[OMG Earthquake?]

As radiation levels continue to rise in the plant near the damaged No. 2 reactor and in the ocean (radiation 4,000 times the legal limit has been detected in seawater near the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant), there are reports that a concrete retaining pit under one of the reactors has cracked and this is leading to the radioactive contamination. Efforts are underway to seal the crack but have not yet proved successful.

The toll of dead and missing has now risen to 27,000.

TOKYO, April 3 (Reuters) - Japanese officials grappling on Sunday to end the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl were focusing on a crack in a concrete pit that was leaking radiation into the ocean from a crippled reactor.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had found a crack in the pit at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima, generating readings 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour in the air inside the pit.

"With radiation levels rising in the seawater near the plant, we have been trying to confirm the reason why, and in that context, this could be one source," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), said on Saturday.

He cautioned, however: "We can’t really say for certain until we’ve studied the results."

Leakage did not stop even after concrete was poured into the pit, and Tokyo Electric is now planning to use water-absorbent polymer to prevent contaminated water from leaking out into the sea.

Officials from the utility said checks of the other five reactors found no cracks.

Nishiyama said that to cool the damaged reactor, NISA was looking at alternatives to pumping in water, including an improvised air conditioning system, spraying the reactor fuel rods with vaporized water or using the plant’s cleaning system.

PM UNDER PRESSURE

As the disaster that has left more than 27,000 dead or missing dragged into a fourth week, Prime Minister Naoto Kan toured devastated coastal towns in northern Japan on Saturday, offering refugees government support for rebuilding homes and livelihoods.

"It will be kind of a long battle, but the government will be working hard together with you until the end," Kyodo news agency quoted him as telling people in a shelter in Rikuzentakata, a fishing port flattened by the tsunami which struck on March 11 after a massive earthquake.

Unpopular and under pressure to quit or call a snap poll before the disaster, Kan has been criticised for his management of the humanitarian and nuclear crisis. Some tsunami survivors said he came to visit them too late.

Kan also entered the 20-km (12-mile) evacuation zone and visited J-village just inside the zone, a sports facility serving as the headquarters for emergency teams trying to cool the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Operators of the plant are no closer to regaining control of damaged reactors, as fuel rods remain overheated and high levels of radiation are flowing into the sea.

Japan is facing a damages bill which may top $300 billion — the world’s biggest from a natural disaster.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday the Japanese economy would take a short-term hit and it could not rule out further intervention for the yen.

The consequences for the world’s third largest economy have already seen manufacturing slump to a two-year low. Power outages and quake damage have hit supply chains and production.

Hundreds of thousands remain homeless, sheltering in evacuation centres, as the death toll from the disaster rises.

Thousands of Japanese and U.S. soldiers on Saturday conducted a search for bodies using dozens of ships and helicopters to sweep across land still under water along the northeast coast. The teams hope when a large spring tide recedes it will make it easier to spot bodies.

Radiation 4,000 times the legal limit has been detected in seawater near the Daiichi plant and a floating tanker was to be towed to Fukushima to store contaminated seawater. But until the plant’s internal cooling system is reconnected radiation will flow from the plant.

http://www.theprovince.com/Japan+nuclear+struggle+focuses+cracked+reactor/4546916/story.html#ixzz1IOEYePIK

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More bad news as high radiation levels spread beyond the evacuation zone.

14:24 ET: High radiation has been detected at a village 40 kilometer from the Fukushima plant, according to the IAEA.

Japan has encouraged evacuations only within a 20 kilometer radius. The finding will increase pressure on the government to extend the zone.

Two weeks ago Washington had already advised Americans within an 80 kilometer radius to evacuate.

EARLIER: Radioactive iodine at a concentration of 3,355 times the legal limit was identified in a seawater sample near the plant, Japan's nuclear safety agency said Wednesday. This is the highest contamination level yet.

Agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said the exact cause of the contamination was unknown, according to Kyodo.

The government maintains that the most-toxic water has been contained in trenches and that it has not seeped into seawater or groundwater.

Meanwhile Tokyo Electric are pouring more seawater onto the reactors to cool them, thus creating new contaminated water, which will have to be contained and stored.

In another sign things are getting worse, Tokyo Electric stock plunged another 20% last night.

http://www.businessinsider.com/fukushima-radioactivity-seawater-2011-3

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The Guardian is now reporting that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may have lost containment in one reactor with fuel rods melting through the containment vessel and onto the concrete floor.

Japan may have lost race to save nuclear reactor

Fukushima meltdown fears rise after radioactive core melts through vessel – but 'no danger of Chernobyl-style catastrophe'

The radioactive core in a reactor at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant appears to have melted through the bottom of its containment vessel and on to a concrete floor, experts say, raising fears of a major release of radiation at the site.

The warning follows an analysis by a leading US expert of radiation levels at the plant. Readings from reactor two at the site have been made public by the Japanese authorities and Tepco, the utility that operates it.

Richard Lahey, who was head of safety research for boiling-water reactors at General Electric when the company installed the units at Fukushima, told the Guardian workers at the site appeared to have "lost the race" to save the reactor, but said there was no danger of a Chernobyl-style catastrophe.

Workers have been pumping water into three reactors at the stricken plant in a desperate bid to keep the fuel rods from melting down, but the fuel is at least partially exposed in all the reactors.

At least part of the molten core, which includes melted fuel rods and zirconium alloy cladding, seemed to have sunk through the steel "lower head" of the pressure vessel around reactor two, Lahey said.

"The indications we have, from the reactor to radiation readings and the materials they are seeing, suggest that the core has melted through the bottom of the pressure vessel in unit two, and at least some of it is down on the floor of the drywell," Lahey said. "I hope I am wrong, but that is certainly what the evidence is pointing towards."

The major concern when molten fuel breaches a containment vessel is that it reacts with the concrete floor of the drywell underneath, releasing radioactive gases into the surrounding area. At Fukushima, the drywell has been flooded with seawater, which will cool any molten fuel that escapes from the reactor and reduce the amount of radioactive gas released.

Lahey said: "It won't come out as one big glob; it'll come out like lava, and that is good because it's easier to cool."

The drywell is surrounded by a secondary steel-and-concrete structure designed to keep radioactive material from escaping into the environment. But an earlier hydrogen explosion at the reactor may have damaged this.

"The reason we are concerned is that they are detecting water outside the containment area that is highly radioactive and it can only have come from the reactor core," Lahey added. "It's not going to be anything like Chernobyl, where it went up with a big fire and steam explosion, but it's not going to be good news for the environment."

The radiation level at a pool of water in the turbine room of reactor two was measured recently at 1,000 millisieverts per hour. At that level, workers could remain in the area for just 15 minutes, under current exposure guidelines.

A less serious core meltdown happened at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania in 1979. During that incident, engineers managed to cool the molten fuel before it penetrated the steel pressure vessel. The task is a race against time, because as the fuel melts it forms a blob that becomes increasingly difficult to cool.

In the light of the Fukushima crisis, Lahey said all countries with nuclear power stations should have "Swat teams" of nuclear reactor safety experts on standby to give swift advice to the authorities in times of emergency, with international groups co-ordinated by the International Atomic Energy Authority.

The warning came as the Japanese authorities were being urged to give clearer advice to the public about the safety of food and drinking water contaminated with radioactive substances from Fukushima.

Robert Peter Gale, a US medical researcher who was brought in by Soviet authorities after the Chernobyl disaster, in 1986, has met Japanese cabinet ministers to discuss establishing an independent committee charged with taking radiation data from the site and translating it into clear public health advice.

"What is fundamentally disturbing the public is reports of drinking water one day being above some limit, and then a day or two later it's suddenly safe to drink. People don't know if the first instance was alarmist or whether the second one was untrue," said Gale.

"My recommendation is they should consider establishing a small commission to independently convert the data into comprehensible units of risk for the public so people know what they are dealing with and can take sensible decisions," he added.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/29/japan-lost-race-save-nuclear-reactor

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Japan's prime minister has declared a state of "maximum alert" over the country's nuclear disaster.

The USA and France are to help Japan bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control.

Japan's prime minister has declared a state of "maximum alert" over the country's nuclear disaster after highly toxic plutonium was found to have leaked into soil near the plant.

Naoto Kan told the Japanese parliament that the combined 9.0 magnitude earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident were the "biggest crises" in decades.

"From now on, we will continue to handle it in a state of maximum alert," he said.

Mr Kan's comments came after the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), the operators of the Fukushima plant, confirmed that plutonium had been detected, for the first time, in two out of five soil samples.

Tepco said the levels of plutonium were not harmful to human health, but experts said the discovery raised concerns that the reactor's containment mechanism had been breached.

"Plutonium is a substance that's emitted when the temperature is high, and it's also heavy and so does not leak out easily," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

"So if plutonium has emerged from the reactor, that tells us something about the damage to the fuel. And if it has breached the original containment system, it underlines the gravity and seriousness of this accident."

It is thought that some of the plutonium may have entered the soil from spent fuel rods at the plant or due to damage to reactor Number 3, the only reactor using the substance in its fuel mix. Used in nuclear bombs and a by-product of atomic reactions, plutonium is an extremely dangerous radioactive element.

In spite of the dangers, hundreds of staff and firefighters continued to work in shifts at the plant amid increasingly challenging conditions. According to the Mainichi newspaper, they were sleeping in a "key earthquake-proof building", the floors covered with a sheet containing lead to block out the radiation present in the building.

