rods. 4 reactor.Ī Clear Path For The Release Of Radiation Officials were also preparing to spray water from high-pressure hoses onto the No. Plant operators are still pumping seawater through damaged reactors, but more desperate measures are still planned. That led to incorrect reports that the workers had been completely withdrawn from the site. Radiation levels at the plant rose so high early Wednesday, Japan time, that all workers had to take shelter in a shielded bunker for several hours.
Embassy on Wednesday told American citizens within 50 miles of the troubled plant to evacuate or take shelter indoors.
International guidelines say a higher limit is appropriate only when workers are saving lives or protecting large populations. One sign of the worsening situation was a change in Japan's law governing the radiation limit for nuclear power workers, bringing it to the same cumulative total that the U.S. Interactive What Went Wrong With Japan's Nuclear Reactors But the agency's director-general, Yukiya Amano, acknowledged that "the situation is. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is monitoring the situation, could not confirm the new report about the No. Meanwhile, about 170 workers at the plant, wearing protective suits and rotating in and out of radiation hot spots, frantically tried to prevent further damage to exposed nuclear fuel rods. 3 reactor, which now seems to be leaking radioactive steam.
#Nuclear reactor meltdown japan melting crack#
Japanese authorities said a crack has appeared in the steel-and-concrete containment vessel of the plant's No. 4 reactor wasn't the only new failure Wednesday. 4 reactor turn out to be true, it could severely hamper workers' efforts to prevent further melting in four of the plant's six nuclear reactors. That unit was severely damaged in an explosion on Monday, developed the new crack on Wednesday, and has sustained extensive melting of its fuel rods.Įngineers were also trying to cool a pool at the plant that's filled with used fuel rods that are overheating.Ī woman is scanned for radiation exposure at a temporary scanning center for residents near the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture. In addition, 11 water cannon trucks were on their way to the site to focus their efforts on reactor No.3. Officials said some passes missed the target. Images showed a shower of water dropping each time. The pilots had dragged the buckets in the ocean to pick up seawater. Several military helicopters flew over the damaged plant, each with a large bucket-like container below. Japanese defense crews on Thursday began pouring water from helicopters onto the damaged reactor No. A DigitalGlobe satellite image received Wednesday shows damage after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant in Japan.
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