Nuclear crisis as severe as Chernobyl Tokyo
Upgrade suggests that effects are likely to be substantial and lasting
Fire and smoke are seen at a building for sampling seawater near the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant yesterday. A fire broke out at the crippled plant, operator Tepco said. New data shows that more radiation leaked from the plant in the early days of the crisis than first thought. -- PHOTO: REUTERS/TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER CO
TOKYO: Japan put its nuclear calamity on a par with the world's worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl, yesterday after new data showed that more radiation leaked from its earthquake-crippled power plant in the early days of the crisis than first thought.
Japanese officials said it had taken time to measure radiation from the plant after it was smashed by the massive quake and tsunami on March 11, and the upgrade in its severity rating on a globally recognised scale did not mean the situation had suddenly become more critical.
The decision to raise it from level 5 to 7 - the same as the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986 - was based on cumulative quantities of radiation released, said Mr Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director-general of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa).
Prime Minister Naoto Kan went on national television to assure the public.
'The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is slowly stabilising, step by step, and the emission of radioactive substances is on a declining trend,' he said yesterday.
He also defended the government's record in releasing information. 'What I can say for the information I obtained - of course the government is very large so I don't have all the information - is that no information was ever suppressed or hidden after the accident.'
The decision to raise the level amounts to an admission that the accident at Fukushima Daiichi is likely to have substantial and long-lasting consequences for health and for the environment. Some in the nuclear industry have been saying for weeks that the accident released large amounts of radiation, but Japanese officials had played down this possibility.
The new estimates suggest that the total amount of radioactive materials released so far is equal to about 10 per cent of that released in the Chernobyl accident, said Mr Nishiyama.
But he stressed that unlike at Chernobyl, where the reactor itself exploded and fire fanned the release of radioactive material, the containments at the four troubled reactors at Fukushima remained intact overall.
But at a separate news conference, an official of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said: 'The radiation leak has not stopped completely and our concern is that it could eventually exceed Chernobyl.'
The accident at Chernobyl involved a burning graphite reactor that pushed radioactive particles high into the atmosphere and downwind across Europe. The Japanese accident has mostly produced radioactive liquid run-off into the Pacific Ocean and low-altitude radioactive particles that have tended to blow out into the ocean and quickly fall into the water.
On the International Nuclear Event Scale, a level 7 nuclear accident involves 'widespread health and environmental effects'. The scale, which was developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), leaves it to the nuclear agency of the country where the accident occurs to calculate a rating based on complicated criteria.
Mr Nishiyama said 'tens of thousands of terabecquerels' of radiation per hour have been released from the plant. (The measurement refers to how much radioactive material was emitted, not the dose absorbed by living organisms.) The scale of the radiation leak has since dropped to under one terabecquerel per hour, the Kyodo news agency said, citing government officials.
Nevertheless, the increase in the severity level - coupled with the tardiness and lack of clarity of information dribbling out on the status of the crippled reactors - is clearly testing the patience of neighbouring China.
'We hope the Japanese side will provide information in a timely, precise and comprehensive manner,' a Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters yesterday.
It was not the first time that Beijing has pressed Japan to be transparent about the impact of the nuclear accident.
Underscoring Beijing's anxiety, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was also reported yesterday as having told Mr Kan that he was 'concerned' about Japan's release of radioactive water into the ocean while urging Tokyo to take 'very seriously' the impact on the marine environment and neighbouring countries.
He told Mr Kan that his government should 'strictly abide by the relevant international law and take effective prevention and control measures, as well as swiftly, comprehensively and accurately reporting the situation to China'.
Both China and South Korea have criticised Tepco's decision to pump radioactive water into the sea, a process it has now stopped.
Meanwhile, continued aftershocks are impeding work on stabilising the Fukushima plant - the latest, a 6.3-magnitude one yesterday, prompted Tepco to temporarily pull back its workers.
The March earthquake and tsunami killed up to 28,000 people and the estimated financial cost stands at US$300 billion (S$377.5 billion), making it the world's most expensive disaster.
