Kan: Fukushima NPP 'Unpredictable', Japan on Max Alert

World | March 29, 2011, Tuesday // 09:05
Bulgaria: Kan: Fukushima NPP 'Unpredictable', Japan on Max Alert Japan's PM Kan has warned that the situation at the Fukushima NPP remains unpredictable. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has described the situation with the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant badly damaged by the March 11 earthquake as continuing to be "unpredictable."

Kan told a lower house budget committee meeting that his government is in a "state of maximum alert" over the nuclear crisis at Fukushima, Jiji Press reported.

Japanese PM's comments on Tuesday come after the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, TEPCO, said that plutonium was detected in soil near the complex, and that radiation contaminated water leaked from the plant.

On Monday, Japan asked French energy companies Areva and EDF for help in tackling the crisis at Fukushima where concerns over radiation have stalled the work to start again the cooling system of the plant.

According to TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the higher levels of plutonium detected near the plant are not supposed to be hazardous for people's health.

The Japanese press has reported, as cited by BTA, that the government plans to nationalize temporarily TEPCO in order to help it pay out compensations to the locals affected by the Fukushima crisis.

TEPCO has been harshly criticized after on Sunday it said that the radiation in water on the site had grown to 10 million times above the normal level. The figure was reported by mistake, and was reversed later to a much lower one.

The Japanese government has decided to assume all costs for the clearing and relief of the areas affected by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami.

Preliminary estimates say the damage caused by the natural disasters amounts to USD 185-308 B. Over 10 000 people have lost their lives, thousands more are still missing. 

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Tags: Japan, Fukushima NPP, Nuclear Power Plant, Fukushima, Fukushima Daiichi, Naoto Kan, Miyagi, TEPCO, Earthquake, tsunami

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