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Home » Current Events » Japan’s Nuclear Emergency – Power Plants damage causing increased risk for meltdown

Japan’s Nuclear Emergency – Power Plants damage causing increased risk for meltdown

By Victoria Brown on March 13, 2011

Digital News Report – There is potential for Unit 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility to explode and go into meltdown at the power plant located in the north-east of the country, in Onagawa. This was another nuclear unit that became damaged from the massive earthquake that happened in Japan on March 11, 2011.

According to an interview with Shaun Burnie, a nuclear energy consultant who talked with Russia Today, there are a total of 6 nuclear plants that are at risk for meltdown. Burnie said that he believes that the damage to the nuclear plants are very serious and is more serious than officials are letting on.

Japan’s ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, who is in Washington, said that complete meltdown wasn’t likely at the time he was asked.

In press statement that occurred at the 8 pm, March 13, local Japan time, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Edano said the following:

“The third point concerns the situation in Unit 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. I mentioned earlier that water levels had begun to rise since injection of sea water into the pressure vessel began. Levels continued to increase steadily for a certain time, but since then the figures indicating the water level inside the pressure vessel are no longer showing an increase. We are continuing to supply water to the reactor. It is not clear how we should assess this situation. There was a similar situation for a time following the explosion in Unit 1 yesterday.

This time, there is a high possibility that the valves in Unit 3 have failed. At the present time people on the scene are doing their utmost to resolve the malfunction of the valves in order to lower the air pressure inside the reactor. Meanwhile, there has been no notable change in the radiation levels observed in the vicinity of the power station. This concludes my report on the latest situation in the Unit 3 reactor.”

There has been radiation that has been released, but the officials said that there it isn’t enough to harm humans. At 11:00 am local Japan time, Edano released the following information:

“Monitoring of radiation levels on the spot is ongoing. At point MP4, where a reading of 1,015μSv was detected yesterday, a radiation level of 44.6μSv was recorded at 00:30 this morning, and a level of 36.7μSv at 6:00am. After the start of venting around 9:20, a reading of 76.9μSv was recorded at 9:20 and of 70.3μSv at 9:30.”

By Victoria Brown

  1. Japan Nuclear Emergency Update – Could take nine months to resolve the problem
  2. Japan Nuclear Emergency continues as high radiation levels are found beyond than evacuation zones
  3. Japan Earthquake update – Officials evacuate nearby residents from nuclear plant emergency
  4. Japan Nuclear Crisis Update – Disaster gets Level 7 highest rating
  5. Third Reactor Damaged by Explosion

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