"The working environment is very tough," said Kazuma Yokota, head of the nuclear facility inspection office overseeing the plant.

Japan's government is facing increasing pressure to widen the current evacuation zone, which currently extends to 12 miles. There are fears that tens of thousands of residents ordered to leave the area may never be able to return, due to the contamination. "These lands have come from their ancestors and their affection for it is enormous," said Tomo Honda, a member of Fukushima's regional assembly.

"The first step is to actually tell these refugees that they can't go back, but people are not facing that reality yet."

An estimated 70,000 people have left the evacuation zone, and a further 130,000 residents living up to 19 miles away have been encouraged to leave or stay indoors.

The government has continued to urge the approximately 40 residents who have refused to leave their homes within the 12-mile zone to head for safety to avoid damaging their health. There was also mounting speculation that the government may take steps to nationalize Tepco, which has faced growing criticism for its handling of the situation and was strongly reprimanded by the government for recently miscalculated radiation figures.

A study claimed that Tepco had ignored warnings from scientists and historical researchers in relation to the region's 3,000-year history of strong quakes and tsunamis.

Tepco also reportedly used its own computer programs to calculate worst case scenario tsunami risks as opposed to an internationally accepted prediction method, according to an investigation by Associated Press.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Japan+declares+state+maximum+alert+over+nuclear+plant+crisis/4521968/story.html#ixzz1I2F7pO1k

France and the United States are to help Japan in its battle to contain radiation from a crippled nuclear complex where plutonium finds have raised public alarm over the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

The high-stakes operation at the Fukushima plant has added to Japan's unprecedented humanitarian disaster with 27,500 people dead or missing from a March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who chairs the G20 and G8 blocs of nations, plans to visit Tokyo on Thursday. He will be the first foreign leader in Japan since the disaster.

In further support, France flew in two experts from its state-owned nuclear reactor maker Areva and its CEA nuclear research body to assist Japan's heavily-criticized plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO).

A global leader in the industry, France produces about 75 percent of its power from reactors so it has a strong interest in helping Japan get through the Fukushima disaster.

The United States is also weighing in to send some radiation-detecting robots to Japan to help explore the reactor cores and spent fuel pools, the Energy Department said.

With evidence mounting of radiation inside and beyond the plant, public fears rose a notch with Tuesday's announcement of plutonium traces in soil at five places within the facility.

A by-product of atomic reactions and a prime ingredient in nuclear bombs, plutonium is highly carcinogenic and one of the most dangerous substances on the planet, experts say.

Japan said, however, that only two of the plutonium traces had likely come from the plant, probably from overheating spent fuel rods or damage to reactor No. 3, with the others being particles in the atmosphere from past nuclear testing abroad.

The levels, of up to 0.54 becquerels per kg, were not considered harmful, Japanese officials said.

The U.N. atomic agency IAEA agreed. "Concentrations reported for both, plutonium-238 and plutonium-239/240, are similar to those deposited in Japan as a result of the testing of nuclear weapons," said its latest briefing.

First rattled by the earthquake and then engulfed by a giant wave, the Fukushima plant resembles a bomb site, with steam and smoke occasionally rising from mangled pipes and twisted steel.

Plant operator TEPCO is under enormous pressure, criticized for safety lapses and a slow disaster response. Its shares are down almost 75 percent since the quake -- hitting a 47-year low on Tuesday -- and there is talk of a state takeover.

RISING ANGER

The government, too, is taking heat.

Already criticized for weak leadership during Japan's worst crisis since World War II, Prime Minister Naoto Kan was blasted by the opposition in parliament on Tuesday for his handling of the disaster and for not widening the exclusion zone beyond the current 20 km (12 miles) round Fukushima.

"Is there anything as irresponsible as this?" opposition legislator Yosuke Isozaki said.

Kan said he was considering that step, which would force 130,000 people to move, in addition to 70,000 already displaced.

There is rising despair among farmers and fishermen whose livelihoods have been turned upside down by the disaster.

One 64-year-old farmer hanged himself last week after saying "our vegetables are no good anymore," local media said.

With entire towns on the northeast coast reduced to wastelands of mud and debris following the quake and tsunami, more than 175,000 people are living in shelters.

The event looks likely to be the world's costliest natural disaster, with estimates of damage topping $300 billion.

In a shock to high-tech Japanese whose economy is the world's third biggest, there has been electricity rationing after the disaster and 183,431 houses are still without power.

Workers at the Fukushima complex may have to struggle for weeks or months under extremely dangerous conditions to restart cooling systems vital to controlling the nuclear reactors.

More than a dozen workers have been injured at the plant, and they are said to be living in grim conditions, sleeping on the floor of a safe room when their shifts are over, and shoving packaged food down quickly to avoid contact with radiation.

CONTAMINATION CONTROVERSY

At the site, highly tainted water has been found in some reactors and in concrete tunnels outside. Sea water has also showed radiation and shipments of milk and some vegetables from areas nearby have been stopped due to contamination.

Radiation has been found in tap water in Tokyo, 240 km (150 miles) to the south, and in tiny traces abroad.

Experts have said a lack of information and some inconsistent data made it hard to understand what was happening at Fukushima, which appears to have come back from the risk of a core meltdown -- the nightmare scenario -- to a situation where management of released radioactivity is paramount.

Engineers face a dilemma: they have to douse the reactors to prevent overheating, but that risks adding to the radiation problems by increasing water flows.

While the government and many experts play down comparisons with Chernobyl, the radioactive substances being emitted are the same -- iodine-131, caesium-134 and caesium-137.

Richard Wakeford, an expert at Britain's University of Manchester, said negligible plutonium levels were a "side issue" and the focus must remain on checking for iodine and caesium.

Former British government chief scientific adviser David King said there was an overreaction to events in Japan.

"As far as we know not one person has died from radiation" at Fukushima, he said. "Let's put this in context. In the same week 30 coal miners died...Is there a safer form of electricity production historically than nuclear power? The answer is no."

Experts say contamination outside Fukushima remains at safe levels for humans, and point out the daily doses that people get unwittingly from X-rays, flights and natural means.

But anti-nuclear and environmental lobby groups accuse governments and academics, some with ties to the atomic industry, of glossing over the risks from Fukushima.

The crisis in Japan has sent ripples through the global economy, and disrupted supplies for the automobile and technology sectors. In the latest example, Toyota told North American dealers to curtail orders of replacement parts.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/29/us-japan-quake-idUSTRE72A0SS20110329

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^ I know what plutonium is - I was being facetious.

It's a very bad situation and it's far from being over.

It was unclear to me that was your intent. Also some people may not know how dangerous plutonium may be.

[OMG Earthquake?]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/29/us-japan-quake-idUSTRE72A0SS20110329

They're preparing to increase the evacuation zone after plutonium was found in the soil, but it's okay because according to Japanese authorities, radioactive plutonium isn't dangerous.

Move along, people - nothing to see here.

Actually there may well be serious concerns.

Plutonium is extremely dangerous (although thus far the levels found are low) but it may well be evidence of breach of the containment system which is very serious as the article notes. Also it seems the engineers are far from bringing the damaged plant under control which could tale weeks or months:

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said plutonium was found at low-risk levels in five places at the facility, which was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

A by-product of atomic reactions and also used in nuclear bombs, plutonium is highly carcinogenic and one of the most dangerous substances on the planet, experts say.

They believe some of the plutonium may have come from spent fuel rods at Fukushima or damage to reactor No. 3, the only one to use plutonium in its fuel mix.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said while the plutonium levels were not harmful to human health, the discovery could mean a breach in the reactor's containment mechanism.

"Plutonium is a substance that's emitted when the temperature is high, and it's also heavy and so does not leak out easily," agency deputy director Hidehiko Nishiyama told a news conference.

"So if plutonium has emerged from the reactor, that tells us something about the damage to the fuel. And if it has breached the original containment system, it underlines the gravity and seriousness of this accident."

...

Workers at Fukushima may have to struggle for weeks or months under extremely dangerous conditions to re-start cooling systems vital to control the reactors and avert total meltdown.

On Monday, highly contaminated water was found in concrete tunnels extending beyond one reactor, while at the weekend radiation hit 100,000 times over normal in water inside another.

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it was just snowing there for petes sake!!..you mean to tell me pollen just starts floating around 1 week later!!..they are having a long winter just like we are..you see pollen floating around here!!..I've been to Japan and southeast Asia plenty of times to know that pollen doesn't accumulate this early!..why would the Japanese be concerned about this?..there's nothing blossoming there right now!.its too early and not enough sun..that yellow pollen usually comes from pine trees which dont pollenate till well into the sunnier warmer days just like here..

It snows here in BC during the spring. So what?

I have been in Japan as well and I have pollen allergies that have bothered me in Tokyo at this time of year in the past.

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Hypervigilante? Nervous? Scared witless? Suspicious? Deathly afraid considering the other circumstances taking place and not a whole lot of information from the people with credible sources??

At least they did not claim it was weather balloon.

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Shouldn't this happen every year then? Wouldn't they be used to it ?

Apparently it was function of a much hotter summer last year, so more pollen.

Plus it was very light rain so rather than washing the pollen away, the water evaporated leaving the pollen behind on roofs and on the ground.

Also people are understandably more jittery in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi plant disaster and so something they might not have even noticed in the past, becomes a source of concern.

