Saturday, April 2, 2011

Japan rules out expanding the evacuation zone in Fukushima

Japan ruled out extending the time the evacuation zone 20 km in central Fukushima, despite high levels of radiation in remote areas, while international aid arrives to remedy the situation. The International Energy Agency (IAEA) has increased the pressure on the Japanese government to the point that the people of qualitative studies, 40 kilometers of the plant have been recorded radiation levels two times higher than the limits set by the agency and recommended evacuation.

Government spokesman Yukio Edan, said that the radioactivity outside the 20 km and 30 in the recommended extreme caution should be monitored for a period of time. "We have no immediate plans to evacuate, but of course if the high levels of radiation on the ground continue for a long period of time likely to affect health, so take action if necessary," Edan said.

For its part, the Nuclear Security Agency of Japan (NISA) indicated that the level Iitate not exceed the limits set by Japan, which takes measurements of radioactivity in a different way. However, the technicians who work in the volatile Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station does not appear to have contained radioactive leaks into the sea near the plant, as it announced new peaks of radioactive material.

The level of iodine 131 was 4,385 times the legal limit in samples taken yesterday at 330 meters south of the damaged reactors, a new record high last Friday that highlights the difficulties to stop leaks at the plant. The NISA reiterated that the radioactive iodine is not a risk to human health, since its toxicity is reduced by half in eight days, so that only small amounts could reach the food chain in marine wildlife.

However, the values of cesium-137, a much more dangerous because it only degrades by half in 30 years, rose up to 527 times above the limit, a fact that further increases could have serious consequences. To end the continuing increase in radiation emissions, Japan will have the contribution of the French company Areva, offered aid to Japan by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who became the first president to visit the country after the earthquake .

Although the French government evacuated most of its citizens in the early days of the crisis and moved its embassy to Kyoto, now Sarkozy showed his support and called for the imposition of "security standards" on nuclear matters. Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, acknowledged the need "to revise Japan's nuclear policy" once the control of the situation in central Fukushima.

During his visit in a few hours, Sarkozy, whose country receives more than 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear fusion, came from the hand of the chief executive of Areva, Anne Lauvergeon, who provided expert help Gauls to extract the radioactive water hindering the work in Fukushima.

Areva advise Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) in the work of containment of the leaks in Fukushima Daiichi, and added to the contribution it has made since the early stages of the crisis the United States. The U.S. government has provided advisory and robots to try to cool the reactors at the plant and send a military team of 140 specialists in nuclear crisis, according to the Japanese Army.

After 20 days of endless work of contention in Fukushima Daiichi Kan assessed the situation as "very critical" and said that "we must analyze how it has been an accident of this scale and revise the way we use nuclear energy."

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