REUTERS, NEW YORK TIMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Upgrade suggests that effects are likely to be substantial and lasting
Fire and smoke are seen at a building for sampling seawater near the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant yesterday. A fire broke out at the crippled plant, operator Tepco said. New data shows that more radiation leaked from the plant in the early days of the crisis than first thought. -- PHOTO: REUTERS/TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER CO
TOKYO: Japan put its nuclear calamity on a par with the world's worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl, yesterday after new data showed that more radiation leaked from its earthquake-crippled power plant in the early days of the crisis than first thought.
Japanese officials said it had taken time to measure radiation from the plant after it was smashed by the massive quake and tsunami on March 11, and the upgrade in its severity rating on a globally recognised scale did not mean the situation had suddenly become more critical.
The decision to raise it from level 5 to 7 - the same as the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986 - was based on cumulative quantities of radiation released, said Mr Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director-general of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa).
Prime Minister Naoto Kan went on national television to assure the public.
'The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is slowly stabilising, step by step, and the emission of radioactive substances is on a declining trend,' he said yesterday.
He also defended the government's record in releasing information. 'What I can say for the information I obtained - of course the government is very large so I don't have all the information - is that no information was ever suppressed or hidden after the accident.'
The decision to raise the level amounts to an admission that the accident at Fukushima Daiichi is likely to have substantial and long-lasting consequences for health and for the environment. Some in the nuclear industry have been saying for weeks that the accident released large amounts of radiation, but Japanese officials had played down this possibility.
The new estimates suggest that the total amount of radioactive materials released so far is equal to about 10 per cent of that released in the Chernobyl accident, said Mr Nishiyama.
But he stressed that unlike at Chernobyl, where the reactor itself exploded and fire fanned the release of radioactive material, the containments at the four troubled reactors at Fukushima remained intact overall.
But at a separate news conference, an official of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said: 'The radiation leak has not stopped completely and our concern is that it could eventually exceed Chernobyl.'
The accident at Chernobyl involved a burning graphite reactor that pushed radioactive particles high into the atmosphere and downwind across Europe. The Japanese accident has mostly produced radioactive liquid run-off into the Pacific Ocean and low-altitude radioactive particles that have tended to blow out into the ocean and quickly fall into the water.
On the International Nuclear Event Scale, a level 7 nuclear accident involves 'widespread health and environmental effects'. The scale, which was developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), leaves it to the nuclear agency of the country where the accident occurs to calculate a rating based on complicated criteria.
Mr Nishiyama said 'tens of thousands of terabecquerels' of radiation per hour have been released from the plant. (The measurement refers to how much radioactive material was emitted, not the dose absorbed by living organisms.) The scale of the radiation leak has since dropped to under one terabecquerel per hour, the Kyodo news agency said, citing government officials.
Nevertheless, the increase in the severity level - coupled with the tardiness and lack of clarity of information dribbling out on the status of the crippled reactors - is clearly testing the patience of neighbouring China.
'We hope the Japanese side will provide information in a timely, precise and comprehensive manner,' a Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters yesterday.
It was not the first time that Beijing has pressed Japan to be transparent about the impact of the nuclear accident.
Underscoring Beijing's anxiety, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was also reported yesterday as having told Mr Kan that he was 'concerned' about Japan's release of radioactive water into the ocean while urging Tokyo to take 'very seriously' the impact on the marine environment and neighbouring countries.
He told Mr Kan that his government should 'strictly abide by the relevant international law and take effective prevention and control measures, as well as swiftly, comprehensively and accurately reporting the situation to China'.
Both China and South Korea have criticised Tepco's decision to pump radioactive water into the sea, a process it has now stopped.
Meanwhile, continued aftershocks are impeding work on stabilising the Fukushima plant - the latest, a 6.3-magnitude one yesterday, prompted Tepco to temporarily pull back its workers.
The March earthquake and tsunami killed up to 28,000 people and the estimated financial cost stands at US$300 billion (S$377.5 billion), making it the world's most expensive disaster.
REUTERS, NEW YORK TIMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
