SDF choppers drop water onto crisis-hit Fukushima nuke plant
Mar. 17, 2011
Japan's Self-Defense Forces launched Thursday an unprecedented mission of pouring water onto a crisis-hit nuclear reactor from above in an effort to cool down its apparently overheating spent fuel pool that could emit highly contaminated radioactive materials.
While authorities continued to grapple with the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, efforts to bring electricity to the plant accelerated in a bid to restore the lost cooling functions in many of its reactors following Friday's earthquake and tsunami that hit areas centering on northeastern Japan.
Tokyo also sought to allay concerns over problems with the plant as its ally the United States advised its nationals living within an 80-kilometer radius to evacuate as a precaution, while the official evacuation area is a 20-km radius, and embassies are increasingly issuing warnings to their nationals to leave Tokyo or the country.
''The highest priority now is to pour adequate water onto the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors, especially in their spent fuel pools,'' said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman of the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Two Ground Self-Defense Force choppers dropped seawater in a 7,500-liter bag each four times in the morning on the No. 3 reactor, an operation on which Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said in Tokyo, ''We decided to do this because we thought that today is the time limit.''
Kitazawa said that he believes the water reached the reactor, but plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that the radiation level remained unchanged at the nuclear plant shortly afterward.
The 12-minute helicopter mission is expected to be followed by a police water cannon truck and 11 SDF fire trucks shooting high-pressure streams of water by land.
''The next important thing is to recover the electric supply, and part of the work may start in the afternoon,'' Nishiyama also said.
Electricity will likely be supplied to the plant's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors by using electric power cables outside, a move that may help recover the reactors' cooling system, he said. Tokyo Electric also plans to install a temporary power source in an area at the plant where the radiation level is low.
Concerns are growing that the level of the water filling the spent fuel pool of the No. 4 unit is also becoming low, but Tokyo Electric officials said that the GSDF decided to first spray water on the No. 3 unit, which has vented smoke from Wednesday. The smoke is likely to be steam coming from water boiling in the pool.
But a GSDF chopper found earlier in the day that water is left in the pond at the No. 4 unit, according Tokyo Electric.
The pools of both the No. 3 and No.4 units are situated near the roof of the buildings housing the reactors, but are no longer covered with roofs that would reduce any possible radiation leaks since they were blown off by apparent hydrogen blasts earlier this week.
After the quake, the spent fuel pools at the power station lost their cooling function. It is also no longer possible to monitor the water level and temperature of the pools of the No. 1 to 4 units.
A rise in the water temperature, usually at 40 C, causes water to reduce and expose the spent nuclear fuel rods, which could heat up further and melt, and discharge highly intense radioactive materials in the worst case scenario, experts say.
Also, the U.S. military is poised to operate a Global Hawk unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, possibly on Thursday, to take images of the inside of the building that houses the No. 4 reactor, according to Japanese government sources.
Among the six reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the buildings housing the reactors have been destroyed by apparent hydrogen blasts at the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 reactors, and the No. 2 reactor's containment vessel suffered damage in its pressure-suppression chamber at the bottom.
Although the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors that were operating at the time of the quake halted automatically with the jolts, their cores are believed to have partially melted as they lost cooling functions after the quake.
The remaining reactors were under maintenance when the quake occurred. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that his understanding is that there would be ''some time'' until the No. 5 and No. 6 units reach a dangerous situation.
The government has set the evacuation zone covering areas within a 20 kilometer radius of the plant, and urged people within 20 km to 30 km to stay indoors.
But the U.S. Embassy in Japan in an advisory Thursday asked American citizens living within an 80-km radius to evacuate as a precautionary measure, apparently based on a comment by Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that there was no water left in the pool at the No. 4 reactor.
Britain has advised its nationals living in Tokyo and areas to the north to consider leaving, while the Russian Foreign Ministry has announced it will evacuate the families of diplomats working at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, possibly from Friday, and France has instructed Air France to make more flights available to facilitate evacuation of French nationals.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on March 17, 2011)
While authorities continued to grapple with the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, efforts to bring electricity to the plant accelerated in a bid to restore the lost cooling functions in many of its reactors following Friday's earthquake and tsunami that hit areas centering on northeastern Japan.
Tokyo also sought to allay concerns over problems with the plant as its ally the United States advised its nationals living within an 80-kilometer radius to evacuate as a precaution, while the official evacuation area is a 20-km radius, and embassies are increasingly issuing warnings to their nationals to leave Tokyo or the country.
''The highest priority now is to pour adequate water onto the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors, especially in their spent fuel pools,'' said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman of the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Two Ground Self-Defense Force choppers dropped seawater in a 7,500-liter bag each four times in the morning on the No. 3 reactor, an operation on which Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said in Tokyo, ''We decided to do this because we thought that today is the time limit.''
Kitazawa said that he believes the water reached the reactor, but plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that the radiation level remained unchanged at the nuclear plant shortly afterward.
The 12-minute helicopter mission is expected to be followed by a police water cannon truck and 11 SDF fire trucks shooting high-pressure streams of water by land.
''The next important thing is to recover the electric supply, and part of the work may start in the afternoon,'' Nishiyama also said.
Electricity will likely be supplied to the plant's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors by using electric power cables outside, a move that may help recover the reactors' cooling system, he said. Tokyo Electric also plans to install a temporary power source in an area at the plant where the radiation level is low.
Concerns are growing that the level of the water filling the spent fuel pool of the No. 4 unit is also becoming low, but Tokyo Electric officials said that the GSDF decided to first spray water on the No. 3 unit, which has vented smoke from Wednesday. The smoke is likely to be steam coming from water boiling in the pool.
But a GSDF chopper found earlier in the day that water is left in the pond at the No. 4 unit, according Tokyo Electric.
The pools of both the No. 3 and No.4 units are situated near the roof of the buildings housing the reactors, but are no longer covered with roofs that would reduce any possible radiation leaks since they were blown off by apparent hydrogen blasts earlier this week.
After the quake, the spent fuel pools at the power station lost their cooling function. It is also no longer possible to monitor the water level and temperature of the pools of the No. 1 to 4 units.
A rise in the water temperature, usually at 40 C, causes water to reduce and expose the spent nuclear fuel rods, which could heat up further and melt, and discharge highly intense radioactive materials in the worst case scenario, experts say.
Also, the U.S. military is poised to operate a Global Hawk unmanned high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, possibly on Thursday, to take images of the inside of the building that houses the No. 4 reactor, according to Japanese government sources.
Among the six reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the buildings housing the reactors have been destroyed by apparent hydrogen blasts at the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 reactors, and the No. 2 reactor's containment vessel suffered damage in its pressure-suppression chamber at the bottom.
Although the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors that were operating at the time of the quake halted automatically with the jolts, their cores are believed to have partially melted as they lost cooling functions after the quake.
The remaining reactors were under maintenance when the quake occurred. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that his understanding is that there would be ''some time'' until the No. 5 and No. 6 units reach a dangerous situation.
The government has set the evacuation zone covering areas within a 20 kilometer radius of the plant, and urged people within 20 km to 30 km to stay indoors.
But the U.S. Embassy in Japan in an advisory Thursday asked American citizens living within an 80-km radius to evacuate as a precautionary measure, apparently based on a comment by Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that there was no water left in the pool at the No. 4 reactor.
Britain has advised its nationals living in Tokyo and areas to the north to consider leaving, while the Russian Foreign Ministry has announced it will evacuate the families of diplomats working at the Russian Embassy in Tokyo, possibly from Friday, and France has instructed Air France to make more flights available to facilitate evacuation of French nationals.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on March 17, 2011)