“Pollen is something people see all the time and ignore, said a JMA official. “But people are extra vigilant now because they are scared of radiation exposure” due to the caustic Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

...

The JMA said the pollen — flying about in especially concentrated amounts this year because of last summer’s record heat wave – fell down with the rain Wednesday night. While the pollen would usually be drained down gutters during heavier rain falls, the droplets don’t pool into puddles when it’s weak. Instead, the water left on the ground evaporates quickly leaving the caught pollen naked on the pavement.

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Really!?!?...it's winter in Japan ya noob..go back to school ..it's not pollen!

Actually it is now spring in Japan (shunbun no hi) as of March 21. Clearly someone needs to go back to school.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency says it was pollen:

Pollen caused 'yellow rain': agency

Kyodo News

The "yellow rain" seen Wednesday in the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo was caused by pollen, not radioactive materials as many residents feared, the Meteorological Agency said Thursday.

The agency received more than 200 inquiries Thursday morning about yellowish residue left on roofs and elsewhere by the rain, stirring concerns that radioactive substances had fallen in the wake of explosions at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, around 220 km northeast of central Tokyo.

According to the Environment Ministry, large amounts of air-borne pollen were seen in the Kanto region and the pollen fell with the rain Wednesday.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110325a7.html

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There was panic and an evacuation of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant when radiation readings were taken showing potentially lethal levels - 10 million times normal.

Workers were withdrawn from a reactor building at Japan’s earthquake-wrecked nuclear plant on Sunday after potentially lethal levels of radiation were detected in water there, a major setback for the effort to avert a catastrophic meltdown.

The operator of the facility said radiation in the water of the No. 2 reactor was measured at more than 1,000 millisieverts an hour, the highest reading so far in a crisis triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

That compares with a national safety standard of 250 millisieverts over a year. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says a single dose of 1,000 millisieverts is enough to cause haemorrhaging.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Radioactivity+soars+inside+Japanese+reactor+workers/4510692/story.html#ixzz1HofFZJ00

Then OOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSSSS - we read that level wrong. Those pesky decimal points.

But hey TEPCO was sorry for the error.

The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant said on Monday a very high radiation reading that had sent workers fleeing the No. 2 reactor was erroneous.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) vice-president Sakae Muto apologized for Sunday's error, which added to alarm inside and outside Japan over the impact of contamination from the complex which was hit by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

Radiation in the water was a still worrying 100,000 times higher than normal, rather than 10 million times higher as originally stated, Muto said.

"I am very sorry...I would like to make sure that such a mistake will not happen again."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/27/us-japan-quake-idUSTRE72A0SS20110327

[OMG Earthquake?]

A baby porpoise was found 2km inland in a flooded rice paddy field and rescued.

Japanese pet shop owner Ryo Taira rescues a young finless porpoise from a flooded rice paddy, Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, on March 23, 2011 Ryo Taira found his arms worked better than an improvised stretcher

Tsunami-stranded porpoise rescued from Japan rice field

A baby porpoise that was washed over a mile (about 2km) inland by Japan's tsunami earlier this month has been rescued from a flooded rice paddy.

Local people spotted the animal more than a week after the 11 March disaster and alerted animal rescue workers.

One man eventually caught the finless porpoise in his arms and carried it back out to sea.

Rescuers said the metre-long mammal had suffered a few scratches but was otherwise healthy.

"Immediately after I spotted it, I realised I could not ignore it. I had to do something," Masayuki Sato told the Asahi newspaper.

"This was also a victim of the tsunami."

He telephoned the animal welfare group, who were in the area rescuing pets stranded by the disaster.

They fashioned a stretcher but volunteer Ryo Taira eventually waded into the rice field and caught the animal himself.

"I don't know if it will survive, but it's much better than dying in a rice field, right?" he told the newspaper.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12844677

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Latest update from Reuters. Several workers have suffered radiation burns from standing in radioactive water while working.

Two of the reactors are safe and in "cold shutdown'" while four are still emitting radiation and are volatile.

The estimated damage of $300 billion damage from the quake and tsunami is greater than the 1995 Kobe quake and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Official numbers of dead and missing are 9,811 people confirmed dead and 17,541 missing by Friday and are expected to continue to rise as unidentified bodies are being buried in mass graves - unusual for Japan as they usually cremate the dead.

Radiation injuries slow work at Japan's nuclear plant

Thu, Mar 24 2011

By Yoko Kubota and Kazunori Takada

TOKYO (Reuters) - Radiation injuries to three workers complicated the battle to control Japan's crippled nuclear plant on Friday and heightened global anxiety over the worst atomic crisis in 25 years.

Hailed by Japanese as anonymous heroes braving unknown dangers, about 300 engineers have been working around the clock to stabilize the six-reactor Fukushima complex since an earthquake and tsunami struck two weeks ago.

But they had to pull out of some parts of the complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, when three workers replacing a cable near reactor No. 3 were exposed to high contamination by standing in radioactive water on Thursday, officials said.

Two were taken to hospital with possible radiation burns after the water seeped over their boots.

"We should try to avoid delays as much as possible, but we also need to ensure that the people working there are safe," said Japanese nuclear agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama.

Safety fears at the plant and beyond -- radiation particles have been found as far away as Iceland -- are compounding Japan's worst crisis since World War Two.

As well as causing the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986, the March 11 quake and ensuing tsunami left about 27,400 people dead or missing across the northeast.

Despite increased radiation reports, fears of a catastrophic meltdown at the Fukushima plant are receding.

Two of the reactors are now regarded as safe in what is called a cold shutdown. Four remain volatile, emitting steam and smoke periodically, but work is advancing to restart water pumps needed to cool fuel rods inside those reactors.

"It's much more hopeful," said Tony Roulstone, a nuclear energy expert at Cambridge University. "The most difficult thing is keeping the (spent-fuel) ponds cool, where they are using fire hoses."

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the three injured workers were carrying radiation meters but ignored an alarm when it rang. Engineers would be briefed again on safety.

"They are working in a harsh environment," TEPCO official Akira Suzui said during an overnight briefing.

The crisis has raised apprehension about nuclear power both in Japan and beyond, and the government of the world's third-largest economy plans to review the industry.

"Public confidence in nuclear power plants has greatly changed," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, who has been the government's public face during the crisis, told Reuters.

"In light of that, we must first end this situation and then study (it) from a zero base."

The Asian nation's 55 nuclear reactors provide about 30 percent of its electric power. The percentage had been expected to rise to 50 percent by 2030, among the highest in the world.

RADIATION FEARS

Heightened by widespread public ignorance of the technicalities of radiation, alarm has been spreading.

Vegetable and milk shipments from the areas near the plant have been stopped, and Tokyo's 13 million residents were told this week not to give tap water to babies after contamination hit twice the safety level.

But it dropped back to safe levels the next day, and the city governor cheerily drank water in front of cameras at a water purifying plant.

Despite government reassurances and appeals for people not to panic, many shops saw bottled water flying off the shelves.

"Customers ask us for water. But there's nothing we can do," said Tokyo supermarket worker Masayoshi Kasahara.

In the latest contamination finds, Kyodo news agency said radioactive caesium 1.8 times higher than the standard level was found in a leafy vegetable grown at a Tokyo research facility.

Singapore said on Thursday it had found radioactive contaminants in four samples of vegetables from Japan.

Earlier, Singapore and Australia joined the United States and Hong Kong in restricting food and milk imports from the zone. Many other nations have tightened screening.

German shipping companies are avoiding Japan.

"THINGS GETTING BETTER"

The estimated $300 billion damage from the quake and tsunami is the world's costliest natural disaster, dwarfing Japan's 1995 Kobe quake and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005.

In Japan's north, more than a quarter of a million people are in shelters. Exhausted rescuers are still sifting through the wreckage of towns and villages, retrieving bodies and pulling out photos for the consolation of survivors.

Official numbers of dead and missing are revised up every day -- 9,811 people confirmed dead and 17,541 missing by Friday.

Authorities are burying unidentified bodies in mass graves.

Amid the suffering, though, there was a sense that Japan was turning the corner in its humanitarian crisis. Aid flowed to refugees, and phone, electricity, postal and bank services began returning to the north, albeit sometimes by makeshift means.

"Things are getting much better," said 57-year-old Tsutomu Hirayama, with his family at an evacuation center in Ofunato.

"For the first two or three days, we had only one rice ball and water for each meal. I thought, how long is this going to go on? Now we get lots of food, it's almost like luxury."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/25/us-japan-quake-idUSTRE72A0SS20110325

[OMG Earthquake?]

The latest update on the nuclear disaster in Japan. One pump is currently in operation cooling a storage pool as electricity has been restored to all six reactors that continue to be tested before full start-up is attempted.

There have been warnings about infants consuming water from the area and some countries are blocking Japanese food exports that could be affected in the wake of tests on milk and some vegetables led by the US stopping imports of milk, vegetable and fruit from four prefectures in the vicinity of the plant.

The disaster in Japan is having world-wide ripple effects in the global economy - particularly in the technology and auto sectors.

The latest estimates of dead and missing continues to rise and is currently officially pegged at over 23,000 with the total expected to continue to rise as search and recovery proceeds.

Japan nuclear crisis still a serious concern

3:12pm EDT

By Shinichi Saoshiro and Yoko Kubota

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo residents were warned not to give babies tap water because of radiation leaking from a nuclear plant crippled in the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan in the world's costliest natural disaster.

