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March 29, 2011. Japanese government on maximum alert, officials struggle to contain radioactive water

SOURCE: Altegrity Risk International

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on March 29th that his government was in a state of maximum alert over the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant as officials struggled to prevent highly radioactive water at reactor No. 2 from seeping into the sea, local media said. Officials also detected small amounts of plutonium in the soil at the plant, an indication that the reactors suffered a partial meltdown. Kan said the situation remained "unpredictable." Officials confronted the difficult task of preventing a water leak while continuing to pour water to cool the reactors. The exact source of the radioactive leak is furthermore unknown. Other engineers, meanwhile, raced to restore power and restart the plant's cooling system. The plant operator has come under fire for an apparent lack of transparency, delays in providing information, and providing a wildly erroneous radiation reading. National Strategy Minister Koichiro Gemba said on March 29th that the government could consider temporarily nationalizing the energy firm.

The death toll from the March 11th earthquake and tsunami that sparked the nuclear crisis passed 11,000 on March 29th, with at least 16,700 reported missing across northeastern Japan. Officials struggled to identify some 4,000 bodies in Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures. About 190,000 continued to live in temporary shelters, with many having to cope with food, water, and fuel shortages.