Tokyo, March 17: Japan’s nuclear crisis caused by the recent quake and tsunami is deteriorating as the government makes desperate efforts to control a possible catastrophe.
US officials say one of the radioactive fuel pools of reactor number four at the Fukushima’s Daiichi atomic plant has run dry, which will result in extremely high radiation levels, AFP reported on Thursday.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the radiation level at the site is now so high that it impedes the ability to take any corrective measure.
Japanese helicopters dumped water on the plant on Thursday to cool the reactor and thus prevent a meltdown.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had warned Japan two years ago about the possible threats at the nuclear plant posed by a strong quake, England’s Daily Telegraph reported.
On Wednesday, Japanese Emperor Akihito told in a rare video message to people “to treat each other with compassion and overcome” the crisis which he said was “unprecedented in scale.”
Some experts compare the nuclear disaster in Japan to that of the 1986 explosion of a Ukrainian power plant in Chernobyl which spread large amounts of radiation across Europe.
The official death toll from Japan’s March 11 natural disaster has risen to 4,314 while at least 9,000 are unaccounted for.
The survivors grapple with a lack of water, food, electricity and fuel and in some quake-hit areas in the northwest, cold weather and snow have added to people’s ordeal.
——–Agencies