No radiation changes at Fukushima after quake: IAEA

Some off-site power was lost at Onagawa plant.

VIENNA: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issued statement on Friday saying that no radiation changes were detected at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant after Thursday's earthquake and the injection of water remained uninterrupted into reactor pressure vessels.

But IAEA, citing information from Japanese authorities, said two out of three lines supplying off-site power to the Onagawa nuclear plant, shut down since the March 11 quake, had been lost.

"Off-site power continues to be supplied through the third line," it said, adding the status of the Onagawa plant was being checked.

"Cooling of the spent full pool was temporarily lost, but has subsequently been restored," it added.

The IAEA also said Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) confirmed that the Rokkasho reprocessing plant and uranium enrichment facility lost off-site power, but that emergency power supply to the site was operating.

Regarding the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which was badly damaged by the massive March 11 quake and tsunami, the IAEA said, "NISA confirms that no changes have been observed at the on-site radiation monitoring posts. The injection of water into the reactor pressure vessels of Units 1, 2 and 3 was not interrupted."

The IAEA's International Seismic Safety Centre rated the latest earthquake as a 7.1 magnitude, revised from an initial 7.4 magnitude, the statement said.

"The epicenter of the earthquake was 20 km from the Onagawa nuclear power plant and approximately 120 km from the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants," it added.