19/04 High levels of radiation at 2 reactors

The Yomiuri Shimbun

High levels of radiation were measured Sunday by remote-controlled robots inside the buildings that house reactors Nos. 1 and 3 of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant--levels that would need to be lowered for workers to work inside the buildings, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Monday.

The agency said radiation levels were measured from 10 to 49 millisieverts per hour for the No. 1 reactor and from 28 to 57 millisieverts per hour for the No. 3 reactor.

"As things stand now, it would be difficult to send workers inside them to work. We need to lower the radiation levels or block them somehow," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokeman for the agency.

It marked the first time that radiation levels have been measured inside the buildings housing reactors Nos. 1 and 3 since hydrogen explosions occurred in these two units in the wake of the massive quake and tsunami on March 11.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the crisis-hit plant, used two U.S.-made robots to take the measurements.

Measurements at the No. 3 reactor, taken between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday, found that the temperature inside was from 19 C to 22 C, the humidity from 32 percent to 35 percent, and the oxygen content of the air inside 21 percent.

At the No. 1 reactor, where measurements were taken between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., the temperature ranged from 28 C to 29 C, the humidity from 49 percent to 56 percent, while the oxygen content was 21 percent.

Inside the building housing reactor No. 3, the interior of which was also photographed by a robot Sunday, there was a large amount of debris found, making it impossible for the robot to advance further.

===

N-policy to be verified

Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Monday told a Diet session, held to discuss issues concerning the recent quake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, that the government needs to review its nuclear power policy right from the fundamentals.

Regarding the government's future nuclear policy in light of the latest accident at the Fukushima plant, Kan said: "We need to take all preconceived ideas and go back to the drawing board to examine from the ground up the reasons why the accidents occurred. When we've reached a certain point, we would like to make a thorough verification."

When asked what specific issues were to be verified, Kan said, "The issue of the spent fuels being stored as they were [in the pool inside the reactor building], without there being a proper, systematic framework in place with regard to such issues as the nuclear fuel cycle and final disposal site."

Meanwhile, TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu apologized before the members of the House of Councillors Budget Committee, where he appeared as an unsworn witness, for the recent spate of accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

"I would like to sincerely apologize once again for causing so much trouble and anxiety to the residents near the power plant, the people in Fukushima Prefecture and the public at large over the extremely serious matter of radioactive material leaking outside the plant," said Shimizu.

During the upper house committee meeting, Kan rejected the view that the government failed to respond appropriately to the twin disasters and ensuing nuclear plant accident in the inital stages, and that Kan's leadership came into question.

"It is not correct to say that the government's initial response was insufficient. I believe we have been responding to the issues in a sufficient manner," Kan said.

Regarding the timetable for bringing the nuclear crisis at the plant under control, announced by TEPCO on Sunday, Kan said, "The government will do its utmost in cooperating with work undertaken by TEPCO, taking an approach in which we will do whatever we can as the state, so that the timetable presented by TEPCO can be realized as soon as possible."

(Apr. 19, 2011)