A handout photo shows reactor number 4 and 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Malaysian Bloggers - WASHINGTON - THERE is no water left in the spent fuel pool of reactor 4 at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, resulting in 'extremely high' radiation levels, the chair of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission warned on Wednesday.
'In addition to the three reactors that were operating at the time of the incident, a fourth reactor is also right now under concern. This reactor was shut down at the time of the earthquake,' said NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko.
'What we believe at this time is there has been a hydrogen explosion in this unit due to an uncovering of the fuel in the spent fuel pool,' he said, noting the explosion happened several days ago but its effects were cause for concern.
'We believe that secondary containment has been destroyed and there is no water in the spent fuel pool and we believe that radiation levels are extremely high which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures.' Mr Jaczko briefed lawmakers about the latest developments as part of a House of Representatives hearing on the US energy budget, after meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House.
He said that if the United States were facing a similar situation, it would order a much larger evacuation zone than Japan has (20km), and so the US has called on Americans within (80km) of the Japan nuclear plant area to leave.
'Recently the NRC made a recommendation that based on the available information that we have that for a comparable situation in the United States we would recommend an evacuation for a much larger radius than has currently been provided in Japan,' he said. 'As a result of this recommendation the ambassador in Japan has issued a statement to American citizens that we believe it is appropriate to evacuate to a larger distance, up to approximately 50 miles (80.5km).' -- AFP
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