The U.N. atomic agency said there had been some positive developments at the Fukushima nuclear plant 250 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo but the overall situation remained serious. Some countries have started blocking imports of produce from Japan, fearful of radiation contamination.

The first official estimate put the cost from the March 11 disaster at more than $300 billion, dwarfing losses from both the 1995 Kobe quake and Hurricane Katrina that swept through New Orleans in 2005, making it the world's costliest natural disaster.

The plant, battered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that has left 23,000 people dead or missing, has still not been brought under control, and workers were forced away from the complex when black smoke began rising from one of its six reactors.

"There are some positive developments related to the availability of electrical power...although the overall situation remains of serious concern," Graham Andrew, a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a news conference.

Tokyo authorities said Wednesday that water at a purification plant for the capital of 13 million people had 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine -- more than twice the safety level for infants.

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said that level posed no immediate risk. "But, for infants under age one, I would like them to refrain from using tap water to dilute baby formula."

As concern grew over the risk to food safety of radiation from the nuclear plant, the United States became the first nation to block some food imports from the disaster zone.

It is stopping imports of milk, vegetable and fruit from four prefectures in the vicinity of the plant.

Hong Kong, a major importers of Japanese food, also banned produce and milk imports from the disaster zone. Japan's Jiji news agency said Hong Kong authorities had found radioactivity levels in spinach and turnip samples up to 10 times above the safety limit.

France this week asked the European Commission to look into harmonizing controls on radioactivity in imports from Japan, after the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.

Authorities have said above-safety radiation levels had been discovered in 11 types of vegetables from the area, in addition to milk and water, and have halted shipments of some food and told people there to stop eating leafy vegetables.

Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano, the government's public face during the disaster, urged the world not to overreact.

Edano also said an exclusion zone around the plant did not need to be expanded and he urged Tokyo residents not to hoard bottled water, a plea that fell on deaf ears with many shops quickly selling out of supplies.

"If this were temporary, I wouldn't be so worried. If this is a long term, I think we have a lot to worry about," said Riku Kato, father of a one-year-old baby.

Physicians for Social Responsibility, a U.S. anti-nuclear group, disputed the food safety assurances and called for a more strict ban on sales of exposed food.

"There is no safe level of radionuclide exposure, whether from food, water or other sources. Period," said physician Jeff Patterson, a former president of the group.

The Asian nation's worst crisis since World War Two has sent shock waves through global financial markets.

The damage estimate of $300 billion could go higher as it does not include losses in economic activity from planned power outages or the broader impact of the nuclear crisis. The 1995 Kobe quake cost $100 billion while Hurricane Katrina caused $81 billion in damage.

More than a quarter of a million people are living in shelters, while rescuers and sniffer dogs comb debris and mud looking for corpses and personal mementos.

POWER CABLES ATTACHED

Technicians have successfully attached power cables to all six reactors at the Fukushima plant and started a pump at one to cool overheating fuel rods.

As well as having its workers on the front line in highly dangerous circumstances, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) is also facing accusations of a slow disaster response and questions over why it originally stored more uranium at the plant than it was designed to hold.

The IAEA has expressed concern about a lack of information from Japanese authorities, citing missing data on temperatures of spent fuel pools at the facility's reactors 1, 3 and 4.

Japan Nuclear Safety Commission Chairman Haruki Madarame said the government was "swiftly releasing information that is certain and not speculative" within Japan, but acknowledged it is behind in releasing information to foreign countries."

Experts have said tiny radioactive particles, measured by a network of monitoring stations as they spread eastwards from Japan across the Pacific, North America, the Atlantic and to Europe, were far too low to cause any harm to humans.

"It's only a matter of days before it disperses in the entire northern hemisphere," said Andrea Stahl, a senior scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research.

GLOBAL IMPACT

The Japan disaster has dealt a blow to the nuclear power industry around the world. Italy became the latest nation to re-assess its program, announcing a one-year moratorium on site selection and building of plants.

Crisis in the world's third-biggest economy -- and its key position in global supply chains, especially for the auto and technology sectors -- has added to global market jitters, also affected by conflict in Libya and unrest in the Middle East.

The death toll from the disaster has risen to 9,523, but with 16,094 people still missing, it is certain to rise.

There are reports that dozens of survivors, mostly elderly, have died in hospitals and evacuation centers from a lack of proper treatment, or simply because of the cold.

[OMG Earthquake?]

The BBC reports electricity has now been restored to the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant and all six reactors but tests need to be carried out to make sure that there are no pockets of flammable gas that would ignite when the reactor pumps are fired up. Also high levels of radiation continue to be admitted and there remains concerns that containment has been lost on one or more of the reactor vessels.

The death and missing toll has now gone over 21,000 and is expected to continue to rise.

22 March 2011

Last updated at 17:58 ET

Lights restored at Japan nuclear reactor

Engineers at Fukushima reactor 4 Works at the Fukushima Daiichi plant are spraying water on the damaged reactors to cool them

Lighting has been restored in the control room of one of the most badly-damaged reactors at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, officials say.

It is hoped the development will speed up work to restore cooling systems vital for stabilising the reactor.

Meanwhile, the UN's nuclear watchdog says radiation is still leaking from the quake-hit plant, but scientists are unsure exactly where it is coming from.

Japan estimates more than 21,000 people died in the 11 March quake and tsunami.

The lights came back on in the control centre of reactor 3, hours after power cables were connected to all six reactors for the first time.

The BBC's Mark Worthington in Tokyo says the hope is that as visibility within the plant improves, so will the chances of restarting cooling systems and monitoring equipment.

The Fukushima Daiichi plant's operators, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), said engineers will try to power up water pumps to reactor 3 some time on Wednesday.

However, they warned that safety checks had to be made to damaged equipment and any volatile gases vented, to avoid an explosion when the electricity is switched back on.

They said restoring power to all the reactor units could take weeks or even months.

Workers have been battling to cool the reactors and spent fuel ponds to avoid a major release of radiation.

FUKUSHIMA UPDATE

* Reactor 1: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas explosion. Power lines attached.

* Reactor 2: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage suspected. Power lines attached.

* Reactor 3: Damage to the core from cooling problems. Building holed by gas blast; containment damage possible. Spent fuel pond partly refilled with water after running low. Power lines attached.

* Reactor 4: Reactor shut down prior to earthquake. Fires and explosion in spent fuel pond; water level partly restored. Power lines attached.

* Reactors 5 & 6: Reactors shut down. Temperature of spent fuel pools now lowered after rising high. Power lines attached.

Emergency teams at Fukushima have also poured seawater into a boiling storage pond housing spent nuclear fuel rods, cooling it and stopping clouds of steam - possibly radioactive - rising from it.

On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that radiation was continuing to be emitted from the plant but it was difficult to pinpoint its exact source.

Senior official James Lyons said the IAEA and Japanese officials could not confirm that the damaged reactors were "totally intact" or if they were cracked and leaking radiation.

"We continue to see radiation coming from the site... and the question is where exactly is that coming from," Mr Lyons told a news conference.

The government has evacuated tens of thousands of people within a 20km (12-mile) radius of the plant and told residents 10km beyond that to stay indoors. The US has recommended an 80km exclusion zone.

Tepco vice president Norio Tsuzumi has visited evacuation centres to meet those forced from their homes.

Bowing deeply, he said: "Since I have tried to manage this problem hand-in-hand with the government, my visit here to directly meet you was belated. For this I also apologise from the bottom of my heart."

Higher than normal levels of radiation have been detected in seawater about 16km (10 miles) off the coast near the plant, but the government said they did not pose an immediate danger to human health.

Officials did however stop food shipments in nearby prefectures after detecting higher-than-normal levels of radiation in milk and certain vegetables, although authorities again insisted there was no health hazard.

Meanwhile, strong aftershocks are continuing to rattle the north-east of Japan, adding to the misery of more than 300,000 people still huddled in evacuation centres across 16 prefectures.

Tens of thousands of homes are still without power and more than two million people have no running water, officials say.

Police say the confirmed death toll from the earthquake and tsunami is now 9,079, with 12,645 missing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12825342

[OMG Earthquake?]

Latest Reuters summary - radiation jitters growing even as the Fukushima Daiichi plant seems to be brought under control.

Radiation anxiety grows in disaster-struck Japan

6:28pm EDT

By Shinichi Saoshiro and Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) - Global anxiety rose over radiation from Japan's crippled nuclear plant even as engineers won ground in their battle to avert disaster from the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl.

The high-stakes drama at the battered Fukushima nuclear power complex is playing out while the Asian nation grapples with the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left at least 21,000 people dead or missing.

Technicians working inside an evacuation zone round the stricken plant on Japan's northeast Pacific coast have managed to attach power cables to all six reactors and started a pump at one of them to cool overheating nuclear fuel rods.

"We see a light for getting out of the crisis," an official quoted Prime Minister Naoto Kan as saying, allowing himself some rare optimism in Japan's toughest moment since World War II.

Yet away from the plant, mounting evidence of radiation in vegetables, water and milk spread jitters among Japanese and abroad despite officials' assurances levels were not dangerous.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company said radiation was found in the Pacific nearby, not surprising given rain and the hosing of reactors with sea-water.

