TOKYO — Japan raised the severity level of the crisis at its crippled nuclear plant Tuesday to rank it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, citing cumulative radiation leaks contaminating the air, tap water, vegetables and seawater.
Japanese nuclear regulators said the rating was being raised from 5 to 7 — the highest level on an international scale overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency — after new assessments of radiation leaks from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant since it was disabled by the March 11 tsunami.
The new ranking signifies a "major accident" with "wider consequences" than the previous level, including widespread health effects, according to the Vienna-based IAEA.
However, Japanese officials have played down any health effects of radioactive releases so far from the Fukushima plant. They said the leaks amount to only a tenth of the radiation emitted in the Chernobyl disaster, while acknowledging they eventually could exceed Chernobyl's emissions if the crisis continues.
"This reconfirms that this is an extremely major disaster. We are very sorry to the public, people living near the nuclear complex and the international community for causing such a serious accident," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yuki Edano.
But Edano told reporters that there was so far no "direct health damage" from the crisis. "The accident itself is really serious, but we have set our priority so as not to cause health damage."
The revision came a day after the government added five communities to a list of places people should leave to avoid long-term radiation exposure. A 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius already had been cleared around the plant.
Officials from Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that the cumulative amount of radioactive particles released into the atmosphere since the incident had reached levels that apply to a Level 7 incident. Other factors included damage to the plant's buildings and accumulated radiation levels for its workers.
"We have upgraded the severity level to 7 as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water to the ocean," NISA official Minoru Oogoda said.
The revision was based on cross-checking and assessments of data on leaks of radioactive iodine-131 and cesium-137, NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said.
"We have refrained from making announcements until we have reliable data," Nishiyama said. "The announcement is being made now because it became possible to look at and check the accumulated data assessed in two different ways," he said, referring to measurements from NISA and Japan's Nuclear Security Council.
Japanese nuclear regulators said the rating was being raised from 5 to 7 — the highest level on an international scale overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency — after new assessments of radiation leaks from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant since it was disabled by the March 11 tsunami.
Tokyo Electric Power Co.) EDITORIAL USE ONLY, Associated Press
This Sunday, April 10, 2011 photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) shows orange colored floats suspending"silt fence," that was installed under water to help prevent contaminated water from spreading outside the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant's bay. The tsunami-crippled nuclear complex is still leaking radiation after its cooling systems were knocked out by the March 11 tsunami, and the government Monday, April 11, 2011 urged even more people living around the complex to leave within a month, citing concerns about long-term health risks from radiation as the crisis wears on.
However, Japanese officials have played down any health effects of radioactive releases so far from the Fukushima plant. They said the leaks amount to only a tenth of the radiation emitted in the Chernobyl disaster, while acknowledging they eventually could exceed Chernobyl's emissions if the crisis continues.
"This reconfirms that this is an extremely major disaster. We are very sorry to the public, people living near the nuclear complex and the international community for causing such a serious accident," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yuki Edano.
But Edano told reporters that there was so far no "direct health damage" from the crisis. "The accident itself is really serious, but we have set our priority so as not to cause health damage."
The revision came a day after the government added five communities to a list of places people should leave to avoid long-term radiation exposure. A 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius already had been cleared around the plant.
Officials from Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that the cumulative amount of radioactive particles released into the atmosphere since the incident had reached levels that apply to a Level 7 incident. Other factors included damage to the plant's buildings and accumulated radiation levels for its workers.
"We have upgraded the severity level to 7 as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water to the ocean," NISA official Minoru Oogoda said.
The revision was based on cross-checking and assessments of data on leaks of radioactive iodine-131 and cesium-137, NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said.
"We have refrained from making announcements until we have reliable data," Nishiyama said. "The announcement is being made now because it became possible to look at and check the accumulated data assessed in two different ways," he said, referring to measurements from NISA and Japan's Nuclear Security Council.
No comments:
Post a Comment