Japan Turns to International Help in Nuclear Crisis

Friday, April 1st, 2011 Japan is calling in help from other countries as it struggles to contain radiation and repair the Fukushima nuclear plant that was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disasters. Nuclear industry experts from the U.S., France and elsewhere are in Japan Friday, or heading there, to offer assistance to the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the plant. Specialized robots also are being sent to help where it is too unsafe for humans. But it is a dangerous mission. Radiation leaking from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has been detected in nearby water, in beef and even in dead bodies left behind by the earthquake and tsunami. Authorities are considering what to do with 1,000 dead bodies near the plant, saying it may be too dangerous to collect them because of fears the corpses are too contaminated with radiation. Police sources warn that if the families of the victims cremate the bodies, as is the tradition in Japan, it could release more radioactivity into the environment. And the Tokyo Electric Power Company says radioactive iodine was detected in the groundwater beneath one of the reactors at levels 10,000 times above normal. Japan's Kyodo news agency says this is the first time radiation has been found in groundwater. There also are reports that beef, vegetables and milk in the area have been contaminated with radiation, prompting several governments to ban imports from the region. Radioactive material has spread as far as the United States, where officials report finding very low amounts of radioactive material in milk from the west coast. Elevated radiation levels also have been detected in seawater near the plant, and in areas as far as 40 kilometers away, prompting the government to consider expanding a 20-kilometer evacuation zone around the facility. The confirmed death toll from the natural disasters is above 11,400, with more than 16,500 still missing. Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for the world's nations to establish common nuclear safety standards to make sure there is never a repetition of the Japanese nuclear crisis. Appearing alongside Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan in Tokyo Thursday, Mr. Sarkozy said there is no viable alternative to nuclear power at this time, but that improved safety standards must be negotiated by the end of this year. Mr. Kan said his priority at the moment is to stabilize the situation at the nuclear plant, which has been spewing various forms of radiation since its cooling systems were knocked out. Officials at Japan's nuclear safety agency say radiation in the latest sampling from the ocean near the Fukushima plant's discharge pipes was at 4,385 times the legal limit. Expanding the evacuation zone to 30 kilometers would require moving another 136,000 people - adding to pressures on a government that already has almost 200,000 earthquake victims living in temporary shelters. Operators of the plant reported some progress in pumping highly contaminated water out of the basements and adjacent utility tunnels at three of the plant's reactors. The water must be removed before workers can complete repairs to the pumps that run the plant's vital cooling systems. Posted in East Asia Pacific Source: VOA