Radioactive iodine in the sea samples was 126.7 times the allowed limit, while cesium was 24.8 times over, Kyodo news agency said. That still posed no immediate danger, TEPCO said.

"It would have to be drunk for a whole year in order to accumulate to one millisievert," a TEPCO official said, referring to the standard radiation measurement unit. People are generally exposed to about 1 to 10 millisieverts each year from background radiation caused by substances in the air and soil.

Japan has urged some residents near the plant to stop drinking tap water after high levels of radioactive iodine were detected. It has also stopped shipments of milk, spinach and another local vegetable called kakina from the area.

"What I want the people to understand is that their levels are not high enough to affect humans," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.

Experts say readings are much lower than around Chernobyl after the 1986 accident in Ukraine. Some warned against panic.

"You would have to eat or drink an awful lot to get any level of radiation that would be harmful," said British nuclear expert Laurence Williams.

"We live in a radioactive world: we get radiation from the earth, from the food we eat. It's an emotive subject and the nuclear industry and governments have got to do a lot more to educate people."

The World Health Organization (WHO) said the radiation impact was, however, becoming more serious than first thought, when it was expected to be limited to 20-30 km from the plant.

However, Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the WHO's regional office, told Reuters there was no evidence of contaminated food reaching other countries from the Fukushima complex, which lies 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

In the city of 13 million, many residents remain indoors or wear masks when out in the street. Some expatriates and locals left after the accident.

Japan is a net importer of food, but has substantial exports -- mainly fruit, vegetables, dairy products and seafood -- with its biggest markets in Hong Kong, China and the United States.

CONTAMINATION FEARS

China said it is monitoring food imports from Japan but also took a swipe against panic by jailing a man for 10 days for spreading rumors about contamination of its waters.

State media said the computer company worker, who had urged people to avoid sea products for a year, was also fined 500 yuan ($76.13) and had confessed to "deep awareness of his mistake."

South Korea is expanding inspection of Japanese food.

And in Taiwan, one Japanese restaurant is offering diners a radiation gauge in case they are nervous about the food.

The United States said it was distributing potassium iodide to American personnel in Japan "out of an abundance of caution" should the radiation treatment be needed.

The prospects of a nuclear meltdown in the world's third-biggest economy - and its key position in global supply chains especially for the automobile and technology sectors - rattled investors worldwide last week and prompted rare joint currency intervention by the G7 group of rich nations.

Damage is estimated at around $250 billion, making it the world's costliest natural disaster.

Japan's economic growth is expected to depress in the first half before reconstruction kicks in.

Global stocks rose on Monday as risk appetite returned following progress in the nuclear crisis. The yen slid on speculation of more Group of Seven intervention.

In a symbolic boost for Japan, billionaire investor Warren Buffett said the quake and tsunami were an "enormous blow" but also presented a "buying opportunity" given recovery prospects.

DEVASTATED NORTH

The official death toll - 8,805 by Tuesday morning - is certain to keep rising, with another 12,654 reported missing.

Police say more than 15,000 people probably died in Miyagi prefecture, one of four that took the brunt of the tsunami.

The 9.0-magnitude quake and ensuing 10-meter (32-ft) tsunami obliterated towns, which are now wastelands of mud and debris, leaving more than 350,000 people homeless.

Japanese are famed for resilience though, and there was none of the chaos or looting that major global disasters often spark.

In one devastated northern town, Rikuzentakata, rebuilding has even begun to help families living on mats in cramped shelters, separated from neighbors only by cardboard.

Steel structures, with walls and wood floors, have been erected at a hilltop school, to provide temporary housing.

Nearly 9.5 million foreigners visited Japan last year.

But, like Korean housewife Jin Hye-ryun who canceled a planned visit in May, many tourists are re-thinking.

"Safety is not guaranteed," she said. "Besides, think about people dying there. No one wants to go there to have fun."

There is widespread admiration for the workers facing high radiation dosages on the front line at Fukushima. Some have wept with tension and relief after finishing their shifts.

Other tales of heroism and horror abound, including a fire chief traumatized after sending a team to close a faulty sea-wall manually just as the tsunami struck, killing them all.

As well as hunting for bodies and survivors, rescuers have been painstakingly recovering photographs and other mementos from the wreckage and laying them out for possible collection.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/21/us-japan-quake-idUSTRE72A0SS20110321

[OMG Earthquake?]

That being my point. Oversight by the old boys network doesn't cut it.

It's almost like cops investigating themselves.

The oversight however is not "outsourced" - it is a government regulatory agency.

[OMG Earthquake?]

Just updating my list of things that it is bad to out source with no regulatory oversite.

Oh for the days of old where the executives of TEPCO would be expected to commit Hari Kari

There is regulatory oversight in Japan - the criticism is that the relationship is too cozy.

[OMG Earthquake?]

Reuters has special in-depth report that looks at what factors contributed to the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in the wake of the earthquake. The huge amount of spent fuel rods on-site and the manner in which they were stored were serious issues along with a less than stellar safety and maintenance record - and that record applied specifically to the Fukushima Daiichi facility.

The US apparently has number of nuclear plants of the same design and similar pool storage of spent fuel rods as the Fukushima Daiichi plant. For economic reasons they apparently have elected this pool storage unlike the German practise of dry storage of spent nuclear fuel in steel and lined lead casks that can be hardened against attack or accidents with concrete. Like Japan it was never initially intended the spent fuel would remain on site for any lengthy period of time but in the US the nuclear industry has run into opposition when trying to move the spent fuel off site for processing and/or storage.

Once the magnitude of the potential disaster became apparent TEPCO delayed pumping in seawater into the reactors in an effort to preserve its assets and investments until finally ordered to begun pumping seawater by the Japanese Prime Minister.

One can expect the close and cozy relationship between the Japanese nuclear industry and the Japanese government and regulators to be a huge issue in the aftermath of this disaster.

Another issue is corporate leadership in the crisis - TEPCO chief executive Masataka Shimizu has literally vanished from the public eye.

Special Report: Fuel storage, safety issues vexed Japan plant

11:50am EDT

By Kevin Krolicki and Ross Kerber

TOKYO (Reuters)- When the massive tsunami smacked into Fukushima Daiichi, the nuclear power plant was stacked high with more uranium than it was originally designed to hold and had repeatedly missed mandatory safety checks over the past decade.

The Fukushima plant that has spun into partial meltdown and spewed out plumes of radiation had become a growing depot for spent fuel in a way the American engineers who designed the reactors 50 years earlier had never envisioned, according to company documents and outside experts.

At the time of the March 11 earthquake, the reactor buildings at Fukushima held the equivalent of almost six years of the highly radioactive uranium fuel rods produced by the plant, according to a presentation by Tokyo Electric Power Co to a conference organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Along with questions about whether Tokyo Electric officials waited too long to pump sea water into the plants and abandon hope of saving them, the utility and regulators are certain to face scrutiny on the fateful decision to store most of the plant's spent fuel rods inside the reactor buildings rather than invest in other potentially safer storage options.

That debate has direct implications for nuclear policy in the United States about whether changes enacted after the September 11, 2001 attacks go far enough to protect potentially vulnerable fuel stored at the nearly two dozen U.S. power plants that have the same design as the Fukushima Daiichi plant, experts say.

In Japan, the crisis has also focused attention on Tokyo Electric's spotty record on safety issues that continued until days before the quake, its cost-cutting drive under current chief executive Masataka Shimizu, and a relationship with Japanese government regulators that critics say remains shot through with conflicts of interest.

The cascade of safety-related failures at the Fukushima plant is already strengthening the hand of reformers who argue that Japan's nuclear power industry will have to see sweeping changes from the top.

"I've long thought that the whole system is crap," said Taro Kono, a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and a longtime critic of nuclear power who sees the need for a government-directed reorganization of Tokyo Electric.

"We have to go through our whole nuclear strategy after this," Kono said. "Now no one is going to accept nuclear waste in their backyards. You can have an earthquake and have radioactive material under your house. We're going to have a real debate on this."

The latest incidents add to a record of safety sanctions and misses at Tokyo Electric - more commonly known as TEPCO - that date back a decade and continued into the weeks before the quake.

Less than two weeks before Fukushima Daichi was sent into partial meltdown, the utility had told safety regulators it had failed to inspect 33 pieces of equipment at the plant, including a backup power generator, according to a filing.

Nuclear industry analysts say an even more pressing question concerns an area where Japan's safety regulations may have given TEPCO too much room to maneuver as it sought to contain costs: storage of used fuel rods.

RADIATION RISKS

When the quake hit, almost 4,000 uranium fuel assemblies were stored in deep pools of circulating water built into the highest floor of the Fukushima reactor buildings, according to company records. Each assembly stands about 3.5 meters high and even a decade after use emits enough radiation to kill a person standing nearby.

The spent radioactive fuel stored in the reactors represented more than three times the amount of radioactive material normally held in the active cores of the six reactors at the complex, according to Tokyo Electric briefings and its presentation to the IAEA.

The build-up of used fuel rods in the Fukushima reactor buildings has complicated the response to the continuing crisis at the complex and deepened its severity, officials and experts have said.

That has been especially the case at the No. 4 reactor, which was out of service at the time of the quake and had some 548, still-hot fuel assemblies cooling in a pool of water on its upper floor.

That reactor, which erupted into explosive flames twice last week, triggered a warning from U.S. officials last week about higher risks for radiation from the stricken plant than Japanese officials had disclosed.

