UN: Situation at nuclear plant remains ‘very serious’

Almost two months after a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant remained very serious, a senior official with the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today, as he outlined the ongoing measures taken by the Japanese authorities in response to the accident.

The plant suffered major damage and has been spewing radioactive contamination into the environment ever since.

According to Denis Flory, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, a number of measures carried out by Japanese authorities in recent weeks as part of their response to the accident include the putting in place of counter-measures against water outflow to the sea and to prevent a minimized spread of the radionuclides in water. The Government has also announced no-entry, planned evacuation and emergency evacuation zones to be applied to specific areas within the vicinity of the plant.

In addition, radiation monitoring continues for 47 prefectures, with the reported values showing that the deposition of radionuclides is still occurring in certain prefectures.

He also noted that restrictions on the distribution and/or consumption of milk, and specific types of vegetables, have been in place in five prefectures, since they were first imposed on 21 March. As of 3 May, the only restrictions remaining are in Fukushima prefecture and for two cities in Ibaraki prefecture.
Meanwhile a 6.1 earthquake was recorded below the sea floor off the coast of the Japanese island of Honshu Thursday, the US Geological Survey said. The quake struck at 12h58 (14h58 GMT Thursday), 276 kilometres east of Sendai, Honshu Island, at a depth of 24 kilometres, the USGS said. There were no reports of any damage or casualties and no threat of a tsunami.

Tokyo airports have defied disaster to turn in best on-time stats. Tokyo’s Haneda and Narita airports turned in the best on-time performance for departures among the world’s top-50 airports in April, despite operating through the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in March. The airports’ astonishing performance is reported in the latest figures from US-based analyst FlightStats. It rated Haneda the best for punctuality among the world’s busiest airports with 94.7% of flights departing on time last month and Narita at number three with 87.5%. London’s Stansted came second with 90.5% of departures on time – that is, departing within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.