IAEA says Japan reactor container undamaged

About 2,000 bodies found on the coast following Japan's massive earthquake and tsunami.


Reuters/afp March 14, 2011

TOKYO: The primary containment vessel at the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan was not damaged in an explosion there Monday, the UN atomic watchdog IAEA said.

"Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) has provided the IAEA with further information about the hydrogen explosion that occurred today at the Unit 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

"The reactor building exploded but the primary containment vessel was not damaged. The control room of unit 3 remains operational."

All personnel at the site were accounted for and six people were injured, the Vienna-based IAEA said. An explosion shook the Fukushima nuclear power plant Monday, injuring six people, but officials said the reactor container was not breached and there was no major rise in radiation.

The blast was caused by a build-up of hydrogen in the building around the No 3 reactor at the Fukushima Number One plant, said chief government spokesman Yukio Edano.

A similar explosion hit the building containing the No 1 reactor at the plant on Saturday, the day after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck a large swathe of the country's Pacific coast north of Tokyo.

Earlier, the IAEA had said that radiation levels at Fukushima were "normal".

"Radiation dose rate measurements observed at four locations around the plant's perimeter over a 16-hour period on 13 March were all normal," it said. All four reactors at Fukushima, which were automatically shut down on March 11, "have off-site power and water levels in all units are stable," the IAEA said.

"Though preparations have been made to do so, there has been no venting to control pressure at any of the plant's units." At unit 1, plant operators had been able to restore a residual heat remover system, "which is now being used to cool the reactor. Work is in progress to achieve a cold shutdown of the reactor," the IAEA said. "Workers at units 2 and 4 are working to restore residual heat removal systems. Unit 3 is in a safe, cold shutdown."

The IAEA said it was continuing to liaise with the Japanese authorities and was monitoring the situation "as it evolves." IAEA chief Yukiya Amano is scheduled to give a news conference about the situation at Japan's nuclear plants at 5:30 pm (1630 GMT) at the watchdog's Vienna headquarters.

A hydrogen explosion had hit the number 1 reactor at the same plant on Saturday, a day after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the northeast coast. Authorities have declared an evacuation zone within a 20 km (12 mile) radius of the plant and evacuated 210,000 people. "We have strongly advised all the people still within the evacuation area to go inside nearby facilities," said nuclear safety agency spokesman Ryo Miyake. Some 746 people -- patients, elderly people and care workers at three hospitals and nursing homes -- remained within the 20 km area Monday. A Fukushima official said 311 had so far been moved out.

About 2,000 bodies were found on Monday on two shores of Miyagi prefecture in northeast Japan following last week's massive earthquake and tsunami, Kyodo news agency reported.

COMMENTS (3)

Kazmis | 13 years ago | Reply It is worth to highlight the obvious fact that Fukushima Nuclear plant was not upto the present time safety standard. It was of 1942 and had a history of several safety setback in the past. Japanese Electric company was running these plants despite all these facts, and IAEA was also giving its clearance for some good reasons. Present position of cooling the reactor with sea water and now through helicopters is going to prove fruitless. It is better to evacuate TOKYO right at this time other wise in my opinion calling everything is under control may destroy thousand of people. Time is very short.
andy | 13 years ago | Reply The iaea is lying through its teeth. A scientist on bbc was intervied at 5.30pm today who has people on the ground their. Plutonium and uranium HAVE been released-in fact when the radiation levels went through the roof at a nuclear plant some 100kms away,it was this SO CALLED steam cloud that has uranium and plutonium mixed in. IAEA=LIARS
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