Apesar de a maioria da comunicação social estar a apontar para o controlo da situação nas centrais nucleares do Japão (em particular Fukushima), uma leitura de outras fontes e dos próprios comentários dos técnicos faz-nos compreender que não há qualquer razão para estarmos descansados em relação a um derretimento nuclear.
Aqui ficam duas notícias alarmantes.
French nuclear agency rates Japan accident 5 or 6
Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:17pm GMT http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE72D21I20110314
PARIS, March 14 (Reuters) - France's ASN nuclear safety authority said on Monday the nuclear accident in Japan could be classed as level 5 or 6 on the international scale of 1 to 7, on a par with the 1979 U.S. Three Mile Island meltdown.
The estimate of the severity of the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi plant, based on the ASN's assessment of data provided by Japan, is above the rating of four given by Japan's nuclear safety agency.
"Level four is a serious level," ASN President Andre-Claude Lacoste told a news conference, but added: "We feel that we are at least at level five or even at level 6."
Japan is struggling to cope with a crisis caused by a huge earthquake and tsunami on Friday that crippled three reactors at the TEPCO (9501.T: Quote) plant and raised fears there might be a serious radiation leak. (Reporting by Mathile Cru, editing by Tim Pearce)
Reactor Fuel Rods May Be Melting After Exposed a Second Time
By Akiko Nishimae - Mar 14, 2011 5:37 PM GMT+0100 Mon Mar 14 16:37:48 GMT 2011
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-14/reactor-fuel-rods-may-be-meltin...
Tokyo Electric Power Co. can’t rule out that the fuel rods are melting at the Fukushima Dai Ichi No. 2 reactor, heightening the risk of a meltdown, after water levels dropped, exposing them a second time.
An air flow gauge was accidentally turned off causing air pressure into the reactor to rise suddenly and blocking the flow of cooling water, the company said in a press conference on national broadcaster NHK’s website. Tokyo Electric is now attempting to reopen the valve to release pressure building inside the reactor and inject water to cool the rods, the company said.
This was the second time the fuel rods have been exposed at the earthquake-stricken nuclear power plant 220 kilometers (135 miles) north of Tokyo. Earlier yesterday Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the fuel rods may have melted after heat evaporated the water, leaving them fully exposed.
Radiation levels reached a record 3,130 microsieverts an hour at the monitoring site near the gate of the plant as of 9:37 p.m. March 14 local time, twice the previous record. Radiation had retreated to 326.2 microsieverts per hour at 10:35 p.m., the utility said.
