TOKYO — Control room lights were on and electronic thermometers were functioning Wednesday at several of Japan’s stricken nuclear reactors, marking small but potentially critical steps toward controlling overheated fuel that has been spewing radioactivity for more than a week.
Firefighters continued to spray depleted-fuel pools and containment vessels after connecting power lines late Tuesday to all six reactors at the Fukushima complex, about 150 miles north of Tokyo. Control room lights in the troublesome No. 3 reactor, which came on Tuesday evening, could mean crucial controls can be brought back to life to prevent fuel that contains highly carcinogenic plutonium from melting.
Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco, expressed guarded optimism, but stressed that equipment first must be checked. U.S. observers likewise were hopeful of an imminent turning point in the crisis, which has sparked food bans and evacuations. “They’ve made considerable progress bringing equipment to the plant and restoring power,” said David Lochbaum, director of nuclear safety at the Cambridge, Mass.-based Union of Concerned Scientists. “But they’re not out of the woods yet. They are working with razor-thin margins.”
Levels of the radioactive isotopes iodine-131 and cesium -137 exceeding legal limits were found on more vegetables, including broccoli, grown in several prefectures near the plant, as well as in seawater and raw milk, and shipment bans on produce and milk remained in place. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday banned the importation of milk, milk products, and fresh fruits and vegetables from four areas near the nuclear complex.
Data released by the Energy Department Tuesday show continued high levels of radiation around the Fukushima plant. An exposed individual would receive more than a year’s background dose of radiation in two days within some areas inside a radius of 13 miles of the plant. An Energy Department team of experts obtained readings of more than 12.5 millirem per hour within the 13 mile proximity, compared to an average background rate in the U.S. of .071 millirem per hour. A millirem is a measure of radiation absorbed by the body.
In the disaster zone, a representative from Tepco who visited people forced to evacuate from their homes in the 12-mile zone near the plant, apologized and said the company was considering offering compensation; No specifics were discussed.
Residents within an 18-mile radius around the plant are still being advised to stay indoors. But even beyond that perimeter, residents were struggling with short supplies of food, gasoline and medicine.
As more corpses were recovered, the National Police Agency said the death toll stood at 9,199 with 13,700 missing. Hundreds of thousands of people remained in emergency shelters, and freezing temperatures, snow and rain were continuing to pose problems for aid workers and the relocated.
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