Japanese crisis: We were caught out by Fukushima, admits Japan at last

Published on Monday 21 March 2011 17:31

Japan's nuclear experts have admitted that the Fukushima reactor disaster was worse than anything they ever imagined could have happened.

"We have experienced a very huge disaster that has caused very large damage at a nuclear power generation plant on a scale that we had not expected," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of the country's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Another official with the agency admitted: "There is nothing else we can do but keep doing what we've been doing."

Engineers are struggling to restore electricity to the plant, but getting the power flowing will not be the end of their battle.

With its mangled machinery and partly melted reactor cores, bringing the complex under control is a monstrous job.

Restoring the power to all six units at the tsunami-damaged complex is key, because it will, in theory, power up the maze of motors, valves and switches that help deliver cooling water to the overheated reactor cores and spent fuel pools that are leaking radiation.

Officials believe that ideally it should take only one day to get the complex under control once the cooling system is back up and running.

In reality, the effort to end the crisis is likely to take weeks.

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• We were caught out by Fukushima, admits Japan at last

Conditions at the plant have remained volatile since the earthquake and tsunami wrecked it.

Yesterday, a plume of smoke rose from two reactor units, prompting workers to evacuate.

In another setback, the plant's operator said it had just discovered that some of the cooling system's key pumps at the complex's troubled Unit 2 no longer worked, meaning replacements have to be brought in.

Tokyo Electric Power Company said it had placed emergency orders for new pumps, but it was unclear how long it would take for them to arrive.

If workers could get the power turned on, get the replacement pumps working and get enough seawater into the reactors and spent fuel pools, it would take only a day to bring the temperatures back to a safe, cooling stage, officials said.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the reactor cores of Units 1, 2 and 3 had all been damaged, but that containment was intact, relieving concerns about Unit 2, where an explosion damaged a pressure-reducing chamber around the bottom of the reactor core.

Yesterday's evacuation from the plant came after smoke began rising from the spent fuel storage pool of Unit 3, which also alarmed plant officials over the weekend with a sudden surge of pressure in its reactor core.

Nuclear safety agency officials said they were still investigating what caused the smoke to billow first from Unit 3 and then from Unit 2.

Japan's nuclear crisis has exposed huge weaknesses in how the world deals with such disasters, the UN nuclear chief said yesterday, urging changes in emergency nuclear responses worldwide.

Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also told a 35-nation IAEA board meeting that while the situation at Fukushima remained serious, "we are starting to see some positive developments".

He defended his agency's performance since the crisis broke ten days ago, emphasising that it was up to individual countries to focus on nuclear safety, with the IAEA only in an advisory role.

Glyn Davies, chief US delegate to the IAEA, however, suggested the agency needed to do more, in a joint US-Canada statement that indicated agency board members would focus on more oversight of the organisation's performance in Japan.

He said the board would work with Mr Amano "to ensure that this agency is bringing all of its resources to bear in addressing the current crisis".

Fukushima's radioactive gas leaks have triggered the worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Japanese and IAEA officials have suggested the emergency might be slowly abating.

But attention is now focusing on the plant's safety record, with Japan's nuclear safety agency criticising the operator for repeatedly failing to inspect crucial equipment before the crisis broke.

Mr Amano has repeatedly emphasised that the IAEA can only advise Japan and other member nations in such situations and has no mandate to enforce international or local regulations on nuclear safety.

"We are not a 'nuclear safety watchdog' and responsibility for nuclear safety lies with our member states," he said. "In contrast to the agency's role in nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear safety measures are applied voluntarily by each individual country and our role is supportive."

Problems set off by the disasters have ranged far beyond the shattered north-east coast and the wrecked nuclear plant, handing the government what it has called Japan's worst crisis since the Second World War.Rebuilding may cost as much as 145 billion and the death toll is likely to exceed 18,000.

Traces of radiation are contaminating vegetables and some water supplies, although in amounts the government says do not pose a risk to human health in the short term.

Sale of raw milk, spinach and rapeseed from prefectures over a swathe from the plant towards Tokyo have been banned.