High Radiation Levels Halt Latest Attempt to Cool Troubled Fukushima Reactors, Fuel Ponds
Japanese officials suspended helicopter flights spraying water over Japan's troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant due to high radiation levels, the latest foiled attempt to contain the nuclear crisis.
The two helicopters had dropped about 30 tons of water on the plant overnight. In addition, 11 water cannon trucks arrived at the Fukushima Daiichi plant though it appeared that they were placed too far away to be used because of high radiation levels.
"It's like a squirt gun, using a squirt gun against a raging forest fire. They're overwhelmed, they're floundering, they don't know what to do" Dr. Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist, said.
The water trucks and helicopters were used in part because radiation levels are dangerously high for workers to be directly in the plant for extended periods.
"At a certain point, they're going to have to abandon ship, they're committing a suicide mission to go in there. The radiation levels are near lethal right now…you're committing suicide to spend large amount of time there," Kaku said.
Even the helicopter pilots were in danger by flying over the plant, Kaku said. During the Chernobyl crisis, Kaku said that helicopter pilots that helped sandbag the reactors had lead underneath their helicopters to help avoid radiation contamination.
U.S. government officials are still concerned over water levels that keep the nuclear fuel rods from overheating at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
America's top nuclear official told Congress Wednesday that the pool cooling spent fuel rods at the crippled Japanese nuclear plant had lost most or all of its water, a potentially catastrophic situation.
"We believe at this point that unit 4 may have lost a significant inventory, if not lost all of its water," Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko told a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "What we know at unit three, and again our information is limited, what we believe is that there is a crack in the spent fuel pool for unit three as well, which could lead to a loss of water in that pool."
The Japanese quickly challenged that statement, but gave few details saying only that the situation at the holding pool was "stable."
"It is my great hope that the information that we have is not accurate. I would hope for the sake of everyone that the situation is not at the stake that we think it is," Jaczko said.
Experts say that the spent fuel ponds might be more dangerous than the core reactors. Fuel ponds hold old fuel rods and must be covered in water at all times. Of particular concern is the fuel pond in unit 4.
"Hollywood likes to focus in on the meltdown, the melted core exposed uranium. But old fuel is actually more dangerous than the meltdown because there's more radiation in an unguarded spent fuel pond than the reactors," Kaku said. "You could have a fire. It would go up like fireworks, like Roman Candles."
The spent fuel rods are kept in pools of water to prevent them from overheating and ultimately melting down. The outer shell of the rods could also ignite with enough force to propel the radioactive fuel inside over a wide area.
Japan's nuclear safety agency and Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the complex, denies water is gone from the pool. Utility spokesman Hajime Motojuku told the Associated Press the "condition is stable" at unit 4.
Overnight, President Obama spoke with the Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and expressed his sympathy and offered assistance.
"The president expressed his extraordinary admiration for the character and resolve of the Japanese people, and his confidence that Japan will make a full recovery from this disaster," according to a White House statement.
Shortly after, the U.S. State Department authorized the first evacuations of Americans out of Japan.
Chartered planes will begin assisting American citizens wishing to leave the country.
It also issued a warning to Americans to avoid traveling to the quake and tsunami-ravaged nation at this time.
Americans Ordered to Evacuate 50 Mile Radius Around Fukushima Plant
Radiation levels have risen rapidly at the plant and there is a fear that the situation is heading for the worst. If levels continue to rise the doses emergency workers experience near the reactors could be lethal. One U.S. Official told ABC News that "it would be hard to describe how alarming this is right now" and that a suicide mission might not even be enough to avert disaster.
Jaczko recommended that American citizens living within 50 miles of the Fukushima nuclear power plant evacuate the area.
"For a comparable situation in the United States we would recommend an evacuation to a much larger radius than has been provided in Japan," he said. "As a result of this recommendation, the Ambassador in Japan has issued a statement to American citizens that we believe it is appropriate to evacuate to a larger distance, up to approximately 50 miles."
Japan's current evacuation zone is 12 to 19 miles.
The recommendation comes as the Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced that the power line to the plant is almost complete and that the company plans to try it "as soon as possible." The line would revive electric-powered pumps, enabling a steady water supply to be maintained at the troubled reactors and spent fuel storage ponds, keeping them cool.
A group of 180 workers rotate shifts working at the plant in teams of 50 men. The men have been nicknamed the "Fukushima Fifty."
When radiation levels surged following a fire at Unit 4 and a rising cloud of radioactive vapor from unit 3 on Wednesday, officials deemed it too risky for the plant workers to continue their critical work of pumping sea water on the damaged reactors and fuel ponds.
"The workers cannot carry out even minimal work at the plant now," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told the Associated Press. "Because of the radiation risk we are on standby."