As we all know by now Japan has suffered a series of terrible disasters in the past week. Japan's nuclear crisis deepened dramatically Tuesday. As safety officials sought desperately to avert catastrophe the government said radioactive material leaking from reactors was enough to "impact human health" and the risk of more leaks was "very high." In a nationally televised statement Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that radiation has spread from four reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Fukushima province that was hit the hardest in Friday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami. He urged anyone within 30 kilometers (19 miles) of the plant to stay indoors or risk getting radiation sickness. A cascade of three explosions at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex was set in motion when last Friday's earthquake and tsunami knocked out power, crippling the cooling systems needed to keep nuclear fuel from going into full meltdown.
The latest blast was early Tuesday in the plant's Unit 2 near a suppression pool which removes heat under a reactor vessel plant. Shigekazu Omukai, a spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency, said the nuclear core was not damaged but the bottom of the surrounding container may have been. Japanese officials had previously said radiation levels at the plant were within safe limits and international scientists said that while there were serious dangers, there was little risk of a catastrophe like Chernobyl in Ukraine where the reactor exploded and released a radiation cloud over much of Europe. Unlike the plant in Japan, the Chernobyl reactor was not housed in a sealed container to prevent the release of radiation. Let us all hope, but more importantly pray, for the people in Japan and that they will get through this terrible disaster.
Gregory T. Benson
No comments:
Post a Comment