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Japan Needs Urgent Assistance
at Fukushima Reactor
Fukushima Nuclear Crisis
EMF Computer Protection
Magnetic Field Detector
After a tour of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
facilities this month, U.S. senator Ron Wyden has urged the
Japanese Government to urgently seek international
assistance to relocate spent fuel rods stored precariously
in unsound structures close to the ocean and prevent more
deadly nuclear radiation being released into the
environment.
After an onsite tour of what remains of the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facilities decimated by last
year’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami, U.S. Senator Ron
Wyden (D-Ore.) a senior member of the U.S. Senate Committee
on Energy and Natural Resources, sent a letter to Japanese
Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki looking for ways to advance and
support clean-up and recovery efforts. Wyden’s principal
concern is the relocation of spent fuel rods currently being
stored in unsound structures immediately adjacent to the
ocean. He strongly urged the Ambassador to accept
international help to prevent dangerous nuclear material
from being released into the environment.
Wyden wrote in his letter:
“The scope of damage to the plants and to the surrounding
area was far beyond what I expected and the scope of the
challenges to the utility owner, the government of Japan,
and to the people of the region are daunting. The precarious
status of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear units and the risk
presented by the enormous inventory of radioactive materials
and spent fuel in the event of further earthquake threats
should be of concern to all and a focus of greater
international support and assistance.”
Wyden visited Fukushima on April 6, 2012 while on a
Congressional delegation trip to the region. He and a staff
member reportedly wore radiation suits as they toured the
facility and met with workers and managers from the Tokyo
Electric Power Company, TEPCO, which is responsible for the
clean-up.
Facilities and reactors still in state of disrepair
In a statement released on Monday, Senator Wyden found that
the facilities designed to house spent nuclear fuel, and the
reactors themselves, were still in a state of disrepair and
located in areas that would make them susceptible to further
damage from future seismic events. He further stated that
the reactor buildings still contain large amounts of spent
fuel – making them a huge safety risk. The only protection
from a future tsunami the senator observed, he said, was a
small, makeshift sea wall erected out of bags of rock.
Senator Wyden also sent letters to U.S. Secretary of Energy
Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko
asking them to identify additional resources and assistance
that their agencies could provide to Japan to address these
risks.
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