Japan seeks ‘calm response’ to Fukushima accident at Chernobyl confab
Apr. 20, 2011
Japan asked the international community to respond calmly to radiation leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant at an event Tuesday in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident.
At the Kiev Summit on Safe and Innovative Use of Nuclear Energy, Japanese State Foreign Secretary Chiaki Takahashi called for a ''calm response'' to the Fukushima nuclear plant accident, based on objective information.
There are moves among countries to restrict imports of Japanese products and travel to Japan after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima plant, causing it to leak radiation.
Takahashi said radiation levels in Tokyo are almost the same as normal.
Responding to criticism at home and abroad about the lack of information, he said Japan will provide the international community with ''rapid and accurate'' information on the Fukushima nuclear accident ''with maximum transparency.''
Referring to the Fukushima plant in a speech delivered at the event, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said, ''As we are painfully learning once again, nuclear accidents respect no borders.''
Citing data from the International Atomic Energy Agency that 443 nuclear reactors are now operating in 29 countries, Ban urged both rich and poor nations to strengthen preparedness for nuclear accidents, saying an accident occurred even in Japan, which is said to be among the best prepared and most technically advanced nuclear energy powers.
At an international meeting held earlier in the day in Kiev, donors pledged at least 550 million euros (about $800 million) to help secure funding for completing a new shelter over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said.
More than 50 nations and international organizations participated in the meeting to discuss how to collect an additional 740 million euros necessary to contain the consequences of the world's worst nuclear accident at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl.
Japan did not specify a contribution as it needs a huge amount of funding of its own for reconstruction in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Japan raised the severity level of the Fukushima nuclear crisis to 7, the highest on a global scale, and on a par with the Chernobyl catastrophe.
In Chernobyl, the No. 4 reactor of the nuclear plant exploded on April 26, 1986, and a concrete shelter, or sarcophagus, was built to prevent radiation from leaking.
Due to the aging of the concrete shell, however, Ukraine is planning to put a fresh steel cover over the reactor by 2015, but the project has been running short of funding.
Ukraine needs a total of 1.54 billion euros, including 980 million euros for building the new shell, and another 255 million euros for the construction of a facility to store spent nuclear fuel from the Nos. 1, 2, and 3 reactors.
During the conference, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pledged the European Union will provide 110 million euros. The United States offered $123 million (some 86 million euros), and more than 47 million euros was pledged by France, and 45 million euros by Russia.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on April 19, 2011)
At the Kiev Summit on Safe and Innovative Use of Nuclear Energy, Japanese State Foreign Secretary Chiaki Takahashi called for a ''calm response'' to the Fukushima nuclear plant accident, based on objective information.
There are moves among countries to restrict imports of Japanese products and travel to Japan after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima plant, causing it to leak radiation.
Takahashi said radiation levels in Tokyo are almost the same as normal.
Responding to criticism at home and abroad about the lack of information, he said Japan will provide the international community with ''rapid and accurate'' information on the Fukushima nuclear accident ''with maximum transparency.''
Referring to the Fukushima plant in a speech delivered at the event, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said, ''As we are painfully learning once again, nuclear accidents respect no borders.''
Citing data from the International Atomic Energy Agency that 443 nuclear reactors are now operating in 29 countries, Ban urged both rich and poor nations to strengthen preparedness for nuclear accidents, saying an accident occurred even in Japan, which is said to be among the best prepared and most technically advanced nuclear energy powers.
At an international meeting held earlier in the day in Kiev, donors pledged at least 550 million euros (about $800 million) to help secure funding for completing a new shelter over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said.
More than 50 nations and international organizations participated in the meeting to discuss how to collect an additional 740 million euros necessary to contain the consequences of the world's worst nuclear accident at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl.
Japan did not specify a contribution as it needs a huge amount of funding of its own for reconstruction in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Japan raised the severity level of the Fukushima nuclear crisis to 7, the highest on a global scale, and on a par with the Chernobyl catastrophe.
In Chernobyl, the No. 4 reactor of the nuclear plant exploded on April 26, 1986, and a concrete shelter, or sarcophagus, was built to prevent radiation from leaking.
Due to the aging of the concrete shell, however, Ukraine is planning to put a fresh steel cover over the reactor by 2015, but the project has been running short of funding.
Ukraine needs a total of 1.54 billion euros, including 980 million euros for building the new shell, and another 255 million euros for the construction of a facility to store spent nuclear fuel from the Nos. 1, 2, and 3 reactors.
During the conference, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pledged the European Union will provide 110 million euros. The United States offered $123 million (some 86 million euros), and more than 47 million euros was pledged by France, and 45 million euros by Russia.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on April 19, 2011)
