HTH -- Haiti Earthquake

March 18, 2011. Alert level raised at Fukushima Daiichi plant

SOURCE: Altegrity Risk International

Japan raised the alert level at its stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale for atomic incidents, placing the crisis on par with the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania, reports indicated on March 18th. Military fire trucks sprayed water on overheating reactor units for a second day on March 18th, with officials warning water levels in reactor 3 were particularly low. Officials were reportedly concerned with reactors 1, 2, and 3, while the situation in the cooling pond at reactor 4 seemed to have improved. Officials managed to bulldoze an electricity line through the site, but struggled against radiation to connect it to the plant's power unit, critical to restarting the plant's own water pumps. Japanese officials conceded on March 18th that burying the nuclear plant in sand and concrete might be last resort to prevent a catastrophic radiation release. This method was used to seal Chernobyl in 1986 but would mean the region surrounding the reactor would become off limits for decades.

The head of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Japanese Yukiya Amano, warned during a visit to Japan that efforts to stabilize the plant was a race against time. Winds in Japan are currently blowing eastward into the Pacific Ocean, sending radiation in the ocean, where it is believed to weaken to non-threatening levels. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on March 17th that it believes the spread of radiation from the nuclear plant remains localized and does not pose a risk to human health.

On March 18th, a week after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami ravaged northeastern Japan; the death toll reached 6,405 with some 10,200 listed missing. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on March 17th that Japan has the financial means needed to recover such devastation.

The U.S. government, meanwhile, authorized the families of soldiers and civilian employees stationed on Japan's Honshu island to leave, reports indicated on March 17th. Most of the evacuees are to be sent home on commercial airliners.