Renewed fears over Japanese reactors
Water was needed to cool down the reactor and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it needed more time before it could say if the reactors had stabilised.
Technicians working inside an evacuation zone around the plant on Japan’s north-east Pacific coast, 250km north of Tokyo, attached power cables to all six reactors and started a pump at one to cool overheating nuclear fuel rods.
But smoke and steam were later seen rising from Units 2 and 3, dashing hopes of progress in bringing them under control.
There were several blasts of steam from the reactors during the crisis, which experts say released a small amount of radioactive particles.
Hidehiko Nishiyama, the deputy-director general of Japan’s nuclear safety agency, said the smoke at reactor three had stopped and there was only a small amount at the second reactor.
TEPCO executive vice-president Sakae Muto said the core of reactor one was a worry with its temperature at 380-390 degrees celsius.
“We need to strive to bring that down a bit,” Mr Muto said, adding that the reactor was built to run at a temperature of 302C.
“Injecting more water is one option (to cool it),” he said.
Asked if the situation at the reactors was getting worse, he said: “We need more time. It’s too early to say that they are sufficiently stable.”
Mounting evidence of radiation in vegetables, water and milk stirred concerns in Japan and abroad despite official assurances that the levels were not dangerous.
TEPCO said radiation was found in the Pacific Ocean. Radioactive iodine in the sea samples was 126.7 times the allowed limit, while caesium was 24.8 times over. However, TEPCO said this still posed no immediate danger.
