nuclear-news

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) turn to France for help in nuclear emergency

Tokyo nuclear operator seeking French help: minister, Google news, (AFP) –  29 March 11, PARIS — Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, is seeking help from France to tackle the “critical” situation, Industry Minister Eric Besson said Monday.

Besson said the current situation at Fukushima, where highly radioactive water has leaked from a reactor turbine building following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, was “extremely critical”.

The water, found in an underground tunnel linked to the number two reactor at the Fukushima plant, showed a radiation reading of more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour, a TEPCO official told reporters in Japan.

A dose that strong can cause temporary radiation sickness with nausea and vomiting for people who are exposed.

The massive earthquake and tsunami knocked out the cooling systems of the plant’s six reactors, triggering explosions and fires, releasing radiation and sparking global fears of a widening disaster.

Plutonium has been detected in soil at the stricken nuclear plant.

Besson said later in the day that TEPCO had asked France “to find a certain number of specialists in treating radioactive water, contaminated water.”…

AFP: Tokyo nuclear operator seeking French help: minister

March 29, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - Fukushima 2011