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March 18, 2011

Japan Raises Nuclear Alert; Burying of Reactors Mulled 
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Japan's nuclear crisis continues to worsen as authorities race to find a
way to cool the overheating reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
power station. Earlier today, Japan raised the nuclear alert level at
the crippled plant from a four to a five, on par with Three Mile Island.
Japan is continuing to dump water on the reactors while attempting to
fix a power cable that could help restart the water pumps needed to cool
the overheating nuclear fuel rods. For the first time, Japanese
engineers have conceded they have considered burying the nuclear
reactors in sand and concrete, the same method used to seal huge
leakages from Chernobyl in 1986. At the White House, President Obama
said radiation from the Japan reactor is not expected to reach the
United States. He also announced a review of the nation's nuclear power
plants.

President Obama: "We do not expect harmful levels of radiation to reach
the United States, whether it is the west coast, Hawaii, Alaska, or the
U.S. territories in the Pacific. Our nuclear power plants have undergone
exhaustive study and have been declared safe for any number of extreme
contingencies. But when we see a crisis like the one in Japan, we have a
responsibility to learn from this event and to draw from those lessons
to ensure the safety and security of our people."

The number of dead and missing from Japan's devastating earthquake and
tsunani has now topped 16,000. It is the deadliest natural disaster to
hit Japan in nearly a century.



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