David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said the spent fuel was vulnerable because it was protected only by the relatively "flimsy" outer shell of the reactors and reliant on a single, pump-driven cooling system.

"It's a recipe for disaster and that disaster is now unfolding in Japan," Lochbaum said.

The pile-up of used radioactive fuel stored at Fukushima underscores a dilemma that the nuclear power industry has faced in Japan and in the United States for decades: there is no easy answer to the question of where to store radioactive nuclear fuel after it has been used to produce power.

In the United States, industry planners had once assumed that spent fuel rods would be moved to the Yucca Mountain Repository in Nevada. But political opposition in that fast-growing state helped put the plan on hold, meaning spent fuel has largely piled up in on-site cooling ponds.

"We have no plan for the back end of the (nuclear) fuel cycle, and we need one," said Allison Macfarlane, a professor at George Mason University in Virginia, who serves on a U.S. government panel studying the problem.

The situation is similar in Japan. A medium-term storage facility for waste from Fukushima Daiichi being built in the small village of Mutsu in northern Japan is not scheduled to open until 2012. The plan had been for that facility to hold 20 years worth of spent fuel.

A longer-term and controversial plan to build a uranium enrichment and reprocessing plant at nearby Rokkasho has also faced repeated delays and technical difficulties in a project that dates back to the early 1990s.

More than 60 percent of the uranium stored at Fukushima Daiichi made it through the quake and tsunami without being destabilized because it was kept in a separate pool built in 1997 and in a number of metal casks that do not rely on outside power, Japanese nuclear safety officials said.

But the location of the remaining fuel storage pools - on the highest floor of the reactor buildings - exposed the fuel to additional risks because the pools would have swayed more in the quake and could have lost water through sloshing or leaks, experts say.

As workers at the plant scramble to restore power to the plant and test pumps and other safety equipment, the main focus of the safety response has been to keep water in the storage pools by shooting sprays of water from a hastily assembled battalion of high-powered fire trucks.

The water in the pools serves as both a coolant and a barrier to radiation. When the zirconium cladding on the fuel rods is exposed to air, it can erupt into flames.

PUSHING THE LIMITS

Fukushima Daiichi had over time been pushing the limits of the plant's capacity to store uranium fuel on site, according to a Tokyo Electric presentation from November 2010 and now circulating among safety experts and environmental critics.

The Tokyo Electric researcher who prepared that presentation on the safety of spent fuel at the complex, Yumiko Kumano, could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for TEPCO declined to comment on its fuel storage decisions and whether they contributed to the crisis.

"Our focus now is on responding to the situation at Fukushima," he said.

The TEPCO presentation noted that the utility had taken steps to increase storage capacity for spent fuel at the plant complex beyond its original design. Those included "re-racking" the pools in the reactor buildings to increase their capacity and then building a separate large, pool outside and a separate hub of metal casks that do not need to rely on electricity.

But the only significant open space left for storage remained inside the reactor buildings, according to the document. TEPCO had the capacity to more than double the number of fuel assemblies stored in the reactors from 3,998 at the time of the quake to 8,310 assemblies.

"They were headed for dense pack and that would have made the situation even worse," said Frank von Hippel, a Princeton University physicist and former U.S. adviser on nuclear security risks in the Clinton administration.

An official with Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, who asked not to be named because he was not speaking on behalf of regulators in a formal capacity, said officials would have to review safety policies on storing fuel inside reactor buildings.

"This is something that we are going to have to look at after what's happened," he said.

SAFETY MISSES, APOLOGIES, MORE MISSSES

When Toru Ishida, a powerful advocate for the Japanese nuclear power industry, decided to leave his government post in 2010 for private industry, he didn't have to change his commute much at all.

Ishida, who had been director general of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the agency overseeing nuclear power, was hired four months after he left his regulatory post by TEPCO.

In a sign of the close ties between the utility and the government agency that serves as its biggest patron, the now-darkened TEPCO headquarters is just a few blocks from METI's drab complex in the Kasumigaski neighborhood that houses much of the government bureaucracy.

The practice of former bureaucrats dropping into high-paid private sector jobs after retirement remains both relatively common and controversial in Japan where it is known as "amakudari," or "descent from heaven."

But the Ishida case attracted so much notice when his hiring by TEPCO became public earlier this year, that then METI Minister Akihiro Ohata felt compelled to concede it could show the need for reform.

"Something should be done to reassure public concern about this," Ohata told reporters in January, while arguing that Ishida had been hired by TEPCO for his "capacity, experience and intelligence" and nothing more.

Critics, including the lawmaker Kono, said the hire illustrates the deep-seated problems in a system that has made METI both nuclear power's biggest backer and home to the safety agency in charge of its regulation.

METI has guided Tokyo Electric's investment in nuclear power and provided an implicit backstop and financing. At the same time, the utility has provided jobs for some senior METI officials like Ishida and a network of sympathetic politicians, Kono said.

"If this is a national policy, then the government has to be responsible entirely," he said. "If this is private enterprise, then we have to think about how to de-cartel this industry."

The Fukushima Daiichi plant is Tokyo Electric's oldest nuclear facility, and it has been the site of a series of high-profile safety lapses going back a decade.

In 2002, TEPCO admitted to safety regulators that it had falsified safety records at the No. 1 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi. In 2003, TEPCO shut down all of its 17 nuclear plants to take responsibility for the false safety scandal and a fuel leak at Fukushima.

In 2007, after a powerful quake hit the area near TEPCO's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata, the utility was slow to report two radiation leaks and miscalculated the amount of radiation released in a third incident.

Japanese regulators have also come under fire. In 1999, a study commissioned by the U.S. Energy Department determined that workers at Japan's Tokaimura fuel plant had been given insufficient training before they accidentally touched off an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction. Three workers were severely injured in the incident, which forced tens of thousands to evacuate.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency was established in 2001 in part because of that criticism. But critics have questioned whether it has enough distance from the industry it regulates or the resources it needs. The agency's records show that it has about two field inspectors for each of Japan's 54 nuclear plants.

WHERE'S THE CEO

While the band of TEPCO workers risk dangerous doses of radiation as they struggle to prevent a catastrophic meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi, the company's chief executive has all but vanished from the public eye.

Chief executive Masataka Shimizu has not made a public appearance in more than a week. He has yet to visit the crippled nuclear power plant north of Tokyo. And many Japanese, on a knife edge waiting to see if the nuclear power plant and its radiation leaks can be brought under control, are beginning to question how much he is in control of the crisis.

At his last news conference, a week ago, the 66-year-old apologized for the situation, before all but vanishing from public view. The company issued a statement from him on Saturday in which he expressed regret for "causing such trouble."

Shimizu is a consummate company man, joining the place where his father worked at the age of 23. At the country's biggest power supplier, he made a name for himself as a cost-cutter in the procurement side of the business, before becoming company president in June 2008.

Since the crisis, he has largely left it to TEPCO spokespeople in Tokyo to be the public face of the company and answer increasingly aggressive questions, and criticism, from reporters frustrated at the lack of information.

"He's making the low-ranking people do all the hard work," said Satomi Aihara, a 46-year-old Tokyo resident. "I wonder where he's hiding -- it makes me mad."

Even Prime Minister Naoto Kan has been unable to hide his frustration. "What the hell is going on?" he was overheard telling TEPCO executives last week.

TEPCO officials say their boss is busy behind the scenes.

"He's been leading the troops at headquarters," company spokesman Kaoru Yoshida said.

Japanese company chiefs may not be as closely associated with the successes of their companies as they are in the United States or Europe, but they are to any failures.

They are expected to take responsibility for shortcomings, scandals or disasters that happen on their watch, apologizing profusely and often resigning.

Indeed, a former president and chairman of the company both stepped down after the 2002 safety scandal.

HAS U.S. DONE ENOUGH?

While TEPCO, its chief executive and regulators may face questions over the safe storage of spent fuel inside the Fukushima reactors, in the United States experts have urged spent fuel be stored away from reactors because of the risk of a terrorist attack.

A classified report by the U.S. National Academy of Science prepared in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, challenged the position of the U.S. nuclear industry that storing spent fuel in pools was as safe as storing it outside the reactor buildings in heavy casks of lead and steel that can also be reinforced with a massive concrete bunker.

About 23 U.S. reactors share the same General Electric "Mark 1" design as the Fukushima Daiichi reactors, which date back to 1971.

"When the plants were originally designed, it was thought that the spent fuel would remain on the sites only two or three months after they came out of the reactor during a refueling outage and then the fuel would be shipped offsite for reprocessing or disposal," said Lochbaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"When those plans changed, we just filled the pools up to capacity without ever rethinking whether we should provide better safety or barriers," he said.

The Japan nuclear crisis has raised concern for U.S. officials because of the areas where safety practices overlap. By contrast, Germany, for example, has relied more heavily on storage of spent fuel in casks that can be hardened against attack or accidents with concrete.

One of problems limiting the wider use of the dry storage units is their upfront costs: each cask costs about $1 million or more. Critics say the costs are roughly comparable with cooling pools over the long run but require initial capital spending that can be a tougher sell to management and shareholders.

Richard Meserve, who was chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1999 to 2003 and oversaw its response to the September 11 attacks, said it is too soon to judge what has happened at Fukushima until more reviews take place. If anything, he said, he was surprised the reactors' spent fuel pools were not fuller, given the ages of the plants.

