首页  | 新闻播报

Japanese nuclear crisis escalates

中国日报网 2013-08-22 10:06

分享到微信

Get Flash Player

Download

Japan's nuclear crisis escalated to its worst level in two years on Wednesday, with its nuclear watchdog saying it feared more tanks were leaking contaminated water, while China expressed its shock over the disaster.

Japan's nuclear regulator also said it feared the disaster exceeded the ability of Tokyo Electric Power Co to cope "in some respects".

A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulation Authority said earlier on Wednesday that the agency plans to upgrade the severity of the crisis from a level 1 "anomaly" to a level three "serious incident" on an international scale for radiological releases.

Such a move would be the most serious action taken since the plant was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

At its height, the Fukushima crisis was classified as level seven - one of only two events ever rated in that category along with the Chernobyl disaster a quarter of a century ago.

Other incidents that have been ranked level three include the 2005 radioactive waste leak at the British nuclear reprocessing facility in Sella field.

The Japanese regulator will now inform the International Atomic Energy Agency about the leak and consult with the UN body over the accuracy of its assessment, officials said.

"Any way you look at it, this is deplorable," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a regular news conference on Wednesday. "The government will make every effort to halt the leak of contaminated water as soon as possible."

The plant operator, also known as TEPCO, said on Tuesday that contaminated water with dangerously high levels of radiation is leaking from a storage tank.

The NRA said it was worried about leakage from other tanks of the same type, which were built hastily to store water washed over melted reactors at the station to keep them cool.

China said it was "shocked" to hear that Fukushima was still leaking contaminated water two years after the disaster and urged Japan to provide information "in a timely, thorough and relevant manner".

"We hope that Japan will earnestly take effective steps to put an end to the negative impact of the after-effects of the Fukushima nuclear accident," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement faxed to Reuters in Beijing.

The water in the latest leak is so contaminated that a person standing close to it for an hour would receive five times the annual recommended limit for nuclear workers in a year.

TEPCO has been criticized for its failure to prepare for the disaster and accused of covering up the extent of the problems at the plant.

(中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑)

 

About the broadcaster:

Lance Crayon is a videographer and editor with China Daily. Since living in Beijing he has worked for China Radio International (CRI) and Global Times. Before moving to China he worked in the film industry in Los Angeles as a talent agent and producer. He has a B.A. in English from the University of Texas at Arlington.

中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883561联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
本文相关阅读
5af95d3ba3103f6866ee845a

Thousands protest nuclear power in Japan

5af95d3ba3103f6866ee845a

Fukushima nuclear disaster 'man-made'

人气排行
中国日报网 英语点津微信
中国日报网 双语小程序