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| Nuclear Water |
Another strong earthquake and aftershocks in Japan's northeast Wednesday morning caused no further damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant, a Tokyo Electric Power Co. official said.
Radiation from the plant has seeped into vegetables, raw milk, the water supply and even seawater in surrounding areas since a magnitude 9 quake and killer tsunami crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant nearly two weeks ago.
Broccoli was added to a list of tainted vegetables Wednesday, and U.S. officials announced a block on Japanese dairy and other produce from the region. Japanese foods make up less than 4 percent of all U.S. imports, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it expects no risk to the U.S. food supply from radiation.
Tokyo Water Officials Urge Calm
Tokyo Water Bureau officials first began to see increased radiation levels a few days after the power complex began to have problems. But now testing has found the amount of iodine-131 is at 210 becquerels per liter, more than twice the recommended limit of 100 becquerels per liter for infants.
That's a concern because babies' thyroid glands are most at risk of injury from radioactive iodine, which can cause thyroid cancer. However, officials urged calm, saying drinking small amounts of tap water was fine for babies, and that the current level did not pose an immediate health risk to children or adults.
"We advise against using the tap water for drinking and for making infant formula for babies under 1 year old," said Shintaro Ishihara, Tokyo's governor.
NPR's Richard Harris reported Tuesday that iodine-131 decays quickly — it has a half-life of just eight days. That means that over the course of two or three months, virtually all of it will be gone.
Smoke Billowing From No. 3
The new development affecting Japan's largest city, home to some 13 million in the city center and 39 million in the greater Tokyo area, came as nuclear officials struggled to stabilize all six reactor units at the damaged power plant to the northeast.
In a new setback, black smoke billowed from Unit No. 3, prompting a new evacuation of the complex Wednesday afternoon, Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials said.
"We don't know the reason" for the smoke, Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear Safety Agency said.
The quake and tsunami that struck off the east coast March 11 knocked out the plant's crucial cooling systems. Explosions and fires have erupted in four of the plant's six reactors, leaking radioactive steam into the air. Progress in cooling down the overheated facility has been intermittent, disrupted by rises in radiation, elevated pressure in reactors and overheated storage pools.
The plant operator had restored circuitry to bring power to all six reactor units and turned on lights at Unit 3 late Tuesday for the first time since the disaster a significant step toward restarting the cooling system.
It had hoped to restore power to cooling pumps at the unit within days, but experts had warned the work included the risk of sparking fires as electricity is restored through equipment potentially damaged in the tsunami.
Tallying Human, Economic Tolls
Japan's government said Wednesday that the economic costs of the catastrophic quake and tsunami could reach $309 billion. The damage to housing, infrastructure and businesses in northeast Japan could cost between 16 trillion yen and 25 trillion yen ($309 billion), according to the Cabinet Office. Utilities have imposed power rationing, many factories remain closed and key rail lines are impassable.
The national police agency says the death toll from the disasters has exceeded 9,400, with more than 14,700 missing. Those tallies are likely to overlap, but police officials estimate that the final figure will likely exceed 18,000 deaths.
Tens of thousands of evacuees are living in temporary emergency shelters, some of which were rattled by the latest aftershocks — one measuring magnitude 6. For those who survived the March 11 quake, a simple door slamming can cause a scare.
In one shelter, Tomoko Suenaga said she's upset that the government isn't doing enough to help displaced people.
"I have to think, from now, what to do for my children. But I don't know how. We must try," she said.
She and her family used to live just a mile and a half from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex. Now they are at a small shelter 60 miles away.
Sources: http://www.npr.org
