Japan tsunami survivor found as emergency power reaches nuclear plant
Young man pulled from rubble in Kesennuma, while at Fukushima nuclear plant there are hopes of restarting cooling systems
Engineers have rolled out an emergency power cable to Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant and are preparing to try and restart water pumps to cool down overheated fuel rods that are threatening to melt down.
Separately a young man has been pulled alive from the rubble eight days after the massive earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands in north-east Japan and crippled the nuclear plant. The man was found in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture, one of the hardest-hit regions. He was too weak to talk and was taken straight to hospital, the military said.
Japan's police agency has said nearly 7,197 are dead and more than 10,905 missing. Some of the missing may have been out of the region at the time of the disaster. The tsunami is likely to have sucked many people out to sea - after the the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami many such bodies were never found.
At Fukushima there are hopes the external power cable can be attached on Saturday or Sunday, the plant operator has said. Further cabling is being added inside the complex before an attempt to restart water pumps. Engineers had managed to restart a diesel pump that they were using to cool reactor 5, authorities said.
"Tepco has connected the external transmission line with the receiving point of the plant and confirmed that electricity can be supplied," the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, said in a statement.
At Fukushima there are hopes the external power cable can be attached on Saturday or Sunday, the plant operator has said. Further cabling is being added inside the complex before an attempt to restart water pumps. Engineers had managed to restart a diesel pump that they were using to cool reactor 5, authorities said.
"Tepco has connected the external transmission line with the receiving point of the plant and confirmed that electricity can be supplied," the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, said in a statement.
Another 1,480m (5,000ft) of cable is being laid inside the complex before engineers try to start the coolers at reactor 2, followed by numbers 1, 3 and 4 this weekend, company officials have said.
If that fails one option under consideration is to bury the reactors in sand and concrete to prevent a catastrophic radiation release. That method was used to seal off the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the world's worst nuclear reactor accident.
If that fails one option under consideration is to bury the reactors in sand and concrete to prevent a catastrophic radiation release. That method was used to seal off the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the world's worst nuclear reactor accident.
"If they are successful in getting the cooling infrastructure up and running that will be a significant step forward in establishing stability," said Eric Moore, a nuclear power expert at US-based FocalPoint Consulting Group.
"Power supply is an absolute necessity," said Michio Ishikawa, former president of the Japan Nuclear Technology Institute. "It will take at least one week for things to stabilise and real stability will take much more time."
Until now crews have been using the crude tactics of spraying water from fire engines, water cannon trucks and helicopters to try and stop a meltdown.
"I humbly apologise to the public for causing such trouble. Although it was due to natural disaster I am extremely regretful," the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper quoted the Tepco chief executive, Masataka Shimizu, as saying.
Japan has raised the severity rating of the nuclear crisis from 4 to 5 on the seven-level international scale, putting it on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, although some experts say it is more serious. Chernobyl in Ukraine was a 7 on that scale.
In the humanitarian aftermath of the quake and tsunami that struck on 11 March, about 390,000 people including many elderly people are homeless and battling near-freezing temperatures in shelters on the north-east coast.
Food, water, medicine and heating fuel are in short supply and a worm moon, when the full moon is at its closest to Earth, may bring floods to devastated areas where the geography has been changed by the disaster.
Food, water, medicine and heating fuel are in short supply and a worm moon, when the full moon is at its closest to Earth, may bring floods to devastated areas where the geography has been changed by the disaster.
"Everything is gone, including money," said Tsukasa Sato, a 74-year-old barber with a heart condition, as he warmed his hands in front of a stove at a shelter for the homeless.
Health officials and the UN atomic watchdog have said radiation levels are not harmful in the capital, Tokyo, 150 miles (240km) south of Fukushima. But the city has seen an exodus of tourists, expatriates and many Japanese. "I'm leaving because my parents are terrified. I personally think this will turn out to be the biggest paper tiger the world has ever seen," said Luke Ridley, 23, from London as he sat at Narita international airport using his laptop.
"I'll probably come back in about a month."
Experts are saying there is little risk of radiation at dangerous levels spreading to other countries. The US government said "minuscule" amounts of radiation were detected in California consistent with the leakage from Japan's damaged facility but there was no cause for concern.
Aid groups have said most victims are getting help but there are pockets of acute suffering. "We've seen children suffering with the cold, and lacking really basic items like food and clean water," Stephen McDonald of Save the Children said in a statement.
Aid groups have said most victims are getting help but there are pockets of acute suffering. "We've seen children suffering with the cold, and lacking really basic items like food and clean water," Stephen McDonald of Save the Children said in a statement.
The Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, has sounded out the opposition about establishing a government of national unity to deal with a crisis that has shattered Japan and sent a shock through global financial markets, with major economies joining forces to calm the Japanese yen.
(source:guardian.co.uk)
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