Meserve noted the steps the NRC took after the September 11 attacks such as requiring the hottest fuel to be spread among various cooling pools, and extra systems to spray water on the spent rods. "We have some safety systems in the U.S. reactors that may not be present at the Japanese reactors," he said.

Junichi Nunomura, a Tokyo-based executive with NAC, a U.S. firm that provides dry storage for nuclear fuel, said Japanese utilities had been slow to move away from storing spent fuel in pools at reactors despite the shift in international opinion away from that option in recent years.

"They've been very cautious, very slow to move," Nunomura said. "That could change."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/21/us-japan-nuclear-idUSTRE72K47A20110321

[OMG Earthquake?]

Japan disaster by the numbers from Reuters gives an idea of the scope and scale wrought by the quake and tsunami.

DEATH TOLL

* The death toll is difficult to forecast.

A total of 8,450 people were confirmed dead by police as of Sunday. Police in Miyagi prefecture, the worst-hit area, said the number of dead there would exceed 15,000. Heavy losses were also suffered in Iwate and Fukushima prefectures.

Another 12,931 people are still missing, National Police Agency of Japan says.

NUMBER OF PEOPLE EVACUATED

* A total of 350,332 people have been evacuated and are staying at shelters as of 1200 GMT on Sunday, National Police Agency of Japan says.

The government expanded the evacuation area around a quake-stricken nuclear plant in northeastern Japan to a 20-km (12 miles) radius from 10 km on March 12. Since then, around 177,500 residents have evacuated from the zone.

The government has also told people within 30 km of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, some 240 km north of Tokyo, to stay indoors.

HOUSEHOLDS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY

* A total of 242,927 households in the north were without electricity as of Sunday evening, Tohuku Electric Power Co. says.

HOUSEHOLDS WITHOUT WATER

At least 1.04 million households in 11 prefectures were without running water as of Saturday, the Health Ministry says on Saturday.

NUMBER OF BUILDINGS DAMAGED

* At least 126,723 buildings have been damaged, with at least 14,637 completely destroyed, National Police Agency of Japan says on Sunday.

IMPACT ON ECONOMY

- Citigroup expects 5-10 trillion yen in damage to housing and infrastructure, while Barclays Capital estimates economic losses of 15 trillion yen ($183.7 billion) or 3 percent of Japan's GDP.

UBS expects Japan's economy to grow 1.4 percent this year, compared with its previous forecast of 1.5 percent expansion. But it upgraded its growth forecast for 2012 to 2.5 percent, up from the previous estimate of 2.1 percent.

Goldman Sachs expects total economic losses likely to hit 16 trillion yen, while it expects real GDP to decline by 0.5-2 percent in the second quarter.

NUMBER OF COUNTRIES OFFERING AID

- According to the Japanese foreign ministry, 128 countries and 33 international organizations have offered assistance as of Saturday.

($1=81.66 yen)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/20/us-japan-quake-numbers-factbox-idUSTRE72J2S320110320

[OMG Earthquake?]

Update on the efforts to bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant under control by NHK:

2nd water spraying operation at No.3 reactor ends

At the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, firefighters finished their second operation to spray water on the No.3 reactor building shortly before 4 AM on Monday.

The operation began at 09:30 PM on Sunday and lasted for 6 and a half hours.

The Tokyo Fire Department's first operation began on Saturday. Firefighters sprayed water on the spent fuel rod pool of the No.3 reactor for 14 hours. The first operation was carried out in 2 parts, and ended early on Sunday.

Firefighters used an unmanned vehicle that can continuously spray seawater from the height of 22 meters directly into a pool containing spent fuel rods.

Since the vehicle they had used during the first operation had problems after the prolonged operation, a replacement was used in the second operation. A pump vehicle supplied seawater to the unmanned vehicle.

After adjusting the position of the unmanned vehicle and the direction of its spray, the firefighters moved outside the compound.

The amount of seawater sprayed so far is about triple the capacity of the spent fuel pool.

The level of radioactivity around the No.3 reactor decreased after the dousing that ended on Sunday.

The operation that finished on Monday is expected to further improve the condition of the spent fuel pool.

Monday, March 21, 2011 08:37 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_09.html

And now:

Restoring external power to Fukushima Daiichi

The Tokyo Electric Power Company has resumed work to restore external power to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as part of its efforts to regain cooling functions.

This follows operations by the Tokyo Fire Department and Self-Defense Forces to douse the No.3 and No.4 reactors with water.

They ended their water-spraying operations to cool down the spent fuel rod pools on Monday morning.

External power was extended to the electricity distribution panels of the No.2 and No.5 reactors on Sunday, and power can now be supplied to reactors number 1, 2, 5, and 6.

In order to get the electricity back on at the No.2 reactor, the power company plans to check various measurement devices and lighting systems in the central control room -- the heart of the plant -- and check for electricity leakage in the battery charging room.

The No.3 and No.4 reactors, where high levels of radiation are forcing workers to exercise extreme caution, are scheduled to be connected to the electricity distribution panels on Tuesday.

The power company is doing everything it can to restore external power, which it sees as essential to regaining cooling functions for the reactor vessels and the spent fuel rod pools.

Monday, March 21, 2011 12:46 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/21_18.html

[OMG Earthquake?]

Some more detail on the 16 year old boy and the 80 year old woman rescued nine days after the quake - they were grandmother and grandson. It has also been confirmed the other "survivor" who was found 8 dyas after the quake had returned to his home after first being in an evacuation shelter.

Two survivors, one an elderly woman, have been rescued from under rubble in the devastated Japanese city of Ishinomaki, nine days after the huge earthquake and tsunami.

"Their temperatures were quite low but they were conscious," said a spokesman for the Ishinomaki Police Department.

"Details of their condition are not immediately known. They have been already rescued and sent to hospital."

Sumi Abe, 80, and her 16-year-old grandson Jin Abe were in the kitchen when the quake struck on March 11, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The grandson, Jin, was found on the roof of his house in Ishinomaki, yelling out for help, reports say. Jin led rescuers inside where they found his grandmother.

The house collapsed with them inside but the grandson was able to reach food from the refrigerator, helping them to survive, NHK quoted rescuers as saying.

They were found under debris.

The boy was said to be shivering and with no feeling in one leg.

There have been few such miracle rescues, with almost 21,000 people confirmed as dead or listed as missing following the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and giant tsunami which flattened Japan's northeast coast on March 11.

On Saturday troops announced they had found a man thought to have survived for eight days in a half-destroyed house in the earthquake and tsunami zone, but it later turned out he was actually an evacuee who had returned to his home.

Freezing temperatures and snow have hampered rescue operations.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-reports/two-survivors-found-under-rubble-nine-days-after-japanese-earthquake/story-fn7zkbgs-1226024997197

[OMG Earthquake?]

More detail on the two reactors Nos 5 and 6) at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant that have reportedly been brought under control.

Tokyo Electric Power Company says cooling functions were restored by Sunday evening for the No.5 and No.6 reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Coolant water temperatures have now fallen below 100 degrees Celsius.

The tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake that hit northeastern Japan on March 11th damaged the emergency diesel generator at the No. 5 reactor, causing the coolant water levels to drop.

The No.5 reactor had been halted for regular inspections when the earthquake and tsunami struck, but nuclear fuel rods had already been placed inside the reactor.

TEPCO restored the cooling functions of the No.5 reactor on Sunday afternoon using the emergency diesel engine generator of the No.6 reactor, which escaped damage from the quake and tsunami.

The cooling function of the No.6 reactor was restored by 7:30 PM.

Sunday, March 20, 2011 23:46 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_33.html

[OMG Earthquake?]

Some good news from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant - Two of six Fukushima nuclear reactors have been declared safe. Also the plans to vent more radioactive steam which could further contaminate food and water sources in the area remain on hold.

When and if the plant is finally brought under control it will be decommissioned and scrapped.

Officials are now belatedly distributing potassium iodide pills to those living near the nuclear complex after admitting it should have begun sooner. The pills help ward off thyroid cancer that is the biggest worry at the moment for those near the plant.

Two reactors at a crippled Japanese nuclear plant are safely under control after their fuel storage pools cooled down, officials on Sunday told a devastated region that has been holding its breath for good news.

Tokyo Electric Power Company said Units 5 and 6 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant had been declared safe, after pumping water into the reactors pools for days and bringing temperatures under control.

The units were the least problematic of the facility's six reactors, but marks a minor advance in efforts the stop the nuclear plant from leaking radiation. The Fukushima plant still has four reactors overheating, after an earthquake-triggered tsunami shut down its cooling systems nine days ago.

The northeast coastal region has been struggling to recover from fallout from the disaster, including concerns that leaks at the nuclear plant had contaminated food and water.

Earlier on Sunday, Japanese nuclear authorities stopped venting radioactive gas from the leaking reactor, a move that could have caused as-yet minor cases of food and water contamination to worsen.

Traces of radiation began appearing in food and water sources near the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant over the past several days, after the cooling systems to its six reactors were knocked out by a massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Milk and spinach tainted by radiation were found as far as 120 kilometres away from the troubled facility, while trace amounts of radioactive iodine was found in tap water as far away Tokyo, some 200 kilometres to the south.

Tawain reported on Sunday receiving a shipment of fava beans imported from Japan contaminated with a slight, and legal, amount of iodine.

