ID :
167685
Sat, 03/12/2011 - 18:02
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https://www.oananews.org//node/167685
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Explosion did not occur at reactor: Japan gov't spokesman
TOKYO (Kyodo) - Japanese authorities have confirmed there was an explosion at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant Saturday afternoon but it did not occur at its troubled No. 1 reactor, top government spokesman Yukio Edano said.
The chief Cabinet secretary also told an urgent press conference that the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has confirmed there is no damage to the steel container housing the reactor.
Edano said the 3:36 p.m. explosion caused the roof and the walls of the building housing the reactor's container to be blown off. He said there has been no serious damage to the steel container of the reactor.
The blast occurred as vapor from the container turned into hydrogen and mixed with outside oxygen, he added.
As a precaution, the authorities expanded from 10 kilometers to 20 km the radius of the area to be evacuated by residents living in the vicinity of the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2. plants.
The top government spokesman said Tokyo Electric Power has begun operations to fill the reactor with sea water and pour in boric acid to prevent an occurrence of criticality, noting it may take several hours to inject water into the reactor. In addition, it will take about 10 days to fill the container with sea water, he said.
Officials of Japan's nuclear safety agency said there was no sign that radiation levels had jumped after the explosion.
The incident came after the plant lost its cooling functions after it was jolted by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake Friday and radioactive cesium and iodine were detected near the facility Saturday.
The detection of the materials, which are created following atomic fission, led Japan's nuclear safety agency to admit the reactor had partially melted -- the first such case in Japan.
The melting temperature for pellets containing cesium, a nuclear fissile material, is around 2,800 Celsius degrees and its release indicates the reactor has been significantly heated up.
A partial core meltdown also occurred in a major nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979. About 45 percent of nuclear fuels melted in the incident, leading radioactive materials to be released.
According to the Fukushima prefectural government, the hourly radiation from the Fukushima plant reached 1,015 micro sievert before the explosion, an amount equivalent to that permissable for a person in one year.
Four workers -- two from the company and two others from another firm -- were injured in the explosion, according to Tokyo Electric Power. The four were working to deal with problems caused by a powerful earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on Friday, it said.
The company said the injuries the four have suffered are not life-threatening and that they are conscious.
Before the explosion, the operator of the quake-hit nuclear plants in Fukushima Prefecture, successfully released pressure in the container of the No. 1 reactor to prevent a nuclear meltdown, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.
The depressurizing work involved the release of steam that includes radioactive materials. It is aimed at preventing the plants from sustaining damage and losing their critical containment function, and the government has issued an unprecedented order to conduct it at the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plants.
The nuclear safety agency said as a result of reducing the container's pressure at the No. 1 plant, radioactive levels at the plant briefly went up. It denied that the radiation amount will pose an immediate threat to the health of nearby residents, as wind was blowing toward the sea in the Pacific coast town in northeastern Japan.
At the Fukushima plant, the amount of radiation reached around 1,000 times the normal level in the control room of the No. 1 reactor, and 140 times the normal level near the main gate of the plant at one point. It was the first time an external radioactive leak had been confirmed since the disaster.
The chief Cabinet secretary also told an urgent press conference that the operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has confirmed there is no damage to the steel container housing the reactor.
Edano said the 3:36 p.m. explosion caused the roof and the walls of the building housing the reactor's container to be blown off. He said there has been no serious damage to the steel container of the reactor.
The blast occurred as vapor from the container turned into hydrogen and mixed with outside oxygen, he added.
As a precaution, the authorities expanded from 10 kilometers to 20 km the radius of the area to be evacuated by residents living in the vicinity of the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2. plants.
The top government spokesman said Tokyo Electric Power has begun operations to fill the reactor with sea water and pour in boric acid to prevent an occurrence of criticality, noting it may take several hours to inject water into the reactor. In addition, it will take about 10 days to fill the container with sea water, he said.
Officials of Japan's nuclear safety agency said there was no sign that radiation levels had jumped after the explosion.
The incident came after the plant lost its cooling functions after it was jolted by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake Friday and radioactive cesium and iodine were detected near the facility Saturday.
The detection of the materials, which are created following atomic fission, led Japan's nuclear safety agency to admit the reactor had partially melted -- the first such case in Japan.
The melting temperature for pellets containing cesium, a nuclear fissile material, is around 2,800 Celsius degrees and its release indicates the reactor has been significantly heated up.
A partial core meltdown also occurred in a major nuclear accident at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979. About 45 percent of nuclear fuels melted in the incident, leading radioactive materials to be released.
According to the Fukushima prefectural government, the hourly radiation from the Fukushima plant reached 1,015 micro sievert before the explosion, an amount equivalent to that permissable for a person in one year.
Four workers -- two from the company and two others from another firm -- were injured in the explosion, according to Tokyo Electric Power. The four were working to deal with problems caused by a powerful earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on Friday, it said.
The company said the injuries the four have suffered are not life-threatening and that they are conscious.
Before the explosion, the operator of the quake-hit nuclear plants in Fukushima Prefecture, successfully released pressure in the container of the No. 1 reactor to prevent a nuclear meltdown, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.
The depressurizing work involved the release of steam that includes radioactive materials. It is aimed at preventing the plants from sustaining damage and losing their critical containment function, and the government has issued an unprecedented order to conduct it at the Fukushima No. 1 and No. 2 plants.
The nuclear safety agency said as a result of reducing the container's pressure at the No. 1 plant, radioactive levels at the plant briefly went up. It denied that the radiation amount will pose an immediate threat to the health of nearby residents, as wind was blowing toward the sea in the Pacific coast town in northeastern Japan.
At the Fukushima plant, the amount of radiation reached around 1,000 times the normal level in the control room of the No. 1 reactor, and 140 times the normal level near the main gate of the plant at one point. It was the first time an external radioactive leak had been confirmed since the disaster.