While radiation levels in food and water have frequently exceeded government-imposed safety limits, officials said they so far pose no immediate health risks.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., has so far suspended venting plans, but the measure could still be considered if the reactor's pressure rises further. Internal temperatures reached 300 degrees Celsius early Sunday.

Nuclear safety officials said venting would release a cloud dense with iodine, krypton and xenon.

A company spokesman said the high pressure may have been caused by seawater pumped into the vessel, an extreme measure used to reduce temperatures. The decision to douse the troubled reactor with sea water means the facility will never operate again.

Japanese officials acknowledged Sunday that the entire complex would be scrapped once the emergency was resolved.

"It is obviously clear that Fukushima Dai-ichi in no way will be in a condition to be restarted," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.

The growing concern about radiation is the latest in a series of troubles raised since the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami crushed Japan's east coast, killing more than 8,400, leaving nearly 13,000 missing and forcing another 452,000 out of their homes.

One official acknowledged on Sunday that the government was late in realizing they needed to provide potassium iodide pills to those living near the nuclear complex. The pills help reduce chances of getting thyroid cancer from exposure to the radiation.

But officials continued to reassure residents on Sunday that radiation in food and water did not pose immediate health risks.

A spokesperson for the Miyagi prefecture's disaster response team said drinking one litre of affected water was the equivalent of receiving 188th of the radiation from a chest X-ray.

http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110320/japan-nuclear-reactors-110320/20110320/?hub=EdmontonHome

Some additional details here:

Some progress reported in Japan’s efforts to ease crisis at stricken nuclear plant

By Associated Press, Sunday, March 20, 1:13 PM

FUKUSHIMA, Japan — Japanese officials reported progress Sunday in their battle to gain control over a leaking, tsunami-stricken nuclear complex, though the crisis was far from over, with the discovery of more radiation-tainted vegetables adding to public fears about contaminated food.

The announcement by Japan’s Health Ministry late Sunday that tests had detected excess amounts of radioactive elements on canola and chrysanthemum greens marked a low moment in a day that had been peppered with bits of positive news: First, a teenager and his grandmother were found alive nine days after being trapped in their earthquake-shattered home. Then, the operator of the overheated nuclear plant said two of the six reactor units were safely cooled down.

“We consider that now we have come to a situation where we are very close to getting the situation under control,” Deputy Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama said.

Still, serious problems remained at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex. Pressure unexpectedly rose in a third unit’s reactor, meaning plant operators may need to deliberately release radioactive steam. That has only added to public anxiety over radiation that began leaking from the plant after a monstrous earthquake and tsunami devastated northeastern Japan on March 11 and left the plant unstable.

The safety of food and water was of particular concern. The government halted shipments of spinach from one area and raw milk from another near the nuclear plant after tests found iodine exceeded safety limits. But the contamination spread to spinach in three other prefectures and to more vegetables — canola and chrysanthemum greens. Tokyo’s tap water, where iodine turned up Friday, now has cesium. Rain and dust are also tainted.

In all cases, the government said the radiation levels were too small to pose an immediate health risk. But Taiwan seized a batch of fava beans from Japan found with faint — and legal — amounts of iodine and cesium.

“I’m worried, really worried,” said Mayumi Mizutani, a 58-year-old Tokyo resident shopping for bottled water at a supermarket to give her visiting 2-year-old grandchild. “We’re afraid because it’s possible our grandchild could get cancer.” Forecasts for rain, she said, were also a cause for concern.

All six of the nuclear complex’s reactor units saw trouble after the disasters knocked out cooling systems. In a small advance, the plant’s operator declared Units 5 and 6 — the least troublesome — under control after their nuclear fuel storage pools cooled to safe levels. Progress was made to reconnect two other units to the electric grid and in pumping seawater to cool another reactor and replenish it and a sixth reactor’s storage pools.

But the buildup in pressure inside the vessel holding Unit 3’s reactor presented some danger, forcing officials to consider venting. The tactic produced explosions of radioactive gas during the early days of the crisis.

“Even if certain things go smoothly, there would be twists and turns,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters. “At the moment, we are not so optimistic that there will be a breakthrough.”

Nuclear safety officials said one of the options could release a cloud dense with iodine as well as the radioactive elements krypton and xenon.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., temporarily suspended the plans Sunday after it said the pressure inside the reactor stopped climbing, though staying at a high level.

“It has stabilized,” Tokyo Electric manager Hikaru Kuroda told reporters.

Kuroda, who said temperatures inside the reactor reached 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees Celsius), said the option to release the highly radioactive gas inside is still under consideration if pressure rises.

Growing concerns about radiation add to the overwhelming chain of disasters Japan has struggled with since the 9.0-magnitude quake. It spawned a tsunami that ravaged the northeastern coast, killing 8,450 people, leaving more than 12,900 people missing, and displacing another 452,000, who are living in shelters.

Fuel, food and water remain scarce. The government in recent days acknowledged being caught ill-prepared by an enormous disaster that the prime minister has called the worst crisis since World War II.

Bodies are piling up in some of the devastated communities and badly decomposing even amid chilly rain and snow.

“The recent bodies — we can’t show them to the families. The faces have been purple, which means they are starting to decompose,” says Shuji Horaguchi, a disaster relief official setting up a center to process the dead in Natori, on the outskirts of the tsunami-flattened city of Sendai. “Some we’re finding now have been in the water for a long time, they’re not in good shape. Crabs and fish have eaten parts.”

Before the disasters, safety drills were seldom if ever practiced and information about radiation exposure rarely given in Futuba, a small town in the shadow of the nuclear plant, said 29-year-old Tsugumi Hasegawa. She is living in a shelter with her 4-year-old daughter and feeling bewildered.

“I still have no idea what the numbers they are giving about radiation levels mean. It’s all so confusing. And I wonder if they aren’t playing down the dangers to keep us from panicking. I don’t know who to trust,” said Hasegawa, crammed with 1,400 people into a gymnasium on the outskirts of the city of Fukushima, 80 miles (50 miles) away from the plant.

Another nuclear safety official acknowledged that the government only belatedly realized the need to give potassium iodide to those living within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the nuclear complex.

The pills help reduce chances of thyroid cancer, one of the diseases that may develop from radiation exposure, by preventing the body from absorbing radioactive iodine. The official, Kazuma Yokota, said the explosion that occurred while venting the plant’s Unit 3 reactor a week ago should have triggered the distribution. But the order came only three days later.

“We should have made this decision and announced it sooner,” Yokota told reporters at the emergency command center in Fukushima. “It is true that we had not foreseen a disaster of these proportions. We had not practiced or trained for something this bad. We must admit that we were not fully prepared.”

The higher reactor pressure may have been caused by a tactic meant to reduce temperatures — the pumping of seawater into the vessel, said Kuroda, the Tokyo Electric manager.

Using seawater to cool the reactors and storage pools was a desperate measure adopted early last week; Unit 4’s pool was sprayed again Sunday and a system to inject water into Unit 2’s reactor was repaired. Experts have said for days that seawater would inevitably corrode and ruin the reactors and other finely milled machine parts, effectively turning the plant into scrap.

Edano, the government spokesman, recognized the inevitable Sunday: “It is obviously clear that Fukushima Dai-ichi in no way will be in a condition to be restarted.”

Contamination of food and water compounds the government’s difficulties, heightening the broader public’s sense of dread about safety. Consumers in markets snapped up bottled water, shunned spinach from Ibaraki — the prefecture where the tainted spinach was found — and overall expressed concern about food safety.

Experts have said the amounts of iodine detected in milk, spinach and water pose no discernible risks to public health unless consumed in enormous quantities over a long time. Iodine breaks down quickly, after eight days, minimizing its harmfulness, unlike other radioactive isotopes such as cesium-137 or uranium-238, which remain in the environment for decades or longer.

High levels of iodine are linked to thyroid cancer, one of the least deadly cancers if treated. Cesium is a longer-lasting element that affects the whole body and raises cancer risk.

Rain forecast for the Fukushima area also could further localize the contamination, bringing the radiation to the ground closer to the plant.

Edano tried to reassure the public for a second day in a row. “If you eat it once, or twice, or even for several days, it’s not just that it’s not an immediate threat to health, it’s that even in the future it is not a risk,” Edano said. “Experts say there is no threat to human health.”

No contamination has been reported in Japan’s main food export — seafood — worth about $1.6 billion a year and less than 0.3 percent of its total exports.

Amid the anxiety, there were moments of joy on Sunday. An 80-year-old woman and her teenage grandson were rescued from their flattened two-story house after nine days, when the teen pulled himself to the roof and shouted to police for help.

Other survivors enjoyed smaller victories. Kiyoshi Hiratsuka and his family managed to pull his beloved Harley Davidson motorcycle from the rubble in their hometown of Onagawa.

“I almost gave up the search but it happened that I found it,” the 37-year-old mechanic said. “I know that the motorbike would not work anymore, but I want to keep it as a memorial.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/some-progress-reported-in-japans-efforts-to-ease-crisis-at-stricken-nuclear-plant/2011/03/18/ABWBIts_singlePage.html

[OMG Earthquake?]

Police in Miyagi Prefecture say rescuers found 2 people under rubble in Ishinomaki City on Sunday, 9 days after the initial earthquake on March 11th.

Police say an 80-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy responded to rescue workers.

Sunday, March 20, 2011 16:55 +0900 (JST)

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20_24.html